Hands Up for Trad’s Trad Music Spotlight is a monthly feature on a band or solo artist. It was first launched in February 2015 and features musicians who are working in the trad scene – both in Scotland and around the world. We asked Rachel Newton a few questions.
What’s happening?
April 2016 marks the release of my third solo album ‘Here’s My Heart Come Take It’. I enjoyed making this album very much and I’m really excited about it. I’m doing some launch gigs and will be showcasing material from the new record as well as some previous work with my trio.
When was the band formed?
I’ve been playing gigs with my trio Lauren MacColl (fiddle/viola) and Mattie Foulds (drums) for a couple of years now. They first performed with me on my New Voices concert ‘Changeling’ at Celtic Connections in 2014. I love the combination of harp, fiddle and percussion and feel very lucky to have such a great couple of musicians to play with.
What excites you about performing Scottish music?
I really enjoy finding new ways to arrange the old songs, poems and ballads that I love. Scottish traditional music is such an important and integral part of my musicianship that I feel like I can experiment and be quite free while still hopefully keeping a sense of this in the music that I make. It’s a brilliant time for Scottish music just now with new bands cropping up left right and centre playing newly composed music alongside older traditional material. It’s so exciting to hear what will happen next!
What’s next for you?
2016 is a busy year for me! As well as my own solo record, I’ve released a debut album with Scottish/Norwegian group Boreas. There’s also a new release from The Furrow Collective out this autumn and The Shee are celebrating our 10th anniversary all this year with a project called Continuum. We’ll be releasing an album later in the year too.
Read more about Rachel Newton at their website http://www.rachelnewtonmusic.com