Several of Scotland’s finest folksingers, musicians and tradition bearers will come together to celebrate 60 years of the TMSA with a special Patrons Concert at Perth Concert Hall on Saturday 22nd August at 7.30pm, featuring award-winning musician and Patron Barbara Dickson.
Hosted and curated by Sheena Wellington and Margaret Bennett, the special anniversary Concert will see them joined by a multi-generational array of singers and instrumentalists, celebrating the very best of traditional Scots and Gaelic song and music.
Barbara Dickson, throughout her glittering international singing and acting career, has stayed close to her roots and is a proud Patron of the TMSA. She is looking forward to sharing the stage with longtime friends, including fine singer and guitar-player Jack Beck with whom she toured in the 60s.
Gaelic singer and weaver, Jimmy Hutchison, a founder member of the TMSA, and Scots singers Geordie Murison, Natalie Chalmers, Scott Gardiner and Eoin Taylor will take part. The Stewarts of Blair were an integral part of TMSA festivals and ceilidhs for many years, and we are delighted to welcome Sheila’s sons, Ian and Hamish MacGregor for this special night.
It wouldn’t be a TMSA party without tunes, so to complete the line-up, we have a trio of fine young musicians, Neil Sutcliffe on accordion and vocals and finalists from the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2025 – fiddler Roo Geddes, and accordionist Clelland Shand, current holder of the Martyn Bennett scholarship.
Commenting, Sheena Wellington said: “This will be special. We are featuring three of our Patrons and one of our founders who is still playing, singing and weaving, as well as several well-loved artists who have played a key role over the decades and, of course, the cream of our young tradition bearers.”
Folklorist, award-winning author and singer, Margaret Bennett adds:
“The TMSA 60th anniversary Patrons’ Concert will have singers and musicians from six decades, including co-founder Jimmy Hutchison as well as new recruits. TMSA festivals and gatherings have been enormously important to all of us, like a big ‘folk family’ sharing the best of singing and music-making from the heart of Scottish tradition. It was at a TMSA festival that I first heard a young teenager Iona Fyfe, and it was at TMSA festivals in the mid-1970s that my son Martyn got to know Sheila Stewart, Lizzie Higgins and other influential musicians and singers. Come and celebrate with us at this Anniversary Concert in Perth – as Sheila Stewart used to sing, “for we may or might never all meet here again.”
Founded in 1966, the TMSA promotes, preserves and presents the music and song traditions of Scotland through local branch, national and international activities. What began with a summer festival in Blairgowrie has blossomed into a movement rooted in community, carried by the voices, tunes, and stories of those who’ve kept the tradition alive across generations. The organisation has nurtured and supported several emerging and established big name folk acts including Karine Polwart and Siobhan Miller.
The TMSA 60th Anniversary Patron’s concert will take place at Perth Concert Hall on Saturday 22 August at 7.30pm. Tickets (including concession and family options) are available now from 01738 621031 or www.perththeatreandconcerthall.com.