Canada!

Hello to all and my apologies for not updating the site for so long! In the last few months, lots of developments have been taking place. In March the talented Ewan MacPherson accompanied me to the East coast of Canada for several weeks. We did a lot of travelling around Ontario and part of Quebec, played some fantastic venues and even got to do some sightseeing such as the spectacular Niagara Falls! Great fun and we hope to repeat it soon.

I then embarked on a tour of Argyll with the Mull singer-songwriter Iain Thomson whose album has just been launched- great craic. After this I had a few gigs with Lauren MacColl and Ewan MacPherson ahead of our September tour. A big thanks to Leith Folk Club, the Goulders in Rosehall and also to Màiri and Bill at Cromarty for having us. The Scotsman also gave us a nice review for our Leith Folk Club, (which was only our second proper gig!) noting that

“Despite their relatively tender age, each member already boasts an impressive individual track record… Both [Mackinnon's] voice’s beguiling original timbre and her rapid interpretative development were abundantly in evidence, with the overt jazzy or bluesy inflections of her previous solo work richly integrated into the restive, sensuous play of brightness and shade, lyrical sweetness and grittier sinew. There’s already a beautifully close-knit empathy apparent between Mackinnon’s singing and MacColl’s fiddle, in particular, with the latter also showing her considerable mettle in a stunning solo slow air, a clear standout among the instrumental sets that interspersed the songs.”

I’m excited to announce that I’m recording a new solo album! This will be a follow-up to 2007’s Don’t Sing Lovesongs, and I’m expecting it to be released early in 2011. We start laying down tracks in early September at the studio of my friend and accordian genius Angus Lyon, in lovely South Lanarkshire. We recorded Don’t Sing Lovesongs at Angus’s studio between 2006-2007- we were never out of there actually- and it’s a great atmosphere for creativity.

For his sins, Angus has agreed to produce the new album, and we’ll be joined by my friend and virtuoso guitarist Innes Watson, and several other exciting guest musicians. The album is to be released in early 2011 and I can’t wait to get started on it!

Oran Mòr

Also in June I signed a partnership agreement for a big Gaelic song show and recording project Oran Mòr (The Great Song). This project started as a week-long recording experiment in Ardgour in 2007 and has evolved to become a show as well as an album. The Oran Mòr is being produced by renowned world music producer Jerry Boys (engineer of The Buena Vista Social Club) and consists of four Gaelic singers;  Mary Ann Kennedy, James Graham, Maeve Mackinnon and Rachel Walker. We’re all very enthused about the project and hope to share it with you soon!

Until then I’m away off to watch more of the World Cup. If you have a spare minute, check out bodhran player extraordinaire Marty O’Neill on the link below. He played kit and bodhran on my first album and is currently on tour with none other than Stevie Wonder!!! It’s a hard life… Stevie Wonder @ Glastonbury

Slàinte mhòr dhuibh uile,

M x

Songbook (Louis De Carlo)

A (very belated) Happy New Year to everyone and hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. I had a very busy January trying to fit in rehearsals, recording the new Mackinnon/MacColl/MacPherson EP, teaching for Fèis Rois and a number of gigs at Celtic Connections. I also managed to see some fab acts at the festival this year- highlights include the astonishing improvisational blues singer Bobby McFerrin and sharing the stage with the Gospel Truth Choir at the Royal Concert Hall.

by Julie Broadfoot

The Herald gave us a 5 star review for Scottish Songbook which we were obviously delighted with (this was largely down to Karine’s vision and Brian’s amazing skills as musical director).

Also rather bizarrely my picture appeared on the front cover of both The Herald and The Scotsman papers that day… Photographer Julie Broadfoot took some amazing pictures of the gig: www.bbc.co.uk/celticconnections

In between all this I drove through to teach in Edinburgh and West Lothian almost every morning and flew to Germany for 3 days of gigs for Glasgow City Council’s Robert Burns weekend. A bizarre turn of events from that weekend include witnessing a “Sean-Nòs” dancing sheep trying to dance a jig to reel rhythm and being asked if I could formally acknowledge the head of the Masonic Lodge onstage (who incidentally, wished to sing “Doon in the Wee Room”). Then, probably as a result of the sheer volume of work I was doing, I came down with the mother of all colds.

hanging out at CC (Louis De Carlo)

On 28th January we did our first ever Mackinnon/MacColl/MacPherson broadcast on Travelling Folk (with presenter Colum Sands) alongside some brilliant guest artists, including the lovely Michelle Burke (whose solo album is a triumph!) the Portuguese band Deolinda and the Alan Kelly band. Thanks to Sean Purser and everyone at BBC Scotland for having us. On 29th January I guested with Finlay MacDonald in the Strathclyde Suite, and had the pleasure of meeting Breton legends Jackie and Patrick Molard who did a couple of fantastic sets that night. It was a great night and Fin tells me he’s planning future tours with the same lineup very soon.

Mackinnon, MacColl, MacPherson

January 31st was the busiest day with a sold out Mackinnon/MacColl/MacPherson gig on 31st January, the BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad 10th Anniversary concert and a festival club slot at 4am!! Luckily we were all still awake! All 3 gigs went very well but personally my highlight of the night was playing a kazoo duet with Anne Sofie Linge Valdal onstage at 5am. Absolutely no alcohol was consumed during this impromtu show whatsoever…

For the rest of February I’m teaching for Feis Rois in Edinburgh and West Lothian and generally welcoming a bit of quiet time! Then in March I’m on tour in Eastern Canada with Ewan MacPherson, which we’re really looking forward to (venues and dates listed on my gig page). Hope to see you at a gig! M x

Smiler team in disguise!

September was a mad busy month, mainly having been tied up with rehearsals for the Transform Glasgow show, which is now entitled “Smiler”. This has meant facilitating meetings and rehearsals trying to combine as many schools and community groups working on the project as we can, to get a makeshift Gaelic choir off the ground- which has proved really rewarding and exciting. The actual shows are from November 11th, 12th and 13th, 6pm and 8pm all three nights so please come along if you get the chance.

Rhapsody 09

October was also busy working on the Smiler project, but I also had the opportunity to work on another project in Oban and Helensburgh, entitled “Argyll Rhapsody”, which was written by Donald Shaw. This year’s Rhapsody included a fashion show for the second half of the concert, which was great fun.

Rhapsody 09

I was working with a group of 19 singers from schools all over Argyllshire, who did fantastic work learning up an incredible number of Gaelic songs, including a mammoth set of 8 puirt-a-beul for the finale, and they all sang brilliantly.

Some of the singers had actually designed some of the costumes used in the fashion show themselves, so it was a very creative and lively experience and it paid off in the shows themselves. Well done to all the participants for their hard work.

New Trio

Other projects currently in the pipeline include a new band that myself, Lauren MacColl and Ewan MacPherson have formed. We are going under the name “Mackinnon, MacColl, MacPherson” (what a shock eh!) and we have been working on existing Gaelic and English songs, and new material written by ourselves, including tune sets. We’re really looking forward to doing a gig at Celtic Connections as part of Showcase Scotland on 31st Jan 2010, so please join us for that if you can. Until then you can find information about the trio on our new Myspace page…

www.myspace.com/macmacmacmusic

Over and out! M x

Pàdraig at Piping Live

PIPING LIVE

First up this month was Fèis Lannruig a Tuath, which was held in Cumbernauld. This was my 5th year in a row teaching for them and it was a very action packed week. Thanks to Elaine Spence and the rest of the Fèis committee for having me again.

The following week I was on home turf again, at Piping Live Festival. This festival has been growing rapidly in reputation and I had 5 gigs as part of their Music of the Clans series, organised and orated by Simon McKerrell. The concerts proved popular with locals and tourists alike as we played to a packed tent every day, and interest from BBC Alba who interviewed me in Gaelic about the festival. Muggins here also had the job of promoting Pàdraig O’Neill & Simon McKerrell’s band “Rough Tides” as the band’s tshirt model and vendor!!!  But in all seriousness the band is going from strength to strength and I’d thoroughly recommend a listen. A big thanks to Simon McKerrell and Roddy MacLeod for having us.

Nordsjofestivalen

The following week I drove to Edinburgh to do some session recording on the singer- songwriter  Iain Thomson’s album, which was great fun as I got to try out lots of weird harmonies! Keep an eye out for that album coming out…

ARGYLL RHAPSODY

I also started work on several performance projects in the last fortnight. First up is a project by Donald Shaw entitled “The Argyll Rhapsody”. This is a revisit of an educational project I was involved in during 2007, and involves working with teenagers

from Lochgilphead High School over the course of the next month, using existing traditional songs and also music written by Donald himself,to culminate in 2

concerts at the end of October. The last Rhapsody show was great fun and resulted in some great press reviews so I’m looking forward to the final gigs, which are looking to be the 28th/29th Oct. Keep an eye out for these gigs on the News page…

TRANSFORM GLASGOW

Also I’m pleased to be working as part of a theatre show called “Transform Glasgow”, based in an arts centre in Easterhouse, Glasgow. It is a community based show run by The National Theatre of Scotland, and I will be tutoring a group of young singers with no previous experience in Gaelic song to result in a string of shows in November. This is a very creative and diverse community orientated project, and I’m delighted to be part of something a little closer to home turf too! Check out www.platform-online.co.uk for more details and also keep an eye on the News page for updated gig times.

NORWAY

Maeve & Jackie Oates band

Last week I had the pleasure of jetting off to Norway for a number of gigs at the fantastic North Sea Festival (Nordsjofestivalen) in Farsund. This is a fantastic festival, and is very community based, their motto being “Where People Meet Folk”, which meant a very lively and relaxed environment where bands and audience hung out together during and after the gigs. For this festival I took guitarist Mike Bryan (Treacherous Orchestra) out with me and he did a great job. We were also lucky to meet some fantastic bands out there, including the mighty Swedish band Ranarim, the lovely Jackie Oates and her band, and also got to hear some great Norwegian music such as the singer Kim Andre Rysstad, who totally blew me away. We had an eventful and adventure-filled Sunday getting to the airport at the end of the week as some of us had been enjoying ourselves so much they didn’t want to go home… but I’d like to say a huge thank you to Knut Egil, Tor, Thomas, and the other festival organisers for having us, and I’d be delighted to go back anytime. For now though, it’s back to the joys of rainy Glasgow…

]]> http://www.maevemackinnon.com/news/?feed=rss2&p=174 http://www.maevemackinnon.com/news/?p=149 http://www.maevemackinnon.com/news/?p=149#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:28:25 +0000 admin http://www.maevemackinnon.com/news/?p=149

Brel gig, June 09

Hello to all and hope you’re having a fantastic summer. I finally got a wee “breather” from all the various fèisean, gigs and nonsense and thought I’d update the News page!

JUNE

June was a very busy month with lots of work for Fèis Rois’s YMI project up north and in the central belt. In the midst of it all the West End Festival started in Glasgow and I was lucky to be involved in various different events. First up was a gig with James Graham, Hamish Napier, Rachel Newton and Barry Reid in Bar Brel on Ashton Lane (see pic on left). This was a gig organised by the company “My Gaelic”, and the place was so packed that some people couldn’t get in the door! We had a great time so thanks to everyone who came out for that.

Marty & Ewan dancing!

Also during the West End Festival I did a series of Gaelic singing taster workshops for beginners, which was held in Partick Library, and had great fun working on a gig entitled “Comadaidh ’s Cràic”, which consisted of myself and Barry Reid playing sets in between brilliant comedy sketches by some of my Gaelic comedy heroes. A big thanks to Arthur Donald, Daibhi Walker and Carina MacLeod in particular for having us on the show, and to An Lòchran for putting on the event.

JULY

The weather in July was uncharacteristically stunning (for Scotland!) and I had the pleasure of doing several Fèisean in a row, the first of which was on the beautiful Isle of

Sunbathing on Barra

Barra. The ferry trip is a rough 5hr sailing from Oban, but for anyone who hasn’t been, it really is a stunning place. Myself and the other tutors had a very action packed week teaching through the day, and playing most evenings but also got a few nights off (see pic on left!).

It was also a sporty week with some of us doing a daily jog. In fact the term “extreme jogging” might be more appropriate, as some of us found out that we had in fact, chosen the most dangerous beach on Barra to jog on (the sinking sands at Baile na Crèige). Myself and Megan Henderson were completely unaware of this until one of the locals calmly pointed out to us that someone had died on that beach. I think we lost about half a stone each that week attempting to drag our feet out of the sand with every step!

Almost a winning team!

Not to be outdone however, Findlay Napier eclipsed us all by bringing his surfboard to Barra and actually went surfing every single day! And very professional he looked too. Incidentally I did take a picture of Fin wearing his wetsuit and a rubber helmet (apparently it keeps his ears warm!!), but I seem to have lost it… damn!

ARRAN

The next island we managed to assault was lovely Arran, where we again had a busy but fun week. I managed to catch up with my former RSAMD tutor Màiri MacInnes, who had written a beautiful song especially for the Arran Fèis, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed it. The cràic was mighty once again, and the sporty theme continued with daily jogs and tennis, up until the pub quiz tournament in Lamlash…

“Team Jogging” came 2nd out of about 12 teams of fully grown adults (a major achievement for folk musicians!!!) but Gary Innes’ team failed to make the finals and was relegated. There was laughter, there was tears…

Stay posted for the next installment!!! Mx

Maddens, Belfast

Myself and Innes ventured across the water on 30th April to do a gig at Madden’s Bar, Belfast. We also hijacked the lovely Fran Morton to guest for us on flute and whistle and she did a fantastic job! We had a fab night- the place was packed and the audience was very appreciative. Thanks to Màirtìn, Caoimhe and the staff at Madden’s for looking after us so well. The music continued into the wee hours, with a samba band and a great song session, including a version of “Runaway” by the Corrs in Gaeilge, leaving everyone scratching their heads going, “I’m sure I’ve heard that song before”…

The next day started with initial panic at the thought that I might have lost a bag of CDs and several items of clothing, but after a few phonecalls and a visit to Madden’s again we managed to locate them and got onto the plane without further drama! A big thank you to Feilimi O’Connor for his help.

Spirit Aid lineup

The next week was a gig on home turf, this time at the Oran Mòr in Glasgow. The event was Spirit Aid 2009, a fundraiser for a childrens’ charity run by well-known actor David Hayman. The organisation gives aid to communities in places like Malawi, Afghanistan, Gaza and other areas ravaged by war and famine. I was delighted to be involved in this and will continue to support the work of Spirit Aid. www.spiritaid.org.uk

Also this month I squeezed in a wee bit of recording for a Brazilian roots project Mike McGoldrick asked me to be involved in. There was a wee bit of composition involved (in Gaelic) so it’s probably going to be a bit different! Looking forward to hearing the end result and will post more info up when I get it…

Earlier tonight I was interviewed on Celtic Music Radio by Fergus Muirhead. The topic was Dick Gaughan songs- which was easy because I have been a big fan of Gaughan since I was a toddler! Fergus and I had a great time waxing lyrical about countless songs until we ran out of time! You can hear the programme live on Monday 18th May and again on Tuesday 19th May at 12 noon by logging onto www.celticmusicradio.net

Next on the agenda for me are rehearsals for a new music project starting on Sunday, after which I start another block of YMI tutoring for Fèis Rois in Nairn and Wester Ross. Also for anyone who might have a burning desire to learn Gaelic song I’ve started teaching another block of Saturday lunchtime Gaelic song classes for the Edinburgh Fèis (Tollcross Primary). It’s a very relaxed environment and beginners are welcome! Contact Kaela Rowan on feisdhuneideann@feisean.org for more details…

Slàinte, Maeve x

April Verch duo and Maeve

A very belated Happy 2009 and apologies to those reading this for the lack of site updates!!

January was a busy month, kickstarted with weekly drives to Inverness and Ross-shire for Fèis Rois’ YMI project, Glasgow gigs at Celtic Connections and a trip to Germany…

Celtic Connections was good craic again this year; The Ceòl ’s Craic headliner gig with Innes went really well. Then the arrival of the fab April Verch and her bassist Cody Walters gave Ewan MacPherson and I the chance to reunite with them onstage (this time in a different continent), alongside Ruairi Sutherland from Edinburgh whose “human beatbox” went down a storm! We hope to have another collaboration before too long. (See pic- left)

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Celtic Connections

A trip to Nuremberg for a Burns weekend followed, gigging and staying at the famous Grand Hotel Nuremberg (the balcony from which Hitler addressed the Nazi rallies). This was a Glasgow City Council trip along with Caulburn Ceilidh Band, Mairearad Green, Iain (Neilston) MacDonald, Rachel Hair, dancers and pipers. Nuremberg is a stunning city and myself and the other musicians involved were looked after really well.

February was a continuation of more hard graft, interspersed with a lovely break in County Kerry at the fab Padraig O’Neill’s house, followed by a great gig at Leith Folk Club with Innes and Duncan. It was my first time gigging there and we had a great reception. Amusingly and rather confusingly we had a turn out of 5 journalists to review the gig, but we had a nice couple of reviews from The Herald and MyGaelic. Check them out…

Herald review

MyGaelic review

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Mike and the Uggs!

March was particularly hectic with no days off, wall-to-wall workshops for the Fèis Rois YMI scheme, Fèis Ghallaibh, Fèis Dhun Eideann, RSAMD Youthworks, Gillespies High School, North Ayrshire council, and a new recording project of Ewan MacPherson’s. Then it was straight to Ullapool to do a week of teaching at Fèis Rois nan Oigridh, the residential week long music course. It was a tiring but great week and we had a good laugh along the way (see fiddler Mike Vass modelling a pair of Ugg boots opposite…!)

The next gig this month is Madden’s Bar, Belfast, 30th April, with Innes Watson. We’re looking forward to this one and hope to see as many folk there as possible. Madden’s.

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Fèis tutors skiving

May will be a bit less manic, and I’ve been asked to perform at a fundraiser for Spirit Aid, which is a humanitarian charity run by the actor David Hayman. The gig is 7th May and the charity has been doing some fantastic work in the likes of Afghanistan, Kosovo and other war torn countries, so please come out for that one as it’s for a great cause.

Finally if anybody is at a loose end in June, the West End Festival is on in Glasgow and “MyGaelic” are hosting a few events this year that myself and various other musicians are involved in. “MyGaelic” is a fantastic new company promoting Gaelic language for learners. They have a fab website where you can create your own Gaelic profile and page, à la Facebook. See  MyGaelic for details…

Ouch!

We were fortunate to be support act to the legendary Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain for a couple of days as part of the thriving Blàs festival. Innes actually made his own way to the gig, arriving on a metallic-blue mobility scooter he’d stolen from his girlfriend’s Granny! The timing could not have been more perfect as he flew round the corner just as myself, Phil, Aly and the sound guys were standing outside the venue! I don’t think any of us had laughed so much in a wee while!!

The next day involved a gig at a local High School, followed by a lengthy drive to the next venue which was Strathy. Just as we were pulling into the venue carpark, a school bus attempted to overtake me and crashed into the side of my car! Sadly that was the end of my car… 

Luckily Brian O’Headhra from Blàs and Ewan and Craig from Limelight (sound and lighting company) were on-hand to help, as were Phil and Aly, who kept everyone in good spirits with lots of jokes, stories, card-tricks and use of a functioning mobile. Amazingly we did the gig that night and then went for a much-needed drink at the local hotel. Special thanks to Brian O’Headhra and Phil Cunningham for their help, and to Jen Austin for her sterling camera work.

The following week was spent up in beautiful Ardgour at Watercolour studios. This was a Gaelic song based project with the renowned producer Jerry Boys, and I was really pleased to be part of it. Jerry was one of the producers behind the Buena Vista Social Club and has worked a lot with Ry Cooder among others. I’ve been a huge fan of the Buena Vista ever since their iconic album was first released in 1997, so it was a lovely coincidence! A crowd of us spent 5 days rehearsing, hanging out, eating, drinking and recording tracks, and got some great stuff recorded. The tracks have since been whisked away to be mixed and mastered so I will post up more info when I get it…

London (pic: Claire Prior)

October was fairly busy with lots of workshops as part of the National Mod in Falkirk. Falkirk Council employed me to deliver Gaelic song workshops to Primary schools in the run-up to the Mod. The week itself was fairly action-packed with song and language classes every day, and several late-night gigs with Marc Duff and Shaun Craig added to the mix, which was good great craic. If you’re interested, the Mod will be in Oban next year and is a great week of music, singing and good craic. www.the-mod.co.uk 

November was a month of traditional workshops up in Inverness and the North West Highlands with fab singer with The Shee, Rachel Newton. Our travels were so frought with bad weather that every week we celebrated the fact we were still alive!! 

Belfast (pic: Reamonn Giffen)

In the middle of all this I had a few gigs with Innes Watson and managed to rack up an astonishing number of miles in the space of just one week.

First up was London and a gig at the Magpie’s Nest in Islington. The Magpie’s Nest is a trendy new folk club run by Sam, Lauren and Joe, and we had a nice crowd in for the gig. From there we flew home for a night, then collected Duncan and his stick bass and headed to Belfast for a gig at the fabulous venue “An Droichead” www.androichead.com

An Droichead started off as a small Irish language school and has gone from strength to strength, also running a venue that has emerged as one of the most happening venues for folk music in the city. Despite a few sound problems, we had a fantastic time there, managed to sell an entire box of CDs within 15 minutes of the gig finishing(!) and heard some fantastic songs

more Belfast

being sung at the session that followed. There were a few sore heads in the morning and poor Duncan had to travel to Armagh for a gig at the Piping Festival the next morning. Thanks to Lynette Fay for her sterling work as “bean an taigh” and for driving Duncan and Ali to Armagh. Many thanks to Reamonn and Jim at An Droichead for a great night.

Throughout November and December the fab new Gaelic channel “MG Alba” broadcast “A’ Gharaids”. This was a fly-on-the-wall series that showcased fusion music, and I was flown over to Stornoway to collaborate on the show for 3 days with the fantastic Skye-based Indie band

The Injuns. Our task was to write and arrange a song in Gaelic, rehearse it and then perform it, all the while being interviewed and observed by a camera crew, and within a 2 and a half day timeslot! Despite the intensive nature of the project, we all had fantastic craic, and ended up

folkies in frocks!

writing a political song called “Nuair a dh’fhàg thu an taigh” (translated as “When you left home”) in a 5/4 time signature. Thanks to all at Studio Alba for their hard work.

December was slightly less manic and started with the Trad Music Awards which were held in the Fruitmarket and filmed by MG Alba. I was surprised but delighted to be nominated for “Gaelic Singer of the year”, which provided me and the rest of the folkies with the brilliant excuse to get really dressed up! Prize for

“style effort” that night should’ve gone to Simon Thoumire who was bravely wearing a silver suit and silver shoes imported from China!! A noteable exception was Iain Copeland who collected “Best Live Act”, sporting a jersey and jeans, prompting

Peatbog Faeries (Louis DeCarlo)

someone to ask why Johnny Vegas was picking up the Peatbogs’ award!! (sorry Copey…)

All in all though a fantastic night of music and awards, complete with a late-night bar and intriguingly, a trad disco.

2008 seems to have passed in a flash but I feel very lucky to have been presented with the opportunities that I’ve had this year, good friends, family, bandmates and also to be able to go fulltime with my music. Let’s hope for 2009 to be a peaceful and prosperous one for all live music, and let’s give a big two-fingers to this awful credit crunch… :) 

Bliadhna mhath ùr! x

Ewan hanging oot

First up was Vancouver Island Musicfest, run by the fantastic dobro player Doug Cox. As well as our own gigs we spent 3 days doing intensive rehearsals with a bunch of extraordinarily talented musicians and dancers from across the globe to put together a concert called “Roots of Rhythm”. Artists included the fab April Verch band, brilliant Maori roots band Pacific Curls, great flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel and dancer Ilse Gudino, fabulous Indian singer Cassius Khan and his dancer wife Amika and the fantastic musical director and all-rounder Sal Ferreras. Cassius and I had a ball interweaving Indian songs with Gaelic songs and Sal sang Spanish songs that meshed with Ora Barlow’s Maori songs. Being onstage really brought home to us all that we’re on a very small planet and our music and cultures are really so similar.

Roots of Rhythm

Besides a mad schedule of gigs, we also got to chill out and hear some fantastic bands. Highlights include Jerry Douglas (for whom we were lucky to be supporting), the Wailers (minus Bob Marley RIP) and a great West-Indies band called Kobo Town.

Many thanks to Doug Cox and Marcy Jaster for putting on a fantastic festival!

We then spent a day north of the festival visiting Yves and Barb Vachon in Campbell River. Many thanks to the Vachon family for their hospitality! After this Ewan and I had an eventful gear-carrying marathon (including 200 cds!) onto 2 ferries which eventually took us to The Sunshine Coast, where we were staying with the wonderful John and Ann Law (originally from Fort William and Morar).

Cathy Woods, Ann Law & Maeve

The Laws run the Sunshine Coast fiddle camp and you’d think after having had over 20 guests the previous week, they’d be sick of musicians! But they’d managed to organise a house concert for us while we were passing through. During our day off I found the nearest beach while Ewan fulfilled a lifetime ambition of whale watching in the Pacific! (See whale pic below). We then set up the gear on John and Ann’s porch decking and did our first house concert to a lovely crowd. We were supported by their son James’s talented young folk band. James is a great fiddler and budding soundman and it was great to hear his band playing loads of new compositions they’d just learned from Scottish friends of ours at the fiddle camp!

Ewan's whale

Aidan's dinner

the world's most talented 4 year old

Vancouver Festival

After some mighty music and craic catching up with folk, Ewan and I headed for LA, where we were staying with his pals Thomas and Tiara in Hollywood. LA driving is mental and the 2 days we were there I refused to drive our hirecar. Motorway lanes merge without warning and everybody skips red lights when turning right…! Thomas plays in a duo called “Chris and Thomas”, now based in LA and Ewan was at uni with both of them in Liverpool. We had a great time in LA, loads of sunshine, good food and I spotted an actor from my favourite show in a supermarket! Chris was going, “That’s nothing. Vince Vaughan is my next-door neighbour”…

Thomas, Tiara, Ewan

After 2 days in LA Ewan and I headed for LAX, he flew to London for a Womad gig and I flew to San Francisco to visit friends. A week later, we met up for a BBC gig. I’d just come off a 12 hour flight from San Francisco (via Vancouver and Calgary), but it had been delayed for 4 hours due to a “security alert” (never what you want to hear when you’re on a plane!) so jetlag was the order of the day. The very next day, Lauren MacColl, Spad Reid, Michael Bryan and myself all piled into my car to drive to Southampton (Stokes Bay Festival) then the Isle of Wight along with Rachel Hair and Paul Tracey.

Laureno and Spad

Maeve and Ed Boyd

We arrived just in time to hear Capercaillie, and were able to catch up with them and our friends The Shee that night. The following day was tight for time as we had one gig in Stokes Bay at 2pm and the other on the Isle of Wight at 7pm! The timing combined with a broken thermostat in the arts centre made for a sweaty gig! Good craic all in all however and we were able to get the ferry the next morning and head back up the road for more insane travels!