Feb 3, 2012

Our Album of the Week for week commencing Saturday 3rd February is Stories of Angels & Guitars from Patsy Matheson.

Listen to our feature programme, with Patsy talking to Ross Macfadyen from 12 noon and 12 midnight on Saturday and from 6pm on Monday 6th February.

Patsy Matheson has come a long way since 1991, when, as a young singer/songwriter, she entered a song writing competition, and was chosen as the winner by none other than Maddy Prior and Clive Gregson .

Her first solo album, ‘With My Boots On’, 1996 featured just her voice and that instantly recognisable guitar and received much critical acclaim (Froots described ‘an angel voice’) Along the way, she supported such names as John Martyn , Glenn Tilbrook , Dick Gaughan , Nick Harper , Al Stewart , Roy Harper etc and toured the UK alongside Christy Moore as well as Gordon Giltrap. In 1997, she appearanced solo on the acoustic stage at the Glastonbury Festival.

In 2003, she took on the challenge of putting together a female vocal harmony group and Waking the Witch was formed. The band rapidly went from strength to strength, releasing three groundbreaking albums and a live DVD. They completed numerous tours of the UK, played at many of the major festivals, including Cambridge, Trowbridge and Glastonbury and made countless radio appearances, including live sessions on BBC Radio 2 for both Janice Long and Bob Harris . Patsy’s song ‘Rock n Roll’ was featured on Mike Harding’s Radio 2 Folk & Roots show.

Following the farewell tour of Waking the Witch in spring 2008, and armed with a bunch of brand new songs, Patsy set about recording a solo album, ‘Little Piece of England’ . Over the last 3 years, she has toured the length and breadth of the UK, ccompanied by legendary songwriter/guitar player, Clive Gregson and also can be heard singing on his latest album ‘Bittersweet’ (Spring 2011).

In May 2011, she contributed her version of Bob Dylan’s ‘One More Cup of Coffee’, as part of an album of Dylan songs which also features Martin Simpson , Chris & Kelly While , Christine Collister, Jez Lowe, Dave Burland etc, to raise funds for Oxfam. Froots described ‘a unique, almost spaced but addictive rendering – she gets right inside the song and turns it into a blues for sensitive souls with a vocal that’s half spoken and half seduction.’

Her new album, Stories of Angels & Guitars features her playing guitar and mandolin, with guest musicians Hugh Whittaker ( The Housemartins ) on drums and Jon Short (double bass). Along with Becky Mills, another ex member of Waking the Witch, she will be touring throughout the UK in February, March and April to support the release.

Buy a copy of Patsy Matheson’s Stories of Angels & Guitars from Amazon and support Celtic Music Radio.

Jan 28, 2012

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Celtic Music Radio has the best playlist of any folk music station that I know of. The mix of contemporary and traditional Celtic and Celtic-infludenced genres has clearly been selected by knowlegeable curators with excellent taste. This exemplary quality is not available in any mainstream media, Celtic music may not be commercially lucrative for the mainstream, but is nevertheless culturally very important.

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Jan 28, 2012

Not only is Gordon Hotchkiss a top flight radio presenter, but he also takes a good photo!

You can view a selection of Gordon’s “snaps” via our flickr pages. Just Click here!

Jan 27, 2012

This week we have not one but TWO albums of the week! Edinburgh singer/songwriter, Tom Fairnie has recent released “non-identical twin” CDs, Banishment & As Eden Lay in Darkness

Listen to our feature Album of the Week programme with Ciaran Dorris on Saturday 28th January from 12 noon and 12 midnight.

Tom says: “These two CDs have been almost four years in the making and there are lots of people to whom I owe a big debt of thanks for having helped, encouraged or inspired their creation and a significant amount of people participated in their production as well. I really am very proud of them and I would hope that you would all enjoy listening to them.”

“I attempt to write lyrical, melodic and intelligent songs and try to make the best use of my guitar skills to provide sensitive uncluttered arrangements. I often gig as a part of The Travelling Waverlies, who perform a mixture of poetry and song and who released their first cd Speaking In Tongues to really good reviews.

The Waverlies compromise four poets…Bob Shields, Billy Cornwall, Mike Dillon and myself although the group has grown to be more inclusive and performers such as Mark Barnett, Martin Boland, Nancy Somerville, Jane Fairnie and Kenny Vass have all contributed. We have toured the Netherlands and performed at various festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe.

I often collaborate with Bob and we are steadily building up a catalogue of songs. Our joint efforts feature on birthmarked, Speaking In Tongues, The Harbour At Symi, Companions, War On War, The Journeyman and As Eden Lay In Darkness.

My style cuts across folk, country and blues but I simply try to write the best songs that I can. On my last CD, The Journeyman, I was lucky to have the support and help of singers and players like Kathy Stewart, Arthur Wilson, Kenny Vass, Martin Boland, Ken Kennedy, Killian Playthell-Steele, Gill Reid, Pamela Halpin, Peter Kavanagh, Mark Barnett, Jane Fairnie and others.”

Tom also organises the Foakies, which  is an evening devoted to singer songwriters and poets performing their own original songs and writing. It takes place on the first Monday of every month (except August and January) in the downstairs lounge of The Royal Oak at 1 Infirmary Street in Edinburgh. Entry is just £5 entry.

“It has, at times, been absolutely magical and it has never been less than a great evening,” says Tom. “We’ve had a wealth of talent at Foakies and, after a couple of years out, we are back with the help of fellow songwriter, Simon Kempston.”

You can purchase Banishment & As Eden Lay in Darkness from Tom Fairnie by clicking this link.

Each CD is just £10, or buy both for £15!

Jan 20, 2012

This week’s Album of the Week is Kissin Is The Best Of A’ from Bruce MacGregor and Christine Hanson.

Listen to our feature programme from 12 noon and 12 midnight on Saturday 21st January.

Kissin’ Is the Best of A’ – Bruce MacGregor, Christine Hanson & Friends: This lovely new album from Blazin’ fiddler Bruce with Christine Hanson on cello could be a follow up to his 101 Reasons To Do Nothing, albeit 10 years later, since Christine also featured on that album. Bruce writes in the sleevenotes that this CD is “a collection of tunes that we enjoy playing” . Included are the ancient air ”Gin Ye Kiss My Wife I’ll Tell the Minister’, The rather lovely ‘Sunday River Waltz’ and of course ‘Kissin’ Is the Best of A” from the mighty Athol Collection of 1884. Joining Bruce and Christine are Tim Edey on guitar and box, and Brian McAlpine on piano.

Taught the fiddle by the wonderful Highlander, Donald Riddell CBE, Bruce MacGregor never anticipated playing music for a living. As a graduate in Byzantine and Medieval Italian History at Edinburgh University, he discovered that conversations in bars never moved towards this topic and so decided to chance his hand on a Business post grad. at Napier University. It was here that he discovered he hated accounts and computers, and so that was two career paths crossed off the possible list. A return to his hometown of Inverness led to him to try and sell cars at his father’s garage. He quickly discovered he was pretty hopeless at this and he didn’t really like cars – he either drives a red one or a blue. So, he took his fiddle and went busking on the High Street with a pal instead.

A freak accident whilst being an extra in “Chasing the Deer”, one of the worst films ever made, resulted in him becoming a Researcher at the BBC in Inverness (it’s a long story…) A few years working there and moving on to being a Producer led to him making documentaries on famous Scottish fiddlers, which some folk obviously liked as they won two awards at the Celtic Media Festival. He made many feature programmes for BBC Scotland, including programmes on historical figures and landmark events.

However, the seven year itch had set in and he decided to set up Blazin’ Fiddles as a showcase band for a one-off tour. Fourteen years on and the band is still touring to packed houses throughout the country, having played at the Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and hundreds of village halls in between.

Music has taken Christine Hanson from touring Canada’s High Arctic with a tango trio to playing traditional music in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

While classically trained, Christine in her many roles – cellist, composer and sound designer – is eclectic in her musical explorations. Her experiences include compositional commissions, arranging, studio work, theatre work, and performing as an ensemble musician with a variety of groups that play classical, folk, pop-jazz, and experimental music. She is also an experienced instructor, teaching professional master classes in workshop settings on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christine also appears with the Amati trio in Canada.

Click here to buy a copy of Kissin Is The Best Of A’ from Amazon and support Celtic Music Radio