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 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

Jan 12, 2012

The Celtic Music Radio Album of the Week commencing Saturday 14 January 2012 is from The Saw Doctors with ‘The Further Adventures.‘

The Saw Doctors formed in 1986 in Tuam, County Galway have achieved 18 Top 30 singles in Ireland, including three number ones.

Their first number one, “I Useta Lover” topped the Irish charts for nine consecutive weeks in 1990 and still holds the record for the country’s all-time biggest-selling single.

Renowned for their live performances, the band has a cult following, especially in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. On 15 February 2008, they received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Meteor Ireland Music Awards.
They describe themselves as a band who were ‘Born into a repressed, catholic, conservative, small-town, agrarian, angst-ridden and showband infested society we’re trying to preserve the positive elements of our background and marry them to the sounds which have culturally invaded our milieu through TV, radio, 45′s, fast food restaurants, 24 hour petrol stations and electric blankets!’

They were recently on tour in Scotland and lead singer Davy Carton dropped in to studio 2 a few hours before going on stage at the Glasgow Barrowlands for a chat with our own Edmund.

Album of the Week with Edmund McKay, Saturday 14 January at 12 noon and 12 midnight and Monday 16 January at 6.00pm. 

Click here to buy a copy of The Further Adventures of The Saw Doctors from Amazon

Jan 7, 2012

The first CD Album of the Week in 2012 is the CD by Alastair Robert & Friends with an album titled ‘Too Long In This Condition’ on the Navigator Records label.

Bill Morris talks to Alasdair Roberts about his new CD and his music on our Album of the Week programme on Saturday 7 January 2012 at 12 noon with a repeat at 12 midnight and on Monday9 January at 6.00pm.

Alasdair Roberts has been based in Glasgow for the past ten years. His first releases consisted of home-made four-track recordings of his songs under the name Appendix Out.

The new CD ‘Too Long In This Condition’ features 10 ballads and one tune which have been in Alasdair’s live repertoire for the past three or four years and wich he has been keen to record for some time.

Alasdair has a few appearances in Glasgow during the Celtic Connections 2012 festival period in Glasgow in January 2012, some connected with the festival and some not.

On 25 January Burns Night, he’ll be appearing with Naomi Bedford at the Mitchell Theatre Glasgow.  Naomi’s recent album Tales from the Weeping Willow recorded by Gerry Diver in London, features some vocal and guitar contributions from Alasdair and a host of other collaborators. Later that evening he’ll be appearing at The Old Hairdresser for a ‘Byrne’s’ Supper which will celebrate the life and work of Talking Heads’ David Byrne as well as of the fellow who must be Scotland’s most celebrated poet, Robert Burns.

On 27 January he’ll be joining RM Hubbert for the launch of his new album Thirteen Lost and Found, recorded by Alex Kapranos in the Scottish Borders. The album features many collaborators including Alasdair on a vocal its closing track.

Then on 28 January, Alasdair will be joined by Shane Connolly, Rafe Fitzpatrick and Ben Reynolds to play at a tribute concert to Alistair Hulett at St Andrew’s in the Square, Glasgow.

Album of the Week, Saturday 12 noon and 12 midnight and Monday at 6.00pm

Dec 17, 2011

This week’s Album of the Week is It’s Christmas Now! from Connecticut band called Eclipse with a Scottish heritage.

Listen to our feature programme presented by Ross Macfadyen with interviews from the band on Saturday 17 December from 12 noon and 12 midnight and on Monday 19 December from 6.00pm.

Eclipse is Matt Wilkie and his twin sisters Nell Malyszka and Trish Keil.

They were born and raised in Edinburgh where the trio performed throughout Scotland. In 1975 they moved to the United States of America where they performed acoustic music along the east coast.

In 1986 Andy Lafreniere joined the band bringing his experience as an acoustic and electric guitarist as well as his skills as a composer and arranger. The group then evolved into a seven piece band playing a variety of popular music of the 1970s and 1980s.

With this new Christmas recording they are now going back to their roots by performing original acoustic and traditional music. All members of Eclipse now make Connecticut their home. Andy and Nell are co-directors of the Suzuki Talent Educational School of Sandy Hook, Connecticut where they teach early music programmes as well as lessons in piano and classical guitar.

Trish also teaches in the early music programme.  Matt runs a successful contracting business called Scotia Contracts at Southbury, Connecticut, USA.

Download a copy of It’s Christmas Now! from Amazon and support Celtic Music Radio!

Album of the Week, Saturdays at 12 noon and 12 midnight and Monday at 6.00pm and also on Catch Up anytime.

Eclipse performing live on Saturday Night (left) at the Newton Meeting House for Kevin’s Community Center, Free Medical Clinic.