Scotland,The Far North

From the islands we return back to the mainland to Ullapool in the region of Wester Ross.  Here we meet harpist Rachel Newton.  This song Mo Chubhrachan is from her 2014 album Changeling:

As we are heading north we are just stopping short of John O'Groats the northern tip of mainland Scotland for a visit to Wick, where accordionist Hugh Morrison was born.  This is a tune from his debut 2003 album Feet to the Floor:

Hopping over to Orkney,winters can get seriously cold up here, so what better to warm yourself up, than with some stomp music from 8-piece band The Chair.  This lively tune is called Scariest Room and features on their 2013 album Road to Hammer Junkie:

Moving even further up north we arrive on Shetland.  Fiddler Willie Hunter (1933-1994) played an important role in the revival of Shetland fiddle traditions.  This sad tune, accompanied on Piano by long-time collaborator Violet Tulloch is called Leaving Lerwick Harbour and is the title track to their 1995 album:

Here's a live performance of them joined by Aly Bain of Love O' Da Isles which features on the album Willie Hunter Sessions:

Half of the all female fiddle quartet Rant are from Shetland (the other 2 from the Highlands).  Their fiddles are tuned differently giving depth to their lively style of traditional tunes.  Here's a pair of tunes, a march called Ferguson of Raith and a reel called Miss Mary MacDonald's from their self-titled 2013 debut album:

That's it from the far north, next we'll be heading back to the mainland exploring the Eastern Highlands of Scotland.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my tripline map.  

Scotland, from Glasgow to the Western Highlands

Before we leave Glasgow and head north there is one band I forgot about in my last post and what better tune to recover from your Hogmanay hangover than Drunk at Night, Dry in The Morning by legendary 70's and 80's folk band Ossian from an old live performance.  The tune features on their 1994 Best of Ossian album

 Moving up to Oban in the Argyll region we meet Capercaillie, who have been singing traditional Scottish Gaelic songs with contemporary instrumentation since 1984.  If you have 50 minutes watch this documentary on their 30th anniversary:

If you don't have so much time simply listen to Breisleach from their 1995 album To The Moon:

Fiddler Aidan O'Rourke grew up in Oban and is most notable for his involvement in the Scottish/English folk trio Lau.  The other too members are Kris Drever (Guitar and vocals) from Orkney and accordionist Martin Green from London.  They actually formed in 2004 around a kitchen table in Edinburgh.  They have collaborated with numerous big name artists and write their own material.  I Don't Want to Die Here is the opening track on their 2019 album Midnight and Closedown: 

From Oban we hop over to the Isle of Mull, where Alisdair MacIlleBhain hails from, also sometimes known as Alisdair Whyte for reasons I haven't been able to figure out. He's got together with Ross Whyte of Aberdeenshire (perhaps they are married, explaining Alisdair's 2 names) to form Whɏte the Band, who combine traditional Gaelic songs with electronica, a rather unique blend.  Tairm is the title track from their 2018 album.  

The band Mànran is very much based around the western Highlands with 2 of the founding members originating from Fort William and Spean Bridge respectively (Ewen Henderson and Gary Innes).  They have been active since 2010 playing folk rock mostly sung in Gaelic.  Thugainn is their latest single, which was used as a soundtrack to a film of the legendary North Coast 500 road.  The video shows some spectacular landscapes of the Highlands. 

That's it for today, next we will be hopping around some of the Hebridean islands.  As usual you follow my virtual trip on the Tripline map.