Since moving to the Highlands five years ago, I’ve been quietly seduced not only by the region’s generous supply of single-malt whiskies and its proficiency in coping with more than three-inches of snow, I’ve also grown more than a little fond of its music. Sure, the likes of Capercaille and Moray Youth Brass won’t win any prizes for transgressing any traditional boundaries or risk a custodial sentence for exposing themselves on stage or engaging in any similarly lewd acts (with the exception of Ullapool’s Loopallu Music Festival, perhaps) but there’s a rare and beguiling magnetism there all the same, not least because of their spelling.
Emily Smith’s new release, ‘Traiveller’s Joy’ (with a gaelic ‘i’), features songs written by the clear-tonsiled lassie whilst on the road in 2010 plus traditional material taken from the ‘traivelling people’ of Scotland. Whilst Emily continues to draw inspiration from her home area of rural Dumfriesshire in South West Scotland her new record adopts a more first-hand and introspective lyrical bent.
Covers include Rick Kemp’s ‘Somewhere Along the Road’, which Emily recently performed on BBC1’s ‘Songs of Praise’ and ‘Waltzing’s For Dreamers’ by Richard Thompson, whom Emily opened for on his UK tour in 2009 and went on to be featured at London’s Meltdown Festival 2010.
Guest musicians feature an international line up including Nashville’s Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Dublin’s Alan Doherty on flute and whistles, Australia’s James Fagan on bouzouki and Icelandic/Scot Signy Jakobsdottir on percussion with regular band mates Duncan Lyall on double bass and producer Jamie McClennan on guitar and fiddle.
Hobbit music at its best.