The Gathering 07
Hundreds of entries were received for The Gathering 2007, from people of all ages and differing musical styles from across Scotland.
Our panel of judges included Ronnie Gurr former head of A&R at V2 records, singer-songwriter Karine Polwart, music journalist Tim Barr, Head of Radio at BBC Scotland Jeff Zycinski and other experts in their fields in the music industry. After much debate and the winners were finally chosen.
Burnsong wishes to thank everyone who entered The Gathering and we encourage all songwriters to maintain their involvement through our programme of workshops, gigs and talks.
2007 The Gathering Winners
For further information on each of our winners, click on their name:
- Andi Neate - Home
- Tom Murray - Reverse The hearse
- David Ferrard - One Hell Of A Ride
- Amy Duncan – My Dad
- Lisa Paton - Albasylum
- Lori Watson - Merl
- Rodger Lyall - Garvock’s Ghaist
- Mary Barclay (Carroll), Doug Carroll, Owen Fielding - Blackbird
- Mairi Campbell, Dave Francis - Smile or Cry
- Paraig MacNeil - Honours for Fees
- Aly Macrae – You’ve Been Leithed
- Steven Palmer - The John McGlinchy Bridge
Winner Details
- Andi Neate - Home
Andi Neate is a singer/songwriter of exceptional talent, with a powerful voice, a gift for melody and a memorably quirky turn of phrase. She is a compelling live performer, who has been compared with Suzanne Vega, Ani Difranco and Tori Amos.
Andi does not easily fit into established categories, but draws on a wide range of influences from folk to rock to jazz. She has recorded with the Bhundu Boys and Ireland’s chart topping Mickey Harte and supported Rab Noakes, John Renbourne, Grammy nominee Eliza Gilkyson, Wolfstone and Horse MacDonald and shared a stage with KT Tunstall. She appears regularly at UK festivals, including Glastonbury, Cambridge Fringe Festival, Wickerman, Solfest and The Famous Spiegeltent. Her music has taken her as far afield as Canada, Sicily, Prague and the Falkland Islands.
Andi has released four solo albums, including her most recent, Lion Taming for Astronauts (2007). Recorded live at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club, it features four brand new songs - Rocketship, Love As If, Home and Tales from the Circus - and a selection of favourites from her three previous recordings.
"An upbeat, sophisticated air that is easily on a par with Beth Orton, Suzanne Vega and Tori Amos… " Get Rhythm
www.andineate.co.uk
- Tom Murray - Reverse The Hearse
Tom Murray was born in Ayr and when he left school worked as a lathe operator in a now defunct engineering works. He has since been employed as a barman, cleaner, commis chef, dishwasher, website designer, park attendant, art gallery invigilator, van driver, cinema usher and composer for theatre and dance.
A few years ago he started writing songs and later formed a band, Dumb Instrument, to perform the songs. He lives in West Kilbride with Vanessa and his two children, Georgie and Jimmy.
www.myspace.com/dumbinstrument
- David Ferrard - One Hell Of A Ride
David Ferrard is a 29 year-old Scottish American singer-songwriter. He broke onto the folk scene in 2006 with his rootsy songs that, whilst contemporary, evoke the 60s folk revival when singer-songwriters’ original output blended with traditional material. His strong, catchy melodies and commitment to social issues make his music both accessible and meaningful.
David’s award-winning songwriting has been compared to Woody Guthrie and John Prine; his ‘sweet, crystal’ vocals to John Denver, and has been called ‘Scotland’s answer to Rufus Wainwright’ (Glasgow Evening Times)
David has just recorded his debut album at Glasgow's prestigious Ca Va Sound, produced by Brian Young (John Martyn, Runrig), featuring Karine Polwart, Alan Thomson (John Martyn, Pentangle), North Carolina bluegrass virtuoso Josh Goforth, and other special guests.
'Bits of Woody Guthrie wedged in between Tom Paxton and Bob Dylan' Edinburgh Evening News
www.davidferrard.com
- Amy Duncan - My Dad
Amy Duncan’s vocals are stunningly graceful and wide-ranging, rising to airy, hopeful highs and suddenly sinking to solemn, heart-stopping lows.
Amy uses her voice as an instrument, anchored by a serene, yet resonant tone that flows like mercury as she boldly bends, holds, and elongates notes, sounding like the wind blowing over the hollow of a glass bottle in the lower register and suspending upper-range notes mid-air like a high-wire artist.
Her modulated and soulful vocal phrasing is striking and lends comparison to the smooth placidity of Meriel Barham of the Pale Saints, the yearning reaches of Sarah McLachlan, the pure lightness of Enya, and the deep tones and conviction of early-day Sinead O’Connor. Pilgrimage, her debut album, is nothing short of a vocal, and lyrics-based (lyrics are clear, spare, and contemplative), masterpiece, supported by soothing, unobtrusive instrumentation.
www.myspace.com/amyduncan
- Lisa Paton - Albasylum
"I was born Lisa Rigby in 1974 in Norwich, England to a Trinidadian Mum and Yorkshire-born/half-Scottish Dad and at the age of 8, moved to Perth, Scotland with my parents and younger brother. My parents‘ record collection introduced me to a wide variety of music, from classical to jazz to African rhythm to rock ‘n roll; my father in his younger years had been a band guitarist and I was lucky to gain my mother’s sense of rhythm, listening to her calypso and soca records. My interest in musical variety has never dissipated since.
"After secondary school, I lived in various places around England and Scotland, including Newcastle, Glasgow, London, York and Leeds but I’ve always felt that Scotland is my home. I now live in Edinburgh with my husband Richard.
"I started learning guitar when I was 21 (I was singing backing vocals at the time for Perth band Quick, based in Glasgow) and began trying to write songs for a brief time. I started writing in earnest in 2004 after jamming with Iona Marshall, another Edinburgh singer-songwriter; we went on to play as the duo SoulAlba for a while. The open mic circuit in Edinburgh - in particular, Out of the Bedroom - also gave me more confidence to perform, especially when Iona went travelling and I had to go it alone!
"My songs are always from the heart - I’m always keen to make the words and feelings contained within truthful to how I see the world."
www.myspace.com/lisapaton
- Lori Watson - Merl
Lori Watson's musical life encompasses a myriad of roles. As fiddle player, singer, researcher and composer, she divides her time between regular performances, writing new material, teaching, recording on her family-run music label and, in particular, studying for a PhD in Contemporary Innovation and Traditional Music.
Lori's research, recording and performing has been a driving force in the current resurgence of Borders music with projects such as Border Fiddles and James Hogg: A Life in Music. But although her musical roots lie firmly in the Borders her understanding and interpretation of Scots and worldwide traditions is undeniably resonant.
An experienced young performer, Lori was a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician in 2002 and 2003, A Celtic Connections Danny Award winner in 2005 and is a graduate of the RSAMD. Her latest album 'Three' released on ISLE Music Scotland features Lori's re-workings of traditional songs and continues to gain critical acclaim.
"destined to be a true star in the folk firmament" MU Magazine
www.loriwatson.co.uk
- Rodger Lyall - Garvock’s Ghaist
"The story, based on fact, is one which has been passed down in my home town of Inverbervie for over 600 years - I learned it as a boy and then found an account of it again in Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Scots Quair. The tune is an adaptation from Burns' Deil's Awa Wi The Exciseman - so there we have a combination of literature from Scotland's greatest writer and music from Scotland's greatest songwriter."
Rodger is an experienced folk musician who has been influential in the folk community for several years.
Mary Barclay (Carroll), Doug Carroll, Owen Fielding - Blackbird
Mary Barclay originally hails from the village of Twynholm in the South West of Scotland. Although she has been singing since a very early age and has fronted the ‘Sensational Mary Barclay Band’ for the past 12 years, she is a relative newcomer to song writing.
Having spent around 18 years working in local government, Mary left to be with her young children and it was then she decided to concentrate on writing her own material - she’d spent years singing about the feelings of others and now it was the time to be writing and singing about her own.
In 2006, Mary recorded ‘Let It Fly Tonight’ with her band. The album consisted of 8 original tracks including ‘Blackbird’- a song written by Mary with the assistance of her husband Doug Carroll and band member Owen Fielding.
Mary’s songs are written completely from her own experiences and it was a personal loss that inspired her to write ‘Blackbird’. Her father, who she was extremely close to, died in August of 2003. His death was very difficult for her to deal with but, around Christmas of the same year, she was somewhat comforted at the sight of a small blackbird in her garden. He had a recognisable white mark on his head and it turned out he would stay around for the next 3 years. Mary felt (or maybe hoped) that this little bird had perhaps been sent by her father to watch over her and her family. So, with the blackbird in mind and her longing for a summerhouse with a big soft duvet and flowers in the window, Mary wrote ‘Blackbird’ in 2006.
Doug Carroll (pictured on right) is a very talented guitarist and has co-written many compositions for film and television. In 2005, he visited Nashville to promote his music and immerse himself in the scene, working with other songwriters. Doug runs a recording studio from his home in Dalbeattie where the piano and vocal version of ‘Blackbird’ was recorded.
Owen Fielding is the newest member of the Sensational Mary Barclay Band, joining the group in 2006. Owen played piano on ‘Blackbird’.
Mary, Doug and Owen, along with the other band members continue to perform songs from ‘Let It Fly Tonight’ as part of their live set. Their eagerly awaited next album is currently being recorded.
http://www.sensationalmarybarclayband.com
- Mairi Campbell, Dave Francis - Smile or Cry
The Cast, David Francis (guitar) and Mairi Campbell (fiddle, viola, voice), have been playing together since 1992. They made their debut album ‘The Winnowing’ for Alasdair Fraser’s Culburnie Records the following year, with a second CD for Culburnie, ‘Colours of Lichen’ appearing in 1996. After a long absence from recording their third album, ‘greengold’ came out on Greentrax in the summer of 2007. Their repertoire includes interpretations of the songs of Robert Burns and contemporary writers, traditional songs from the British Isles, some of their own songs and the fiddle and dance music of Scotland and Cape Breton.
The Cast has appeared at festivals and venues in Italy, Spain, the US, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany, as well as clubs, arts centres and festivals all over the UK - including major festivals such as Celtic Connections, Towersey, Burns and a’ That and Warwick.
Mairi and Dave were married in 1994 and have two daughters. They live in Portobello in Edinburgh.
http://www.footstompin.com/artists/alphabet/pv/the_cast
- Paraig MacNeil - Honours For Fees
"Born in 1955 from a Gaelic speaking family, on my father's side, which settled in Perthshire, my great-uncle, the seanchaidh, would tell tales from memory of everything from: the Fianna, clans, wonder tales, seal-folk, wise fools, place names, emigration, Jacobites to the Wars of Independence. His storytelling was interwoven with song,verse, rhyme, riddle or proverb. Over the last two decade, I have had the privilege of following in his footsteps, working in schools, and appearing regularly at festivals both at home and overseas, working with people of all age groups.
"Being made, in the year 2000, Honorary Gaelic Bard/Seanchaidh for Clan Gregor Society, I have also composed original Gaelic verses for them since.
"I am currently in the middle of writing the second volume of an epic poem celebrating Scotland's inventors, innovators, and discoverers, in rhyming couplets (in Scots/English) called 'Brainheart'.
" However, I am firmly of the conviction that the folk song is the voice of the people and how they perceive things, as would have Rabbie Burns, who courageously outlined, with great cultural eloquence, these truths, in his songs and poems. Therefore in that tradition, I passionately like to write (for almost two decades now): eulogies or elegies, of important people, with original tunes, and also songs highlighting current events and hypocrisy in high places, some of which, I like to write in the form of parody/satire. Therefore, when I heard Archie Fisher talking of Burnsong on Radio Scotland's Travelling Folk, I was glad to take part."
Aly Macrae - You’ve Been Leithed
Born in the heart of darkest Ayrshire, Aly was brung up singing and playing with his family's band the Macrazies, graduating to the more serious art of playing for ceilidhs with the Tattiehowkers and later the Oatcakes.
Lured by the promise of working late nights and long periods of unemployment he trained in theatre arts and has appeared on scottish and international stages over the past ten years or so. It was while performing the role of a foul-mouthed, banjo-wielding, dead-schoolboy-balladeer in Vanishingpoint's LOST ONES that he first put pen to paper in earnest writing songs originally about the show and then whatever took his fancy; favourite jumpers, evil teddy-bears, charity shops, beer etc. Rumors abound of a fabled solo album entitled Popstardombeckons.
He recently composed for and musically directed a seven-piece Kosovan band in Vanishingpoint's SUBWAY which won a herald angel and a fringe first at the Edinburgh festival fringe
www.myspace.com/popstardombeckons
- Steven Palmer - The John McGlinchy Bridge
"My earliest musical influence was my mother, respected folk singer/songwriter Eileen Penman. Hearing her sing songs by people like Bob Dylan, Dick Gaughan and Joan Baez from a really young age had a very strong impact on me, even if I didn’t know it at the time. My own chosen musical influences beyond this are very varied ranging from Soul and Jazz to Singer/Songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt, Jimmy Webb and Paul Weller (probably my strongest influence).
" Before becoming engrossed with the art of songwriting about ten years ago I was a Drummer / Percussionist for a number of years playing semi professionally and teaching. I continue to teach on regular basis through two separate youth music projects I run for the City of Edinburgh Council and Canongate Youth Project (CYP).
" My 2007 Burnsong Gathering entry ‘The John McClinchy Bridge’ was inspired by a man called John McClinchy from Dunfermline who was one of the many men who died building the Forth Rail Bridge . It seemed clear to me by the lack of recognition paid to these men through the years that we as a nation had failed to acknowledge their tremendous contribution to such an amazing achievement. This song therefore was my own attempt to pay homage to these men. Although the song is based on a real person and event I have used my own imagination and poetic license to bring it to life."
