Besides being Scotland’s fastest-flowing river the River Spey has long been associated with fine whiskey and song. The area surrounding the 107 mile river, Speyside, is home to some familiar names: Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Aberlour, Tomintoul to name just a few. And so an old sprawling house on the banks of the river seemed the perfect setting to record a series of sessions celebrating tradtional Scottish folk songs from Burns to bothy ballads.
As well as celebrating the music, the project, led by actor Kevin McKidd (“Brave”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Rome”, “Trainspotting”) and best friend James D. Reid, will raise money for the charity, Save the Children.
There is a great warmth and comfort to this album and after watching some of the videos that were made of the sessions you can see why. Contributing musicians include Scote fiddler, Paul Anderson, Bryan Tolland (a former member of Scottish alternative rock band, Del Amitri), and a wealth of vocal and musical talent with ties ranging from the traditional (The National Theatre of Scotland), to the electronic contemporary indie music scene (Big Fat Electric Ceilidh).
One that didn’t make the album: Mairi’s Wedding
Trailer
The album is out now, available at iTunes, Amazon, 7Digital and other digital retailers but if you want to buy the album please buy it from bandcamp as more profits will go to Save the Children.
http://thespeysidesessions.com
