Championing Roots Music

ROBERT MAIN-ELLEN and his partner, Ann, run Medicine Music, the principal promotion agency for roots music and Americana in the Highlands & Islands. Rob describes their commitment to both music and the community to Kenny Mathieson.

THIS MONTH’S Wester Ross Festival is exactly the kind of community-based event that Robert Main-Ellen (known to all and sundry simply as Rob Ellen) loves to be involved with. He will be looking after the traditional music sessions and open mic nights at the Old Inn in Gairloch (12-14 September).

Rob is committed to bringing ‘roots’ artists of all kinds to the Highlands under his Acoustic Buzz banner, and making their music available to a grass roots audience around the Highlands. His tours this month include visits from the alt-country outfit the Willard Grant Conspiracy, Ireland’s John Spillane and American singer Neil Cleary.

“I love to be involved in this kind of situation where I can bring musicians to a great part of the country and let them entertain whoever wants to hear them. That’s the joy of the job for me, spreading the music and making it as accessible as possible.”

Rob is originally from Nairn, and is now based in Dingwall. His interest in music began early, in a house where his father was always ready to launch an impromptu music session. His brother, Mark Ellen, is a musician, and is a member of Scottish band Vanity Fair.

Rob’s professional involvement in music came later, when he was made redundant during the cutbacks in the oil industry in the mid-80s. He used his redundancy money to open a record shop in Inverness, and did quite well until the arrival of the major chains squeezed him out. By then, though, he had already begun to promote gigs.

“I had started putting on a few gigs in the old Phoenix Bar in Inverness. There was still no real live music scene here at that time, but then Tennents Live came along, and began supporting the grass roots network.

“I was well placed to take that on. I was always interested in the independent side, bands like Texas and Del Amitri and The McCluskey Brothers who were breaking through at the time. That got me established as a promoter, and lasted three years or so until Tennents changed policy and put the money into the big festivals instead.”
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The contacts which he had made in that period continued to pay off, and he began to get calls from artists who had been through the major touring mill, and were looking for something different.

“A lot of the bands I had worked with began to lose enthusiasm for hauling big, expensive equipment around. They started calling me and asking if I could put together wee acoustic tours for them. I ended up doing things with the true troubadours like Billy Bragg and Martin Stephenson, who is a good friend and now lives in the Highlands, and even Midge Ure. I had always been interested in roots music, and Acoustic Buzz grew from that.”

Rob’s initial promotions under that banner were at the Invernairne Hotel in Nairn, but he has developed a network of venues in the Highlands, with the Maple Court in Inverness as its anchor.

“It’s basically a wee network of family run hotels that we use, and the venues have become friends. They are supportive of what we are doing. We are also involved in things like the Songwriter’s Trail and the Catalyst festivals in Portmahomack.”

Acoustic Buzz’s promotions are primarily song-based, and also reflect a belief in the idea of communal involvement.

“Ann and I believe that music is medicine for the human spirit, which is why we called ourselves Medicine Music. I think music is our best hope of any sensible communication in these times. Through music you can talk about everyday realities and about high ideals, and connect with people on a deeper level.

“Music brings people together. I see the Songwriter’s Trail as being very much in that spirit, taking on the idea of the storyteller carrying the lore from one community to the next. That sense of community involvement is very important to me, both with our audience and with the musicians.”

To help foster that even further, they launched Friends of Medicine Music last year, a scheme in which supporters are invited to make a contribution to a fund which Rob hopes will allow them to move forward in more ambitious fashion.

“We rely on our mailing list to a huge extent. We have several hundred people on that list, plus a Highland music forum. From that kind of community spirit I felt there was an opportunity for growth, and this was one way to get people involved.”
© Kenny Mathieson, 2003

Related links

• Medicine Music