Exploring a Rural Vision

Acclaimed singer and songwriter DOUGIE MACLEAN talks to the Arts Journal about his music, from the appeal of performing solo through to putting together his multimedia creation Rural Image for Celtic Connections earlier this year.

Arts Journal: Dougie, you have some dates in the Highlands and Islands in May (see below) – will those be solo performances?

Dougie MacLean: Yes, they are, and most of the live work I do is solo. It’s easy to get around that way, and there is something really nice about the communication you get with the audience in a solo gig. I get to talk to the audience and have a bit of fun and tell a few stories and get them involved.

AJ: You don’t see it as a lesser option, then?

DM: Far from it. It is just as satisfying as working with a band. I’ve done quite a few different variations now, from solo through to playing with a string orchestra, and I love them all, but I don’t see the solo show as being any less powerful than working with other musicians. In fact, sometimes you can get a real magic happening that only comes in the solo situation. You also have the freedom to change things a wee bit of you want, in a way that you can’t do with a band.

AJ: You are based in Butterstone, near Dunkeld, but your family roots are further north, aren’t they?

DM: That’s right, and I love playing in the Highlands and Islands, although it’s a shame there aren’t more larger venues in the region as well. My family background lies in the Isle of Mull and up around Taynuilt. I still have all sorts of family scattered about up there, and it’s great to get out there and play. An interesting thing is that I know that some of my fans from other countries like to plan their holiday trips to take in a gig in the Highlands, so I’m able to make a contribution to the tourist economy as well!

AJ: We can talk about Rural Image, your multimedia show for Celtic Connections in a moment, but that rural background it reflects is very much part of your music in general, isn’t it?

DM: Very much so. I grew up here in rural Perthshire, and I think my songs reflect that. They are based in rural experience rather than city experience. I’m a great champion of rural things. I feel a great connection with the land, and that’s where my music comes from.

AJ: You adhere to the old adage on writing about what you know?

DM: I believe strongly in writing about what you know, so I don’t really write about urban experience, because that’s not me. You have to write songs about what you know, and what you understand within yourself. I couldn’t write about working in a coal mine or working in a shipyard, it has to come from my own experience, and if you do it right, it will have a universal message anyway.

AJ: Have you always both written songs and sang, or did one thing follow the other?

DM: No, I’ve pretty much always done both, actually, and since I was quite young. I was never a singer of cover versions. I love singing traditional songs – I sang them for years with the Tannahill Weavers, and I loved that, and still do, but for contemporary songs, I always preferred to sing my own. There is something great about singing your own songs, especially in theatre shows. I find I can be more relaxed and natural in my own songs, and there is more chance of getting something special over to your audience. You also tend to write them in keys and ranges that suit you!

AJ: Okay, let’s talk a bit about Rural Image, which you described at the time as A Song Vision Symphony.

DM: I’ve done shows for Celtic Connections for years now, and this year they commissioned me to do a bigger piece of music. I decided I wanted to do it as a proper show, and make use of the stage and facilities at the Concert Hall. Jenny is an artist, and we are both into a lot of different aspects of the arts, and we put together an idea for a show.

AJ: Why Song Vision Symphony?

DM: I wrote eight new songs for it based on a rural background, and we called it A Song Vision Symphony in four movements to combine the idea of bringing together the songs and the music and the visual side of it, with the dancers and the set. The set recreating an old farm building was built up here at the Pitlochry Theatre, and we had back projection in the doors and windows. It was a bit of a logistic nightmare pulling it all together!

AJ: Not to mention a cameo appearance for the Ferguson tractor!

DM: We thought that was quite a nice idea, bringing such an iconic rural image into the big city! I collect old Ferguson tractors and fix them up when I get a wee bit of spare time. People think I’m daft, but I love them. At the same time we put on a ceilidh at Butterstone village hall during Celtic Connections, and bussed the audience up from Glasgow, so there was a kind of reciprocal thing going on.

AJ: How did you feel about the way it all went?

DM: I was very pleased with the way it turned out, although in a festival context it’s difficult to get the time to really do the technical rehearsals a show like that needs. We videotaped it, and looking back on it we have seen some things we would do differently next time. You don’t really know how it will work until you put it on stage and see it.

AJ: Was that a literal one-off, or will we see it again?

DM: It was great that Celtic Connections were prepared to give a first airing to the show, and I do intend to repeat it, and to improve it as it goes along. We hope to do it again at Celtic Connections next year, and maybe line up some other theatre performances at that time. We will trim it down here and there, and I’m not promising the Ferguson again! The basic concept is quite manoeuvrable, and I would like to do that. I didn’t want to do it once and that would be it, and I think they were happy that there would be further development of it as well. That was part of the plan from the word go.

AJ: Any major changes?

DM: At the moment I’m writing a new first half. In Glasgow I did a solo set, but for next time I am writing a piece about The Sea. The whole show first time was about the land, so I thought I would write a companion piece about the sea, so the whole thing is then a proper show in both halves.

AJ: It carried a strong environmental message as well.

DM: Yes, I very much wanted it to have an ecological edge, to have some politics with a small ‘p’ in it, rather than just music, and people can take that away with them. We’re inviting them to think about it, but they are not getting bashed over the head with it.

AJ: On another tack, you were one of the first artists to go about setting up your own record company, Dunkeld Records, long before it became either easy or fashionable – why did you go in that direction at a time when it was neither?

DM: I did three records for a company early on in my career, and it was not a very satisfying experience. I wasn’t interested in having a record company tell me what I could or couldn’t do. My wife Jenny and I decided to start our own label, and at that time the only other people who had done it were the group Ossian. I had a long talk with John Martin from the band, and he was very encouraging. I had a very dear friend called Roy Ashby who let us make the first one in his studio and pay him from the proceeds, which made it possible.

AJ: This was still in the vinyl days?

DM: Yes, and it was a very complicated business in the vinyl days compared to now — even getting the information on how to do it was pretty difficult, because the big companies weren’t giving anything away. We set up a basic studio in the old school at Butterstone, and it was all good fun. We made more money per disc as well, which helped pay the bills! It was the right thing to do, and now a lot of other people are beginning to see the wisdom of it. I like the idea that the company is ours, and I have also been very careful to retain ownership of all my own songs as well.

AJ: Has the Internet made a difference?

DM: The Internet has been great for us — suddenly you have access to your own publicity machine, and direct contact with your audience. The last CD we made available pretty much only through our shop in Dunkeld and through the website, and that has done well. The whole business is changing drastically now, and the shift has been away from traditional distribution. We still get them into the shops, but it’s always changing, and you have to be ready to respond to that.

AJ: And you don’t worry about not being all over the major retailers?

DM: My philosophy is that if people genuinely like what you do, they will search it out and buy it. There is so much music out there – anybody can make a CD cheaply now. It’s not the same thing as it was years ago. I remember the excitement when the Tannahill Weavers had their first record. We had been playing for years, and it really felt like a big thing.

AJ: Finally, Dougie, what is coming up for you other than the Highland dates?

DM: I’m doing the Burns An’ A’ That! Gala Concert at Culzean Castle (20 May), the same festival as Lou Reed is playing. The show isn’t a Burns show – it’s more the spirit of Burns rather than the letter. I’ll be doing part of the show with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, which I’ve never done before. I’ve done lots with strings, but never a full symphony orchestra, and that will be exciting. And who knows, I might get to sing Auld Lang Syne with Lou Reed!

AJ: Do you have a band at this point?

DM: I have, for the first time in a while. It’s basically the rock band that did Rural Image with me, with my son Jamie on drums and Ross Ainslie on pipes. We’re doing the Lanark Celtic Festival (17 June), and some gigs in Wales. It’s been a while since I had a proper band to tour with.

AJ: And recordings?

DM: Jamie is running the studio at Butterstone now, and he has developed into a great producer and engineer. We’ll be doing an album of the songs from the Rural Image show, and it’s time to make another album of my own as well. Having your own record company means nobody is pressuring you to make a record – I like to wait until I have ten or so songs that I want to record, and work that way, rather than turn them out to a schedule.

Dougie MacLean plays the following Highlands and Islands dates in May:

Craigmonie Centre, Drumnadrochit, Friday 6 May 2005
Community Theatre, Fortrose, Saturday 7 May 2005
MacPhail Centre, Ullapool, Friday 13 May 2005
Sunart Centre, Strontian, Saturday 14 May 2005

Tickets can be purchased online from www.thebooth.co.uk

Note: Shortly after this conversation with Dougie MacLean took place, cellist and arranger Kevin MacRae was killed in an accident on a level crossing. Kevin, formerly a cellist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra before going freelance, was a very well-liked figure on the Scottish music scene, and collaborated with Dougie on Rural Image and other projects.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2005

Related Link

• Dougie MacLean website