An Introduction to Dick Gaughan

Master guitarist and singer Dick Gaughan has been touring and recording since 1970 and for six years, between 1975 and 1981, was a Topic recording artist. It's from those years that this selection is culled, including his most successful album in terms of sales and acclaim, A Handful of Earth. A classic of politically engaged contemporary folk, five of its tracks feature here, including opener, ‘Both Sides the Tweed’, a song for Scottish independence. There's also a cover of Leon Rosselson's paean to revolutionary thought, ‘World Turned Upside Down’, and miner/poet Ed Pickard's angry ‘The Pound a Week Rise’.

‘Bonnie Woodha’ is one of the earliest cuts, from Gaughan's time with The Boys of the Lough, and one of the outstanding pieces here is his take on Dominic Behan's ‘Crooked Jack’, featuring him on electric guitar, from his excellent eponymous 1978 album. There's a series of instrumentals from his 1975 set of Scottish and Irish dance music, ‘Coppers & Brass’, while among the traditional songs, the closing ‘Willie O'Winsbury’ is lean and spectral, and the lovely ‘Scarecrow’ is another highlight, a haunting and lyrical solo from 2002's Shining Bright, dedicated to Lal and Mike Waterson.