Despite the Wind and Rain

Despite the Wind and Rain is the first album from the duo of Gaelic singer-pianist Rachel Walker and singer and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Jones. Both prominent on the Scottish traditional music scene over the past 20 years – Walker with Gaelic singing group Cruinn and West Coast band Skipinnish; Jones with north-east ballad champions Old Blind Dogs – they pay tribute here to influential but under-recognised women in Scottish history.

It's a well-researched project and easy on the ear, with Walker and Jones’ own writing, singing and instrumental talents complemented by Gaelic poet Marcas Mac an Tuairneir and some of Scotland's leading string and session players. Walker celebrates the 14th-century warrior queen Sgàthach in a slightly ethereal opening track, and sings later of Gormshùil Mhòr's wisdom to choppy, effective string rhythms on a track by the same name. Jones remembers Glasgow-born curator of Ghana's heritage, Maud Sulter, with a sturdy vocal in ‘Thin Black Line’, honours the suffrage movement in the plaintive ‘Sunflowers’ and details the delightful Orcadian character Bessie Miller in a manner that's not a million miles away from Paul Brady's classic ‘Arthur McBride’.