It seems that throughout the weeks of sombre news around Covid-19 there have been ever increasing accounts of community spirit, kindness,...

Big excitement in our house this morning with the arrival of a package! Not for my son (for a change), but for me. I decided a couple of...

Of all the gigs, weddings, and various events I should have been playing over these lockdown months, there is one I am especially sorry...

This weekend, twenty-five years ago, I attended my first adult Fèis (tuition festival), and little did I know it would change my life!...

Playing music is one of my biggest passions, but I also love writing about music. I guess that’s why I enjoy doing this column so much!...

Charles Dickens’ novel ‘The Tale of Two Cities’ opens with the well-known lines, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it...

This afternoon I removed the winter cover from our garden bench and sat in the warm sunshine to write this column. With fresh green...

Did you have a child or grandchild competing in the Inverness Music Festival this week? Perhaps as a teacher you took your class or your...

In the midst of dreich, grey weather and weekly storms, summer might seem very far away but there are excellent reasons to cast our...

If anything was going to raise a smile in these cheerless winter days, it was surely the sight of the three bare-chested MacLean brothers...

January is without doubt a tough month. The weather’s been dreich and miserable, and we’re all supposed to be starting out on some ‘new...

As we settle into a new year, and Spring still a long way off, many of us are wondering how best to banish winter blues. Well, nature...

A radio programme I heard this week really caught my attention and has made me view my forthcoming festive gigs, especially the Red Hot...

It’s fast approaching, folks, and with this weekend seeing us tip into December, the countdown surely starts now. Yes, I mean Christmas,...

With the annual Scots Trad Music Awards once again on the horizon, ahead of a certain other voting event, it’s time to cast our eyes over...

On returning from holiday last week and catching up on things back home, I found my social media feeds full of the happy smiling faces of...

Like most folk musicians, my working life consists of various strands of teaching, playing, recording and composing, but recently I had a...

With the October break nearly upon us, parents everywhere will already be wondering how best to keep the kids occupied for the fortnight....

Something completely magical came winging its way from Kansas to our home this week. No, it wasn’t two shiny red shoes and not from the...

It’s perhaps all too easy to be sceptical or cynical about music talent competitions; the splurge of TV talent shows in recent years has...