A Walk in The Highlands
Those of you who have visted the site know about our long planned trip with one of our favorite folkies, Rod MacDonald. Well August 8th, 1998 found us, and a nice handful of other very committed fans at the beautiful St. Mary's Cottage on the grounds of the privately owned Duns Castle in Duns Scotland. To say this week was a dream come true is an understatement-happily, we can report that the week was nearly flawless as night after night brought more musical magic.
Our first surprise came on the very first day. As we all
assembled at the cottage Lori and I were especially anxious for the arrival of our
friends, Arthur and Krys Wood. Some of you have heard us talk about Arthur.
He's one of a small handful of people who know the folk scene on both sides of the
Atlantic, inside and out. His insights into this stimulating world of music are many
and his magazine, The
Kerrville Kronikle, is indispensible to those who want to keep up with the
folk scene. Anyway, late in the afternoon of Sunday the ninth, Arthur and Krys
rolled in. But there were three people in the car. The mystery was quickly
answered as out of the car popped Terry Clarke, our very favorite English folkie.
Anyone from Austin probably knows Terry from his frequent trips there and collaborations
with Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jesse Taylor and just about anyone else who's in
town. Those of us stateside will get to know Terry better sometime in October.
Terry's four cd's have been picked up by Koch international for distribution here.
The four, "Call Up A Hurricane", "The Shelly River", Rhythm Oil-The
Sessions", and "The Heart Sings" are all exceptional with "The Shelly
River" being one of my desert island discs. When these come out we urge all to
try this guy out.
So anyway, Terry pops out of the car and I just about faint. Rod, Arthur, and Terry had cooked this up as a grand surprise for Lori and I and boy did it work! The rest of the afternoon was spent around a table filled with wine, cheese, and crackers on our front lawn. The guys each picked a tune on Rod's six string (with a hole big and round) at the table before we went in for a nice dinner and our first night of music.
And
the music! Where to start? This is not an attempt to give a blow by blow of
the whole week. But for you music fans how does this sound? After dinner we
waddle into a nice livingroom filled with overstuffed chairs (to match the
occupants!). You pick out your spot than Rod and Terry play from about 10:00
PM-2:30AM! That's right, the music just kept coming with each guy backing the other
as they took turns. It was magic and truly one of those things where "you had
to be there". Never has time passed so quickly but we all decided there was no
need to burn this thing out. We had the rest of the week.
When we assembled for the second night's show we still only managed to get underway at about 10:00PM. By acclamation we agreed that it was going to be awful hard to go until 2:30 again so the guys played until 3 AM! Again, words can't describe but magic was, again, made.
Terry departed the next morning and the rest of
the week was Rod's. On Wednesday Rod did a gig at the prestigious Edinburgh Folk
Festival at the Spiegel Tent. It was his and our first time at the festival and what
a blast it is. Trout Fishing In America were there to take the stage after
Rod. And how about acts like The Oyster Band, Rory McLeod, Ceolberg, Dick Gaughan,
Donovan, Colin Hay, and - and I'm not kidding here - Washboard Hank from the Fred
Eaglesmith Band doing a kids show! There was music everywhere and it was
great. We think everyone needs to give some serious consideration to doing this
festival sometime.
On our last night at Duns, Rod slipped in a gig at The White Swan, the local pup. I'd be lying if I said the crowd at the pup was all Rod fans. In fact I'd be lying if I said the crowd was thrilled to see Rod. But he, and they, and we all ended up having a great evening of fun, music, and fellowship. The night was capped off by Rod satisfying the request/demand of one slightly toasted patron (here on the right) to "Do some Johnny Cash!". Rod reached way down deep and found a couple Johnny tunes in his bag of tricks. And with a slightly bizaar version of "Folsom Prison Blues" ringing in our ears we headed home.
The photos here may give you a flavor of what happened at Duns but believe me, nothing we can do will adequately relate just how special this time was. One of the participants at the house took some great video with some extremely sophisticated video cameras. He will be working with Rod to, hopefully, produce a video for sale of the week we spent together. I urge you all to keep up with either our site or Rods to see if this video comes to fuition. If it does jump on a copy as soon as you can as it is sure to be a classic.
The trip to Scotland was such a success we decided to do it
again. In August of 2000 we reconvened the group-along with some newcomers
in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Once again our lodgings were out of this world.
We rented a beautiful cottage on the banks of Bra D'Or Lake in Baddeck.
The location was chosen because Rod's family had emigrated to Nova Scotia when
they left Scotland. In fact, Rod did an amazing show in the restored court
room in the town of Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke is the town Rod's dad had grown
up in and it was a very moving experience as a number of people who'd known
Rod's dad as a boy stopped by say hello.
As in Scotland, there were glorious days of beautiful scenery, sightseeing, and
dining, followed by long nights of music in our cozy living room. We now
know more than ever that these vacations will be something we'll always want to
do. A trip is presently being planned for the Loire Valley of France for
2002. Keep your eye on this site, as well as Rod's to find out about these
wonderful vacations.
Thanks,
Tim
