Island-based folk duo Hannah Fisher and Sorren Maclean will always have a home from home in Perthshire.
The couple play Birnam Arts tonight and fiddler Hannah is excited about the prospect of returning to one of the villages where she was brought up.
“It’s nice to be heading home,” she says.
A centre of her life
“I’ve played in the arts centre probably a hundred times doing various different things. Lots of pals have got married in it – birthday parties, ballet classes and all sorts of things have gone on there throughout my life.
“I haven’t been home much in the past couple of years – we’ve been busy with other stuff – and we weren’t there for the best part of a year really due to the restrictions.
“Lots of my childhood pals are still there. I hope they come to the gig. It would be embarrassing if no one came!” she laughs.
Hannah moved to Mull full-time nine years ago, having grown up in the Dunkeld area, including a spell at tiny Inver a mile from Birnam Arts.
Home to Niel Gow
The village was home to legendary fiddler Niel Gow for much of the 18th Century and is also closely associated with another key influence, her childhood fiddle tutor Pete Clark.
The “other stuff” she refers to includes a rebuild of the couple’s 1770s-era cottage on Mull.
Hannah says its sense of solitude helps her to write – but she admits to missing Highland Perthshire’s folkie community.
“We’re kind of the only people that play music down here but we’ve got a nice wee scene,” she adds.
“People do come to things. We put on a couple of gigs and people always want to visit.
“They do appreciate music and art here, which is nice, but it’s a different thing to Dunkeld. It’ll be good to have a hot shower and a real bedroom with walls!”
Also in the line-up
Fisher, 30, and Maclean, 33, regularly collaborate with Capercaillie singer Karen Matheson, veteran indie kids Idlewild and Fence Collective troubadour King Creosote, who they joined for a big show at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Bandstand last night.
This evening’s Birnam gig will see the pair being joined by a few close friends.
“Sorren and I will be playing a mixture of contemporary folk tunes and songs, both original and a couple of covers,” Hannah explains.
“We’re good pals with Hannah Rarity, who’s an incredible singer, so we’re really excited to have her coming along. She has a brand new album that she hasn’t managed to tour yet because she got Covid and has been resting her voice, so we’re very lucky.
“Maggie Rigby is a friend over from Melbourne and we’ve managed to snap her up for one night.
“Our friend Donny McElligot, who’s from Dunkeld as well, has an Americana background, and we’ve known Craig Ainslie for years from playing double bass and electric bass in different bands – he also played with Roddy Woomble.
“We’ve not played with Craig either for ages so it’s just great to have everyone back together.
We’re really into bluegrass and all kinds of folk music from all over the world so there’ll be a good mixture on the night – a bit of everything.”
- Tickets at birnamarts.com
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