Folk icon Dougie Maclean fought back tears as he paid tribute to frontline NHS staff during a virtual concert from his Perthshire pad.
The singer-songwriter agreed to host a special lunchtime gig for health workers, to thank them for their “wonderfully difficult work”.
The gig was broadcast to fans around the world from his studio at the old schoolhouse in Butterstone, near Dunkeld.
Dougie, who is celebrating his “45th year as a travelling troubadour,” sang some of his most requested tunes including Feel So Near and This Love Will Come.
Paying tribute to NHS teams up and down the country, he said: “I just don’t have the words to thank you all enough.
“I’m tearing up here just thinking about it. You are all amazing.”
Introducing his biggest hit Caledonia, he said: “I’ll do this one for all you NHS folk in your staff rooms, or wherever you are. All you folk who are doing all that wonderfully difficult work.”
The 1pm gig, broadcast live on Youtube and Facebook, was watched by thousands of fans around the world. Messages of support came in from as far afield as Australia, New York, Jerusalem and Canada.
The show was enjoyed by staff in labs at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.
Playing to empty rows of seats, Dougie was joined on stage by homemade mannequins named Mr and Mrs Tattieface.
He also introduce Tattieface Junior, a doll crafted by his 84-year-old mum Dolly who is in isolation in Dunkeld. “She’s made a great job of this guy,” he said.
Dougie has lived at the converted school for more than 30 years. “This was the old school for the village of Butterstone,” he said. “I went to school here and my father went to school here in the 1930s. Luckily, I was able to buy it a couple of years ago.
“I’ve made all my recordings in here, in the studio, so it’s been lovely to be able to broadcast from this old building.”
He said: “We have been concerts for the last four weeks, every second night. The idea for this wee afternoon concert came from someone at the Lanarkshire NHS, who said a live show in the afternoon would fit in better with work shifts for all the people in the hospitals there.”
He ended the half-hour show, saying: “You all take care of each other and we’ll see you all on the other side.”
