Tracks 1. The Exploding Bow/ The Lisagun/ Swerving for Bunnies 2. Micho Russell's / Na Goisidich (The Gossips) 3. Ho Ro Mo Bhobag An Dram (The Favourite Dram) 4. Donald, Willie & His Dog 5. Spirits 6. President Garfield's / Marry Me Now 7. The Humours of Scariff / Good Spirits 8. The Futterat with the Grey Tail/ North Highland Dance/ Ray & Kevin's Reel 9. Sands of Hosta 10. Angus Jig / John Joe's / Would The Minister Not Dance 11. The Angel's Share/ Taureen Derby Polka / O'Connor's Polka   Click on underlined titles to hear sound samples with Real Player

We are delighted to announce our release of this fine recording.

First Things First
LRRCD 1
Ailie Robertson

with
James Ross: piano, Harmonium
Paul Jennings: Cajon and Percussion
Ewan Robertson: Guitar
Duncan Lyall: Bass


"First rate music, first class playing, and first place on my list of albums for 2008: Ailie Robertson's debut CD has all three". Alex Monaghan

"First Things First is a musical masterpiece and an absolute delight on the ear". David Granville, The Irish Democrat

Ailie Robertson Trio's Irish Dates

Ailie's performances in Ireland mark the latest steps in the 25-year-old's career, which was launched in 2006 after she graduated with a 1st class MA in Irish Traditional Music Perfromance from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: "Ailie’s synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp."Since then, she has established herself as a teacher, composer and arranger – alongside a string of gigs around the world - this year has seen her perform in Scotland, England, Wales, Germany, France, Spain, USA and Canada!

And all of it stems from her love of the harp, which she first heard as a child in her native Scotland. Transfixed by its beautiful sound, she immersed herself in the traditions of Scots and Irish music – the jigs, reels, hornpipes and airs – which form the centre of her repertoire today. "I was born and brought up in Scotland, so there's that heritage to draw on, but I did my training in Ireland, which influenced me in a big way," she said. "It is such a beautiful sound, and people are always amazed when they see our performances at how versatile the harp can be. They always come up and say "I never knew the harp could do that!". "I'm delighted to be returning to Ireland for this tour - I really enjoyed studying in Limerick, and have a huge love for the music and people of Ireland."

"Ailie pushes the boundaries of harp technique in exciting but always intensely musical ways. The beauty, the poise, the pauses and the lyricism took my breath away. Robertson earns herself a place among the cream of Scottish musicians" - Taplas

Ailie Robertson appears at the following venues:

AUGUST 2009
2-9 CANADA, Goderich Festival With The Outside Track Web: www.celticfestival.ca
26 EDINBURGH, National Museum of Scotland Live Music Now recital Web: www.nms.ac.uk

SEPTEMBER 2009
26 LOCHGOILHEAD, Strachur Memorial Hall for Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop Web: Event Website

NOVEMBER 2009
10 LEIGH-ON-SEA, Hoy@Anchor Folk Club The Outside Track UK Tour
26 BOSTON, Nottinghamshire The Outside Track UK Tour
28 BIRMINGHAM, Red Lion Folk Club The Outside Track UK Tour

DECEMBER 2009
5 BLACKBURN, Mellor Brook Community Centre The Ailie Robertson Band Starts: 8pm
Web: www.mellorbrook.org/events.htm
9 EDINBURGH, Edinburgh Folk Club The Ailie Robertson Band Web: www.edinburghfolkclub.org.uk
11+12 BASEL, SWITZERLAND, Dalhousie Ceilidh Scottish Night Shows Web: www.dalhousie.ch

www.ailierobertson.com

BIOG:
Ailie Robertson: Clarsach
Ailie Robertson is a musician in the broadest sense: composer, arranger, teacher, improviser and “harp virtuoso”. Although just 24, she has some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. She holds a 1st class MA in performance from the IWAMD in Limerick, is a 5-time National Mod Gold Medalist, and was also a BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of
the Year 2008 finalist, 1st prizewinner at the inaugural London Harp Competition, and best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival. She has represented Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland, was awarded an ESU scholarship in recognition of her 'virtuosic clarsach playing', and was a winner of the New Roots award. She works as a soloist for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now! program, and has given recitals at events all over Scotland, including performing for HRH the Queen. When not performing, Ailie is in great demand as a tutor and gives lessons and masterclasses all over Scotland and beyond.

“Inspired genius”, “Innovative, assured, and beautiful”, “exquisite”, “a sure contender for new-comer of the year”, “irrepressible joie-de-vivre”, “a player of Ailie’s class has the ability to tear your heart out".
It can't be often that a Cambridge University graduate with a lst-class honours degree in Genetics decides to give it all up to pursue to her dreams of being a traditional musician,
but that's exactly what harpist Ailie Robertson did three years ago. With a scholarship from the ESU in recognition of her 'virtuosic harp playing,' she moved to Limerick and took the Irish Music Performance course at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, graduating with a first class MA in 2006. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: "Ailie's synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp."

Ailie grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and began playing the clarsach when she was eleven years old. Since then Ailie has been going from strength to strength as a professional musician and adding to some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. A four-time National Mod Gold Medalist and a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2008 finalist, Ailie also won first prize at the inaugural London Harp Competition, was judged best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival and won the St Albans New Roots award. She has represented Commun na Clarsach for Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland and played at two World Harp Congresses.

With her debut solo CD, First Things First, Robertson puts the harp within a line-up of guitar, bass, percussion and piano, showing that the harp can really stand out on its own as a solo instrument within a band setting. There are jigs, reels and polkas to get the feet tapping and prove that the harp can be just as fast and driving as a fiddle, while her slow airs have been described as 'heart-achingly beautiful'. The album was recorded at Watercolour Music in Ardgour, with the help of producer Mary-Ann Kennedy and musicians Paul Jennings on percussion, Duncan Lyall on bass, Ewan Robertson on guitar and James Ross on piano.

Copperplate is very proud to have this title on our roster and to help it achieve its full potential will be supporting this release with a full-scale promotional mail out to media and retail. Please copy us on any reviews/ airplay or interest. Feedback welcome

You can find out more about Ailie at www.ailierobertson.com or www.myspace.com/ailierobertson

  BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Final Clips
You can find audio and video clips from Sunday nights young trad final here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/celticconnections/features/young_trad.shtml

Thanks to the BBC for their wonderful filming and recording!


ENDORSEMENTS

“Her synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp".
Niall Keegan

“Quite simply, this girl is a star” – Norman Mitchell, Head of Music GWC

“Your harp playing takes my breath away and makes me weepy! That's a good thing! I honestly don't think I’ve ever heard anything so beautiful in all my years” - fan in Florida, USA

“An act worthy of particular mention was Ailie Robertson, who played the harp so beautifully” – The Unicorn Folk Magazine

“Wonderful Stuff!” – John Kirkpatrick, Bellowhead

“Very sophisticated and accomplished…gorgeous, beautifully-placed chords” – Lynne Heraud, New Roots Adjudicator

“ Beautiful playing, demonstrating marvellous control of touch and tone” – Benji Kirkpatrick, New Roots Adjudicator

“Virtuosic Clarsach playing” – John Duncan, Chairman of ESU Scotland

“Played to absolute perfection!” – Anne MacDearmid

Press Reviews


Irish Music Magazine 8.09
Ailie's story is the stuff of TV legend. A comely lass, who happens to have a top degree in genetics from Cambridge, forsakes the glittering prizes and turns to her beloved harp. Wow! But that's only half the story: she was gold medallist five times at the Mod in Inverness, a finalist in the BBC young traditional musician for 2008. And she has a first-class MA in performance from the world music centre in Limerick. Not bad for yer first quarter-century.

In this debut collection she sets out to prove that the gut/nylon-strung harp can lead an acoustic jazz combo. There's many would say nay. There's a weight of prejudice, the thin sound of the instrument to be overcome, and it can be overpowered by a piano. But overcome it she does with a perfection of playing (listen to the triplets and the tone variation) and a sense of humour.
I've yet to work out how she can bend notes in bluesy way.

On a slower note, I think you have to admire her own Sands of Hosta. It's about a beach in north Uist and she shows a brilliant sense of timing in the emotional impact.
I particularly liked the title of the final track, The Angels' Share. It's known in whiskey distillation, (and it happens with other spirits too) that some of the spirit evaporates in storage, and this is
called the angels' share. (When canals were used for transporting the barrels, the boatmen helped out the angels. Holy connoisseurs they were.)

There are other tunes here from Irish sources, including Mary Bergin and Laoise Kelly, so it's a fine debut from a very talented musician. I think she owes us a strathspey and reel in honour of Dolly the Sheep - who lived close to Edinburgh. It would match her other tune, Swerving for Bunnies, written about the joys of driving in Ireland. John Brophy

The Irish Democrat
THE DRAW of traditional music is simply overwhelming for some people. The young Scottish harpist Ailie Robertson is one such person.

Brought up in Edinburgh, Robertson began playing the clarsach (Scottish Gaelic for harp) when she was eleven years old. However, with a first-class honours degree in genetics from Cambridge University, it looked as if her future, professionally at least, was in a different direction.

A music scholarship from the English Speaking Union, in recognition of her virtuoso harp playing', changed all that. She moved to Limerick and took the Irish Music Performance course at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, graduating with a first-class MA in 2006.

A four-time National Mod (Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail) gold medallist and a BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year finalist in 2008, she also won first prize at the inaugural London Harp Competition, was judged best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival and won the St Albans New Roots award. Not bad for someone approaching their mid-twenties.

In short, her brilliance and virtuoso ability is beyond question. But what makes her such a rare talent, to be treasured, is the flair and creativity which she brings to her instrument and the traditional genre.

By putting the harp alongside a line-up of guitar, bass, percussion and piano on her debut album, First Things First, she demonstrates that the instrument can stand up for itself as a powerful and driving force within an ensemble setting as well as being one of with the capacity to express great delicacy and subtlety.

Contemporary jigs, slow-airs, polkas, slip-jigs, traditional Irish reels are all here, but with a freshness and vibrancy that will make your spine tingle and your feet tap.

Throughout, Robertson is more than ably assisted Paul Jennings (percussion), Duncan Lyall (bass), Ewan Robertson (guitar) and James Ross (piano). Produced by Mary-Ann Kennedy, the album was recorded at Watercolour Music in Ardgour.

This is an outstanding debut album and reminds me of what traditional bluegrass banjoist Alison Brown achieved when she began to explore the possibilities of the banjo as a lead instrument within a jazz setting - or what Sharon Shannon, with the accordion, or Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, with fiddle and guitar, have created from within the traditional Irish music idiom.

The leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan perhaps puts it better: "Ailie's synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp."

First Things First is a musical masterpiece and an absolute delight on the ear. David Granville

www.folking.com
First things first – this is a superb, innovatively-arranged set of tunes delivering a burgeoning, rich, warm sound. The eleven thoroughly fresh-sounding arrangements feature not only Ailie’s clarsach, but also percussion (the cajon sounds excellent!), guitar, bass and piano. For me, ‘First Things First’ demonstrates above all else just how good the clarsach can sound in a band setting. Through lively reels to exquisite slow airs, Ailie’s playing effortlessly combines a vigorous, refreshing sense of ‘attack’ with real emotion and poise.

The music leads you on a sinewy, seductive journey, starting with the deceptively languid-yet-funky groove of opening tune ‘The Exploding Bow’ through to gorgeously expressive, poised tunes like the self-penned ‘Sands of Hosta’ (inspired by a walk on a glorious North Uist beach). The bold freshness of these arrangements delivers the ‘WOW’ factor big-time with a sparkling take on Donald Morrison’s slip jig, ‘Donald, Willie & His Dog.’ Here, the fabulous combination of instruments explodes into a rhythm-packed crescendo of Flamenco-style handclaps. Piper Allan MacDonald’s wonderful tune Na Goisidich/The Gossips gets equally fresh, funked-up treatment, and the effect is stunning!

A wonderful debut solo release by this young Scottish musician who isn’t afraid to fuse contemporary, jazz-inflected playing with the traditional Scottish and Irish playing techniques developed over the years. This is gorgeous stuff. Debbie Koritsas

FolkWorld Alex Monaghan's Best Loved Albums of 08
Harp and soul: Ailie Robertson's debut recording delivers both in fine style. Taking prime piping pieces like Allan MacDonald's Na Gossidich and Donald Morrison's Donald, Willie & His Dog, Ms Robertson succeeds in stamping her own mark on the Scottish tradition. She's not averse to a foray across the Irish Sea either: Micho Russell's,The Humours of Scariff, John Joe's Jig and a pair of polkas get a Robertson make-over they won't regret. Drums, bass, guitar and keyboards are employed with imagination and sympathy, to very good effect. This is less of a surprise once you identify Mary Ann Kennedy as co-producer: graceful Gaelic, great harp music, and good taste are thus almost guaranteed. Ailie's own tunes step smartly up to the mark: The Sands of Hosta, The Angels' Share, Ray and Kevin's Reel, Good Spirits and the more serious Swerving for Bunnies.
This is innovative harping, true to the roots of the music but adding new fruits and branches, without gilding the lily. The old, the new, the borrowed, and even the blues are polished and embellished by Ailie's harp. Marry Me Now, Spirits and The Lisnagun are just some of the wide and well-chosen selection which First Things First spreads before us. The notes are adequate, the artwork is striking, and the whole CD is nicely balanced. Www.ailierobertson.com has online purchasing, but no samples last time I looked: however, I'd be amazed if anyone is disappointed by this recording. First rate music, first class playing, and first place on my list of albums for 2008: Ailie Robertson's debut CD has all three. Alex Monaghan

SONGLINES 169 10th Anniversary issue

****

A harpist off the leash

In Songlines #56 I marvelled that every note of Corrina Hewat's album, Harp I Do, was produced by one pair of hands on a clarsach (small harp). Ailie Robertson is another accomplished young Scottish clarsach player, but with First Things First her intentions are entirely different. Hewat's harp stands alone, complete in itself. Robertson places hers in the middle of a (very good) contemporary band - with drums, bass, guitar and piano. Her ambition? To 'demonstrate that the harp can be not only sweet and beautiful, but also strong and driving. This is, then, clarsach as lead guitar.

On the back cover there's a picture of a clarsach bound by red cord that Robertson is taking off the wall. On the front the image is of that red cord strung in a tree against which the harp leans, free. Playing lead harp in this combo gives Robertson freedom to roam.

The album opens with 'The Exploding Bow’, a jazzy piece with fine work on the bass from Duncan Lyall and a real 'walking down wet city streets late at night feel. 'Donald, Willie & His Dog' may be a slip-jig from South Uist, but Paul Jennings brisk drumming and Ewan Robertson's choppy guitar turn it into something akin to flamenco.

'No Ro Bhobag an Dram' usually rattles along, but Robertson slows it right down to reveal the beauty of the melody, which is complemented by the subtle interaction of her harp with the piano playing of James Ross. Julian May

www.liveireland.com

THE LIVIES 2009

Instrumental Cut of the Year: The Exploding Bow. Ailie Robertson
This Scottish harp player immediately ranks in the presence of Maire ni Chathasaigh and Michelle Mulcahy as among the very top of the field. Her new album, First Things First is a wonder throughout. She has a fresh, jazzy approach to the tradition, but never gets wacky or too far gone to lose touch with the heart of it all. She is a master player with a truly unique take on it all. She is wonderful. She is a winner. At the top, where she should be. Bill Margeson

The Irish Times
Shattering preconceptions about the fragility of her chosen instrument, Scottish debutante harpist Ailie Robertson basks in a heady excavation of the driving rhythms that lie dormant between the strings. Forget misty images of lovelorn maidens at lattice windows. Instead, step into a world where Robertson's harp jousts (alongside the energising confidence of fellow Scots harpist Catriona McKay) with percussion, bass, guitar and piano. Her opening salvo, The Exploding Bow, sets the tone for a funky excursion around a trio of contemporary jigs, the final one written by Robertson herself. Another of her original compositions, Good Spirits, is paired cannily with a reel, The Humours of Scariff. The tunes revel in the unpredictability of newfound company. Robertson's genius is in straddling the Irish and Scottish traditions with a fresh-faced and utterly bearable lightness of being. **** Siobhan Long

www.liveIreland.com

Good heavens, Ailie Robertson of Scotland can play the harp! So, there are lots and lots of harp players, right? Correct. But, now, Ailie Roberts becomes the third in a full trio of the best of the best in the music. There are the unparalleled Michelle Mulcahy and Maire ni Cathasaig---and now comes Ailie with her debut album, First Things First. How many musicians do you know who have graduated with a Master's from the Limerick University Irish music program? Well, there ARE several, aren't there? But, how many also have an undergrad degree in Genetics from Oxford? I suspect we have just narrowed the field noticeably. In short, Ailie has chosen to follow her heart and hands into the music, and all of that is on display with this album. Don't make the mistake of thinking all harpists sound the same. Wrong. Wrong. She is a superior musician, understands the tradition, has her own style and is at home in trad as in the jazz idiom. The amount of major awards she has won for her harp playing would fill this column. The awards don't tell the story. Her music does, and the album is on Lorimer Records. Google them, or Ailie. Get this album. We are playing it constantly on the public radio show. This is wonderful. A major, new star. Rating: Four Harps. Bill Margeson

Scotsman Review
AILIE Robertson's debut CD confirms the major promise that the Edinburgh harpist has shown in the course of picking up an armload of prizes at successive National Mods. If that implies a strictly traditional approach, then think again.

The harpist is pushing the instrument in fresh and contemporary-sounding musical directions, and the band setting that she adopts here – with James Ross on piano, Ewan Robertson on guitar, Duncan Lyall on bass and Paul Jennings on percussion – is a very effective complement to her own virtuoso technique and expressive interpretations in the role of lead instrumentalist.

Her lovely, evocative execution of slow airs is particularly impressive, but she is equally intent on underlining the fact that the harp is also an appropriate vehicle for flying jigs, reels and polkas, all dispatched in vibrant, sure-fingered style. KENNY MATHIESON

Netrhythms Review

Young Scottish harpist Ailie's pedigree is already impressive: five times National Mod Gold Medallist, erstwhile member of the Scottish Harp Orchestra, Na Clarasairean, and currently member of international six-piece band The Outside Track (who have been delighting UK festival audiences over the past year, and whose CD I reviewed in Stirrings 133). Inevitably, Ailie's debut solo CD is a more intimate affair, with an at times quite laid-back atmosphere that's both soothing and invigorating. Ailie's instrument is the clarsach (the small harp whose recent resurgence has been led by the likes of Corrina Hewat and Patsy Seddon), and its unique and definitive sound-world is captured here in a demonstration-class recording that manages to convey all the relevant nuances and timbres in due perspective without sounding at all clinical or sterile. Each of the eleven tracks brings its own special delights, starting with the almost jazzy insouciance of the opening set of jigs, where the rippling joy of the harp line offsets James Ross's classy piano embellishments and the crisp, busy percussion backing (Paul Jennings on cajon). The playing is sprightly, yet with an enviably relaxed precision of attack that holds the listener's attention throughout - and this quality applies equally to the slower-paced items on the disc, notably the gorgeous slow air Spirits (co-written by Angus Lyon and his father), which forms its centrepiece. The Irish and Scottish hornpipes that are wedded together on the gently swinging Marry Me Now set are a model of delicate playing, with Ailie's deft syncopations and skilfully bent “blue notes” enticingly complemented by guitar (Ewan Robertson) and bass (Duncan Lyall); these same two musicians bring an exhilarating sense of drive to the tricky time-signatures of Ailie's own tune Good Spirits in the ensuing set. Ailie's slower-than-customary treatment of The Favourite Dram brings out its inherent beauty in a way I've not heard on any other recording of the tune, while her own composition Sands Of Hosta (written after a long beach walk on North Uist) is both genuinely tranquil and introspectively evocative. And you can hear Ailie taking the harp technique into hitherto-uncharted areas of innovation and expertise on tracks such as the infectious Angus Jigs set: the closer you listen, the more detail there is to revel in. First Things First is a thoroughly charming disc, replete with both a consummate finger-dancing intelligence and an irrepressible joie-de-vivre. - David Kidman August 2008

Danish Irish Review
Ailie Robertson’s aim with First Things First was to put the harp in a contemporary sounding “band” setting and I think she has succeeded with that. I didn’t know what to expect when I first put the cd on, but from the word go I was captured. Not only is she a great player, but she also shows all the potential of the harp. From mellow and subtle slow airs to almost rock like tracks, her playing is spot on. Yes, the harp is indeed a very delicate instrument, but in the skilled hands of Robertson it can also be transformed into an instrument as potent as an electric lead guitar.
Alongside the harp the cd features guitar, bass, piano/harmonium and cajon/percussion - all played by very competent musicians. There’s no doubt, though, that this is a solo album for the harp. The other instruments are along to make up the band setting.

There’s a good mix of tunes on the cd, ranging from traditional Scottish and Irish tunes to newly composed tunes. Several of which are Robertson’s own compositions, proving she is not only a gifted and original musician, but also a gifted composer. Beautiful slow airs almost leave you in a trance from which you are catapulted the next moment by fast and heavy rhythms.

Three tracks, which epitomize the cd, are Ho “Ro Mo Bhobag An Dram (The Favourite Dram)” followed by “Donald, Willie and His Dog” and “Spirits” - They have it all: The impeccable and delicate harp playing followed by the wake up call of rough and fast harp picking and rhythmic drums and hand claps and back into a slow air when its best.

Ailie Robertson set out to prove a point and this she has done: This beautiful cd works!

Maverick Review

Award winning harp player produces debut CD sprinkled with magic and joy
Under the tutelage of the likes of Wendy Stewart, Patsy Seddon and Corrina Hewitt there has been a resurgence of interest in Scotland and elsewhere in the clarsach or small harp. This has lead to a new generation of exciting young players who are determined to explore all the new possibilities of this ancient instrument. One of the foremost in this set is Ailie Robertson, from Edinburgh, who has taken time from her busy teaching and playing schedule to produce First Things First, her first album. From the smooth jazz rhythm introduction to the opening The Exploding Bow and throughout the entire album there is evidence of a confidence in the instrument and material that allows Ailie to take a mixture of traditional and contemporary tunes and bend them to her musical whim. For this recording Ailie has gathered around her a set of extremely talented young Scottish musicians consisting of Paul Jennings (cajon / percussion), Duncan Lyall (bass), James Ross (piano and harmonium) and the BBC Young Musician of the Year, Ewan Robertson (guitar) who provide an excellent springboard for her flights of celtic fancy. The album was co-produced by acclaimed clarsarch player and broadcaster Mary Ann Kennedy and feel of this album is very much that of a ‘live’ performance with no sign of overdubs and with the harp, thankfully, to the fore in the mix. There’s also a vague theme running through the album with tunes like The Favourite Dram, Good Spirits and The Angels Share all referring to the distilling and enjoyment of whisky, which can be a bad thing. The clarsach, when played properly, can be one of the most versatile instruments in the world and this album has tunes like Swerving for Bunnies, and The Flutterat, with their complex time changes which fairly skip and dance and bring the inevitable smile. Alongside these are tunes like the self-composed Sands of Hosta and the beautiful, haunting Spirits by Angus Lyon and his father which in the hands of a player of Ailie’s class has the ability to tear your heart out. Simple hornpipes like President Garfield’s start off played more or less straight before evolving into the syncopated and extremely modern take on Marry Me Now. It is this intelligent juxtaposition of the old and new, ancient and contemporary along with the sheer standard of the playing which makes this CD so vibrant and compelling. Kevin Mough

Scotland on Sunday Review
These innovative, assured and beautiful arrangements place the young Edinburgh harpist at the forefront of the current evolutionary surge in Scottish musical technique and accomplishment. It's not just the molten fingering in the flying, percussively driven reels and dance grooves, or the relaxed precision in clever variations of traditional pipe tunes. But it's especially in the slow and medium tempos, as in the re-paced 'Favourite Dram' with James Ross's arresting piano chords, that her harp exerts its undeniable and inexorable tug at the heart strings.By NORMAN CHALMERS

FolkWords
The Outside Track But Right On Course
"Having heard them perform live and been mightily impressed, I'm pleased to say The Outside Track has produced their eponymous first CD. This band is a fine example of how young musicians can take 'traditional' acoustic folk music, ensure it continues to evolve and yet remain true to its roots. The minute you listen to them you just know they're going a long way. 'A Kiss in The Morning' has some hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies entwined with flute, clarsach and fiddle, 'Sheliah's Spectacles' further showcases the intricacies of their instrumental work, and 'The Lonsome Hen' is another fine example of their vocal talents with outstanding harmonies and wonderful phrasing, once again their instruments weave a web around their words. So who are these talented folk? There's Norah Rendell who plays flute with a degree of style and sensitivity envied by many, Fiona Black who plays accomplished, entrancing piano accordion, and Alan Jordan who provides the sharp guitar work with a distinct jazz influence to his playing. Tricia Clark (remember the 2005 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award) is a class act on the fiddle with a natural distinctive style, and finally, Ailie Robertson who has the most delicate of touches and makes the Scottish harp come alive in her hands. It's little wonder that between them the members of The Outside Track have gathered an impressive tally of awards. These young folk combine their instrumental abilities with intricately balanced vocals, which blend seamlessly to deliver some of the freshest traditional music I've heard in a long time. They deserve success – I've a feeling it won't be a long wait to hear it happen." - Tim Carroll,