CALEDONIA singer Dougie MacLean has told how his music was branded “banal, stupid, and parochial’ by an English record company during his early career.
MacLean said the rejection led to him set up his own recording studio and label. The 70-year-old reflected on his career ahead of a performance at The Reeling, Glasgow’s summer celebration of traditional Scottish music, from June 6-8 at Rouken Glen Park.
MacLean said: “In the very early days, it was incredibly difficult to make a living from acoustic music in Scotland. Everyone said you had to leave for London or New York to make it, and there wasn’t much happening here.
“I had to overcome the notion you needed to follow a certain path. That challenge pushed me to set up my own record label and publishing company and even build my own recording studio. Getting vinyl cut in Scotland was nearly impossible.
“When I was in my early 20s, an English record company told me my songs were ‘banal, stupid, and parochial’, remarks that only strengthened my resolve. I decided then and there to go independent.
“There were only a few big studios available, and they charged astronomical rates. So, I decided to build my own little recording facility and that turned out to be the best thing I ever did. It allowed me to record exactly what I wanted without compromise.”
MacLean said of Caledonia: “I wrote it in under 10 minutes on a beach in Brittany when I was incredibly homesick. I was with a group of Irish buskers. We headed for the train home the day after I wrote it. That little song has grown beyond its Scottish roots. It’s about a sense of belonging. It’s been embraced in Ireland, sung in Norwegian and Danish and finds its place at weddings, funerals, and football games
“I think with music, there’s magic in it. With Caledonia, there was a bit of magic in that song.
“I remember one day several years ago receiving two letters. The first was from someone thanking me because their father was able to pass away peacefully, with music playing in the hospital – my music, as he was a fan.
“The next letter was from a woman expressing gratitude for making her childbirth easier because she was allowed to listen to my songs. I thought, ‘That’s fascinating’, for the music to be such a constant presence.”
Despite decades of touring, MacLean has always been based in Scotland. He bought the old schoolteacher’s house and the school he and his father attended in Butterstone, Perthshire, and converted it all into a studio as well as his home.
He said: “I still tour extensively and I do regular Saturday night broadcasts from our converted one-room school, set up by my brilliant son. It’s amazing how modern technology allows me to connect with a global choir of listeners, all from a place that keeps me deeply rooted in Scotland.”
MacLean says music runs in the family, with his grandchildren now showing an interest. He said: “My grandfather was a lovely Gaelic singer. I remember him returning from the Highland Games, singing beautiful Gaelic songs in our kitchen.
“He was full of whisky and sitting in our kitchen singing these beautiful Gaelic songs with the tears running down his face We called him Shenner, which is Gaelic for grandfather. We would say, ‘What’s wrong with Shenner?’
“My mum would say, ‘Oh, no, it’s fine. He’s just happy’. I understand that emotion a lot more now. There’s a lot of that kind of emotion in the melodies I make, in the fiddle melodies and the song melodies.”
