True and Bold: A Night for Dick Gaughan
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 18/1/2026
Celtic Connections, True and Bold: A Night for Dick Gaughan
Appropriately enough my train to Glasgow called at Springburn (a Sunday detour), the gathering place of ‘MacLean and his friens’ in Hamish Henderson’s mighty song, Freedom Come-All-Ye. It was quite the gathering on the stage of the Concert Hall later that day to celebrate the life’s work of Dick Gaughan, the first person I ever heard sing Freedom Come-All-Ye, and a man whose MacLean-imbued politics were never far away from his creative input.
Gaughan was a giant of traditional music (his album Handful of Earth is rated as one of the best folk albums ever) but is now unable to perform after suffering a stroke some years ago. This show was hugely significant and a testament to his power and influence as a performer, a wonderful evening full of highlights. It struck me that, rather than attempt to ‘review’ in a few words a show of undoubted quality from start to finish it might be more useful to outline its contents as a matter of record, and to enable the Edinburgh Music Review to be the keeper of that record. Especially since the only review to appear in a Scottish newspaper is locked behind a paywall.
House band
David Milligan (piano), Euan Burton (double bass, bass guitar), Louis Abbott (drums), Innes White (guitar), Megan Macdonald (accordion), Megan Henderson (violin), Michael McGoldrick (flute and low whistle)
Prelude: Film (archive footage). Fiddler’s Green (John Conolly), Dick Gaughan (vox, guitar)
1. The Workers’ Song (Ed Pickford), Karine Polwart, Paul McKenna, Siobhan Miller (vox), Kris Drever (guitar and vox) and house band
2. Erin-Go-Bragh (trad), Paul McKenna (vox, guitar) and house band
3. The Snows They Melt the Soonest (trad), Karen Casey (vox) and house band
4. Victor Jara (Adrian Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie), Martin Simpson (vox, guitar)
5. A Miner’s Life is Like A Sailor’s (trad)/ Wages Day (Ricky Ross), Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh (vox), David Milligan (piano)
6. No Gods and Precious Few Heroes (Brian McNeill), Brian McNeill (vox, bouzouki)
7. Canan nan Gàidheal (Murdo Macfarlane), Karen Matheson (vox) and house band
8. Rock the Machine (Lisa O’Neill), Lisa O’Neill (vox, banjo) and house band
9. The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right (Lisa O’Neill), Lisa O’Neill (vox, banjo), Siobhan Miller (vox) and house band
10. The World Turned Upside Down (Leon Rosselson), Billy Bragg (vox), Kris Drever (guitar) and house band.
11. The Red Flag (Jim Connel), Billy Bragg, Karen Casey, Siobhan Miller, Karine Polwart (vox) and house band. (Sung to its original tune, The White Cockade)
Interval
1. Now Westlin Winds (Robert Burns), Kris Drever (vox, guitar), Siobhan Miller (vox)
2. Shetland Fiddle Tunes (trad), Kris Drever (guitar), Seamie O’Dowd (guitar) and house band
3. Crooked Jack (trad), Seamie O’Dowd (vox, guitar) and house band
4. Song for Ireland (Phil and June Colclough), Seamie O’Dowd (vox, guitar)
5. Your Daughters and Your Sons (Tommy Sands), Tommy Sands (vox, guitar), Karen Casey, Karine Polwart, Siobhan Miller (vox) and house band
6. Craigie Hill (trad), Karine Polwart (vox), David Milligan (piano)
7. Bonnie Woodhall (trad), Martin Carthy (vox, guitar), Eliza Carthy (fiddle), Kris Drever (guitar), Euan Burton (double bass)
8. The Pound a Week Rise (Ed Pickford), Siobhan Miller (vox), Kris Drever (vox, guitar) and house band
9. What You Do With What You’ve Got (Si Kahn), Siobhan Miller, Karine Polwart (vox) and house band
10. The Shipyard Apprentice (Archie Fisher, Bobby Campbell), Dick Gaughan (vox), Paul McKenna (vox, guitar), Brian McNeill (vox, bouzouki) and house band
11. Childhood’s End (Dick Gaughan), Patsy Seddon (vox, clarsach), Mary McMaster (vox, clarsach), Siobhan Miller, Paul McKenna, Brian McNeill, Ian McCalman (vox) and house band
12. Both Sides the Tweed (James Hogg, Dick Gaughan), Karen Matheson, Billy Bragg, Karen Casey (vox), almost the whole cast and house band
13. Freedom Come-All-Ye (Hamish Henderson), whole cast and audience
Musical Directors, Siobhan Miller and Euan Burton
Comperes, Mike Harding and Stewart Lee