Liz In Conversation with Rachel Walker & Aaron Jones re their album Despite The Wind & Rain
AOW 19^th Nov 2022

Rachel Walker & Aaron Jones

Join Liz Clark aka Auntie Liz in Conversation with Rachel and Aaron about their emotive new album being released on 25^th Nov 2022 – ‘Despite The Wind and Rain’ when you will find out more about the inspirational woman and their stories.

Rachel Walker and Aaron Jones celebrate amazing Scottish women as they present their powerful new album. Rachel is a renowned Gaelic vocalist; Aaron is a leading folk singer and multi-instrumentalist. Together, they create an inventive blend of traditional and contemporary music that’s uniquely their own. Their hope-infused EP, A Happy Place, drew critical acclaim while raising funds for Maggie’s Centres. Despite The Wind and Rain is a new departure. Showcasing stories of inspirational women throughout Scottish history, it celebrates achievement, courage, entrepreneurship and perseverance. To perform these wonderful songs, the duo is joined by some of the brilliant guests who feature on the album.

Collaborative folk album Despite the Wind and Rain celebrates women who changed Scottish history

Artists on the album with Rachel and Aaron:-

Katrina Lee, 
Patsy Reid, 
Rhoslyn Lawton
Alice Allen,
Seonaid Aitken
Duncan Lyall on bass and Moog.

The tracks chosen to be played today and an outline of what they are about are:-

1. Track 1  – Sgàthach Legindary Ancient Warrior Queen Associated  with the Isle of Skye Dún Scáith (“Fortress of Shadows”)  taught all the male warriors martial arts
2. Track4 – Crescents and Stars. Mary Somerville – from Jedburgh Intellectual Heavyweight while being an incredible mother. Despite being one of the first people to be called a scientist she enjoyed motherhood , nature and looking up at the skies – Aaron got this from letters in the archives from her daughter
3. Track 3  – Laoidh nam Ban.  Mean a Hymn of the wumman – inspired by two woman – explorers , walkers Isobel Wylie Hutchison from West Lothian who was an Artic explorer who collected flowers and seed and sent them home, some of which are still in Kew Gardens and The Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and Nan Shepheard from Aberdeenshire and walked mainly in the Cairngorms and wrote so descriptively  about it.
4. Track 2 –The Thin Black Line – written for Maud Sulter from Glasgow who was of Ghanaian heritage contemporary fine artist, feminist and cultural historian. As well as all the beautiful photography, art and poems she left behind, passing in 2008, she was one of a collective of artists that organised  -The Thin Black Line – basically of mainly black and Asian artists – mainly women who  that had largely been forgotten.
5. Track 10 – Rule of Thumb –  Inspired by Eilidh MacDougall, replated to the famous MacDougall’s’ of  Dunollie in Oban.   She had a tough job in working as an assistant in the Metropolitan Police in around 1905, where she was tasked to listening to woman’s  testimonials of domestic abuse and she went to  press for changes on how the women were heard – notably that women did not have to sit in the same room as their attacker in court. Don’t seem to have changed rather fast – famous ‘Rule of Thumb’ where a man could ‘only’ beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb!
6. Track 9 – Sunflowers  – Inspired by Dr Flora Murray and Elsie English -pioneering surgeon, Flora being on the £20 note, both were incredible medical pioneers , from looking after the war wounded to the poor, the children – their motto being ‘Deeds Not Words’ – they just got on with it! Both heavily involved in the Suffragette Movement providing medical attention to women who had been force fed. The image of the  Sunflower which was part of the emblem for the Suffragette movement that inspired Aaron to write this song

Full tracks on CD:-

Tracks

1. Sgàthach.
2. The Black Line
3. Laoidh nam Ban
4. Crescents and Stars
5. Gormshùil Mhòr
6. Iron Bands
7. Bessie Miller
8. Riabhag Bheag
9. Sunflowers
10. Rule of Thumb

Upcoming gigs:-
Rachel and Aaron with be debuting their album at Celtic Connections 1^st Feb In the Mackintosh Church.

Their EP  ‘A Happy Place’ is also still on sale, with all proceeds going to the Maggies – and delighted to report that Rachel is well !

Tracks:-

1. Song of Hope
2. Hope Remains
3. Càite Bheil i ann am Muile
4. Waiting For Love
5. An Innis Àigh.