Dick Gaughan has been at the cutting edge of Scottish folk music for almost five decades a guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor, musical director, arranger, record producer, engineer and goodness knows what else but he has been there and done it all. He is a brilliant singer with a passion in his wonderfully expressive voice which is allied to an amazing guitar technique which can leave you mesmerised. In December, 2009, Dick was honoured by being included in the Scottish Trad Music Hall of Fame and within a year he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC 2's ceremony in London. He has received many other accolades but too many to mention here. Dick has been a professional musician and singer since 1970. He has recorded extensively and his album 'Handful of Earth' on Topic Records was chosen by a critics' poll in fRoots as the 'Best Album of the 1980's'. As well as a successful solo career, Dick was an early member of The Boys of The Lough, the legendary Five Hand Reel and the founder member of the short-lived but quite extraordinary Clan Alba. In October, 2016, an MRI scan confirmed Dick had suffered a stroke several months previously, from which he is now gradually recovering but which has prevented him from touring. Having said that, he bravely joined the cast of the 'Far, Far From Ypres' stage presentation in several concerts, plus an extensive tour in 2018. In 2019 Brian O'Donovan, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a broadcaster and journalist, sent to Scotland tapes of a recording he had made of Dick in a concert in The Old Cambridge Baptist Church, near the Harvard University Campus. Ian McCalman and Ian Green heard the tapes and agreed this was 'Vintage Gaughan' and Dick himself approved wholeheartedly. It was a concert shared with the late great Johnny Cunningham and the recording included a version of them together in The Freedom Come All Ye, quite unique. The Harvard tapes were a bit short in time so three 'Bonus' tracks were added. Some of Dick's all-time greats are on the Harvard tapes: Erin Go Bragh, Now Westlin Winds, Song For Ireland, Your Daughters and Your Sons, The Worker's Song and a three-reel instrumental plus more, all from these tapes. Previously unrecorded by Dick are Leemings and a second instrumental, Sliabh na mBan, from the Milngavie concerts and Connolly Was There from the Greentrax archive. This album is a quite remarkable collection and is Dick's seventh album for Greentrax. Both Brian O'Donovan and Jason Smith are providing the tracks free of any charge or royalty and production costs are being met by Ian McCalman and Ian Green with help from John Slavin. This will allow a large royalty to go to Dick in his enforced 'rest' from touring.
