Album of The Week – 1 st Dec 2018 – Haggerdash ‘The Elgin Watch’

Haggerdash have been a prominent feature of Scottish Folk Music for nearly thirty years, performing at many Festivals and Folk Clubs both at home and abroad. With their current lineup of Alan Jones – Concertina/ Bouzouki, Guitar/ 5 String Banjo, Jack Bethel – Hammer Dulcimer/ Fiddle  / Whistle/ Concertina and Billy Stewart – Bouzouki/ Guitar / 5 String Banjo / Harmonica / Bodhran , there will certainly be many more years of great music – and fun (they’re a cheery bunch!) – to come.

All the members of Haggerdash  have been involved in Folk Music for many years before joining the band and have performed with other lineups including Cairdie’s Brig, Setanta, Three’s A Crowd,  Hot Toddy, The Govan Spoonful and Clachnacuddin

The name of their new CD is ‘The Elgin Watch’.  It contains songs and tunes written by Billy Stewart and Alan Jones plus a sprinkling of traditional songs.  The title track is based on the true story of Jack Bethel’s Grandfather and his brothers and Jack still has The Elgin Watch.
Many of the songs are in fact based on true stories which makes this CD an  interesting and enjoyable listening experience.
There’ll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame is a song Billy really liked the words of, but he wrote a new tune for it and Haggerdash arranged it. It is one of their favourite tracks.
Alan’s song ‘The Vital Spark’  is as the title suggests a song about the much loved Para Handy
Also included is ‘The Man That I am’  which is the song  Alan won the Girvan Folk Festival songwriting competition in 2017 .