From 2pm on Sunday 19th March, we celebrate Matt McGinn with a programme featuring exclusive interveiws and rare tracks.

As daughter Shonagh writes:

There’s a time and a place for everything. Matt McGinn’s time was 1928 to 1977; his place was Glasgow. He was working class and of Irish descent. Time, place, class and genes combined to make this unique man.

His time is over. Yet here we are, in the next century, celebrating his work. Love songs, childrens songs, and daft ditties do get passed on, so you could expect songs like Janetta, “The Red Yo-Yo”, or “Oor Wee Wean Can Sook a Bar of Chocolate” to be sung now and in years to come, all over the world, and even downloaded from the internet. (He would have loved that!)

However, as many of you will know, for many years it was almost impossible to get recordings of his work, yet his songs have been passed on from parents to kids, from teachers to students and from old fans to a new generation of fans. That in itself is a great tribute to the Celtic Culture!

Similarly, you might not be surprised by the popularity of his instant-history-lesson-songs like the “Ballad of John McLean” or “The Ibrox Disaster”. My sister Eleanor reminds me that he could amaze us with his knowledge, although we thought nothing of the speed at which he could write a song. Take the morning someone phoned and asked if he had a song about Benny Lynch. No, but Ill write one he said. Then, while having a shower and making us lunch he did the 1970s equivalent of cutting and pasting; except he did it all in his head. By the time we had finished lunch the song “Benny Lynch”, complete with the names of his opponents and fight venues, was fully formed.

Join us for some stories from Matt’s daughters, Eleanor and Shonagh and nephew, Alex. We also talk to Duncan and Johnny Cameron from Riverside Studios, who regularly perform Matt’s songs.

We’ll be playing tracks from the new CD release, On The Road From Aldermaston, released 17th March via the Cherry Tree label and one or two other rare tracks.