In September last year, following a very successful crowdfunding campaign, BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Hannah Rarity released her début album, Neath the Gloaming Star.
In his review of the album, Neil McFadyen concluded: “With Hannah’s crystal clear voice, sparkling production and thoroughly engaging arrangements, Neath the Gloaming Star is a must-have album for anyone with a love for Scots traditional and contemporary song.”
I recently caught up with Hannah who had just performed at Celtic Connections with her band to talk about her debut release, influences, the future and more.
You self-released your debut album Neath the Gloaming Star through a successful crowdfunding campaign. Why did you choose this approach over finding a record label?
I’m not against the idea of releasing an album through a label, but there aren’t many in Scotland and there are so many musicians making music that it makes sense for artists to self-release. I think it’s a good choice, especially at the start of your career, as it gives you complete autonomy over the creative aspects of the album and how you represent yourself initially. As this was my first, some financial aid was necessary to make everything happen as recording an album can be an expensive business! I’d seen a number of folk artists use crowdfunding to successfully fund various projects and so decided to go down that route, offering rewards and perks in exchange for support, but largely using pre-order sales to fund the creation of the album. I was taken aback by the generosity of those who supported me and I’m very grateful to them.
Your album demonstrates that you have a love for traditional song. Can you tell us how you were introduced to that tradition and what attracted you?
Unlike many other current folk musicians, I didn’t come into contact with folk and traditional music until after I left high school. I grew up performing as part of a national choir, but it was when I applied to study Scottish Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland that I was able to immerse myself in the folk scene in Glasgow. I was lucky to have tuition from some great Scots singers, including Rod Paterson and Fiona Hunter, who kindly shared their vast song repertoire with me and who opened me up to collections and song sources I still regularly draw from.
I’m interested in a number of genres but I think the overarching theme of shared experience found in folk song is what drew me to the genre initially. Songs written years ago still very much reflect human emotion, struggles and situations today and I find that very interesting. I feel traditional songs leave lots of room for creative freedom and it’s quite exciting to create something new from an older text or melody.
Who are your biggest influences?
Some of the folk musicians who’ve had a direct influence on the music I love performing include Karine Polwart, Dick Gaughan, Barbara Dickson, Tony Cuffe, Maura O’Connell, Andy M. Stewart, and of course, my song tutors from the Conservatoire. Each of these influences are fantastic storytellers and have unique voices and ways of phrasing and drawing outlines in songs. It’s also inspiring to listen to artists who have a passion for folk song who also create their own music while drawing from folk’s influence.
Last year, Hannah performed ‘Where Are You Tonight I Wonder?’ by Andy M Stewart at BBC Proms in the Park with the BBC SSO, conducted by Stephen Bell (Orchestral arrangement by John Ashton Thomas). Watch it below:
You’re a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where Phil Cunningham is an Artistic Director. How valuable was this in getting you to where you are now?
I’d say the course had a significant impact on the path I took to get where I am just now. A vocal tutor I met through my choir recognised I tended to favour traditional material and suggested I audition for the Scottish Music course at the Royal Conservatoire. At the time the course was unbeknownst to me. It was a pretty daunting decision to accept a place on a music course of a genre I had very little knowledge of. I met Phil and many of the musicians I now work with regularly through the course and those connections have been crucial to my musical development and career thus far.
Before you graduated, Phil introduced you to Cherish the Ladies who you’ve toured with. You must have toured far afield, do you think you’ll still find time to join them?
Yes! And what an experience. I began touring with them while I was still a student, in 2015, and I not only got to travel to some wonderful places (including Japan, Alaska and across the US) but from a professional standpoint, the touring and performance experience was invaluable. I’m extremely grateful to Joanie Madden and the rest of the band for the time I spent with them. I haven’t sung with them since mid-2017 as I came back to Scotland to work on my album and other projects. At present, there are no plans for me to join them again, but they are all extremely supportive of me and I’m still in touch with them regularly.
You have a strong line-up of musicians on this album. How difficult or challenging was it to decide on who you wanted, did you have a clear vision of the sound you wanted to achieve before you started that process?
Choosing musicians for the album was one of the easiest parts of the process. I knew I wanted to continue to work with my core band (Innes White, Sally Simpson, Conal McDonagh) who I’d been performing and arranging with since 2015, with the addition of some great musicians whose work I felt would suit the sound I was looking for (John Lowrie, Euan Burton). I also knew I wanted to record a duet track with Phil Cunningham and so he very kindly took time to come into the studio.
When it came to recording, I placed a lot of control in producer Euan Burton’s hands, as well as the core band, as I was aware of their musical tastes and trusted that some of that influence would make its way onto the album. As this was my first album I didn’t want to overcomplicate the sound. When I first met Euan to discuss the sound I wanted to achieve, it quickly became apparent I was after a clean, quality recording of strong song arrangements that reflected my love of the songs I’d chosen and my interpretations of them, and I think that’s what we managed to achieve.
What were the most rewarding and challenging aspects of making the album?
The main body of the album and recording came together over the period of March – June and it was really great to watch the whole thing come together. Everyone did a fantastic job and I learned a lot during the process, both while recording and mixing. I’m extremely happy with the overall sound and the decisions we made on the album. Watching Euan work definitely gave me food for thought for ideas I would like to try in the studio for future projects.
As a singer who doesn’t really play an instrument, it is often challenging trying to communicate musical ideas eloquently but working with amazing musicians who understood the sound I was hoping to achieve on the album and the sentiment I wanted to convey in each song made the process extremely enjoyable.
There are many fantastic resources available to students of Scottish music now. For those that are maybe new to the scene and are wanting to explore Scottish traditional song more, where would you direct them?
Second to attending the regular sessions in and around Glasgow (there’s a fantastic monthly song session in Glasgow run by singer Josie Duncan where you can often be introduced to lots of new songs and ideas), I regularly find myself searching the extensive Tobar An Dualchais/Kist O’ Riches archive website for little gems I could potentially develop (http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/).
For Scots song in particular, the Scots Language website has a number of useful links and information on collections/online archives (https://www.scotslanguage.com/books/view/65).
What else have you planned on the horizon?
After winning the award in 2018 [BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year] and releasing my album it was a very busy year and so I’m delighted to have a bit of time to myself to create after Celtic Connections. I’m going to be developing some new material at the start of the year, I’ll be appearing at several summer festivals and further touring ‘Neath the Gloaming Star’ and I’m currently looking into a string of dates south of the border. All my tour dates and upcoming appearances will be listed at hannahrarity.com/gigs.
And finally, can you share with us your top 5 favourite Scottish albums and tell us what you’re currently reading?
Adam Holmes – Heirs and Graces (2014)
Adam’s first album is one I always come back to and never get tired of. You can hear the folk and country influences in his songwriting but with his own stamp, which he has gone on to develop in his subsequent albums. Definitely one of my favourite male voices in the scene.
Maeve Mackinnon – Don’t Sing Love Songs (2007)
This was one of the first folk albums I was introduced to. This was Maeve’s first album, released in 2007, and it predominantly features Gaelic song with a few songs in English & Scots. All of the arrangements and the production are fantastic. My favourite tracks – Silver Dagger & MacIain ‘ic Sheumais.
Karine Polwart – Scribbled in Chalk (2006)
All of Karine’s albums are brilliant in my opinion, but this album has to be my favourite. Karine’s writing opened my eyes to the thought-provoking possibilities of songwriting. You can hear folk and pop influences in her songs and she’s a very talented lyricist, never shying away from dark or difficult topics. A particularly haunting song on this album is ‘Baleerie Baloo’ – a track written in the style of a traditional lullaby that tells the story of Jane Haining, a Scottish missionary who worked in a Hungarian orphanage and was “arrested on charge of espionage for crimes that included weeping whilst she sewed the mandatory Star of David onto the children’s clothes…” and was killed in Auschwitz in 1944.
Eddi Reader – The Songs of Robert Burns – Deluxe Edition (2009)
This was one of the first ‘traditional’ music albums that made its way into my family home and I remember listening to it on repeat. Eddi’s vocals and interpretations of the songs are unforgettable.
Biffy Clyro – Puzzle (2007)
One non-folky album in there! Biffy Clyro are a band who have stayed with me since I was a teenager. This is my favourite album of theirs and it features some of their most sensitive songwriting.
Recommended Reading
I find it difficult to get time to sit down and read but at the moment I’m just finishing a book called ‘Jog On: How Running Saved My Life’ by Bella Mackie. It’s an exploration of her struggles with mental health and how jogging has provided her with a tool that helps her cope with her anxiety. It makes some really great links between negative childhood experience of sport and your relationship with movement later on in life, also. There have been studies that show musicians are particularly prone to mental health problems (https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/musicians-depression-study/) and as someone who has struggled, I think this book provides a powerful case for one of many things to try that has helped others with their mental health.
Keep up with Hannah by visiting: https://www.hannahrarity.com