Trail West – Countless Isles And Endless Miles
T W Records – Out Now
Just after the End of Year ‘Best Of’ lists have been published along comes a release that would certainly have featured in many had timings been more congruous. Excellent as their previous album, From The Sea To The City, was, the release of Countless Isles And Endless Miles, Trail West’s fourth studio album, marks a significant milestone in the band’s history and represents a bold affirmation of their right to be considered up there with the very best in the genre.
Although 2008 saw the band’s formation, in Tiree, with Ian Smith, Andrew Findlater and various other local musicians, it was in 2010 that the pair, along with Alain Campbell and Seonaidh MacIntyre, settled and made a commitment as a four-piece. Following the release of debut CD One That Got Away and winning the Scottish Dance Band of the Year Award in 2013, and a second album Rescattermastered in 2016, 2017 saw the group’s line-up augmented by the addition of Allan J. Nairn and Jonathan Gillespie in time for the release, in 2018, of the aforementioned From The Sea To The City.
With the ‘new’ band members now firmly embedded in the six-piece iteration, 2020 thus marked their 10th anniversary and the album’s title appropriately reflects the extensive touring across Scotland that has been undertaken during this time, with ‘countless isles’ visited and ‘endless miles’ driven during the 1105 gigs that they have played.
Recorded at Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis in February, before lockdown restrictions hit, the group’s touring plans to support the album inevitably were put on hold. Particularly disappointing was the postponement of what was to have been the main event of the anniversary celebrations, the band’s first headline show at the iconic Glasgow Barrowlands, a gig which sold out some eight months in advance.
Such setbacks are, however, tempered by the sheer quality and enjoyment offered by Countless Isles And Endless Miles. As might be expected from members of a group with roots in the Gàidhealtachd, with links to Tiree, South Uist, the remote peninsular of Ardnamurchan and Donegal in Ireland, Trail West offer up a veritable cornucopia of instrumental sets of tunes and songs, both in Gaelic and English, together with the occasional surprise. This journey reflects their evolution from young musicians playing ceilidh and Scottish Country Dance music, the verve, dynamism and respect for the traditional culture of which they have managed to capture with consummate ease in the studio, to exponents of music which draws upon an impressive range of other styles and genres, far-removed from the dancefloor and incorporating both rural and city influences.
The six musicians in Trail West are Alain Campbell acoustic guitar and whistles, Andrew Findlater drums & percussion, Jonathan Gillespie keyboards & vocals, Seonaidh MacIntyre whistles, acoustic guitar, Highland bagpipes, smallpipes, tromb & vocals, Allan J. Nairn electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo & bass guitar and Ian Smith accordion & backing vocals, with guest musicians on this CD credited as Robert Robertson and ‘Big’ Johnny Gillespie.
The band announce their intent with a blistering opening set, which sees the by now almost trade-mark accordion and whistle combination joined by both a pulsating rhythm section and imposing electric guitar on James Brown’s March before a change of tempo introduces two exhilarating reels, firstly Phil Cunningham’s Wing Commander Donald MacKenzie of Ness and then Hull’s Reel from Cape Breton fiddler John Morris Rankin.
That many West of Scotland bands owe a debt to Runrig is beyond dispute, and Trail West are happy to acknowledge their appreciation in this respect too. Their version of Air An Traigh,a song of reminiscing about days of yore and a more simple way of life, from Runrig’s debut album, includes an additional verse of their own as an homage and is an absolutely cracking, anthemic take on this classic.
A change of musical direction may take the listener unawares as the group really do take the trail west. An up-tempo version of retired country music singer Charlie Robison’s song John O’Reilly, here given the title Day Of My Return, from his 2001 Step Right Up album, has a swinging country beat emphasising the group’s versatility and desire to widen the scope of their repertoire.
A place for marches is secured with 2/4 Marches, comprising Angus Grant’s March composed by Mallaig fiddler and piper Allan Henderson, (Blazin’ Fiddles), and then Burnside Cottage, named after his croft house, from Pipe MasterJohn MacDonald, also known as Seonaidh Roidein, ofSouth Uist. As might be expected, this stirring set, initially with accordion and military snare-drum patterns to the fore, features some top-class pipe-playing.
Revisiting their first album, on which there was a set entitled Wait Til We Tell John Alec…, the next set on the current album Wait ‘Til I Tell Acca… is for Seonaidh’s uncle Ucca. Buachaille Dubh Fionnghal, (Fiona’s black-haired shepherd), a version of which I recall from Shooglenifty, The Reel Of Bogie from Ireland and ’S ann a dol a’ Ghrulainn, which I believe concerns a lad from Eigg who was popular with the girls, are all arrangements of traditional songs which, once again, have a high-tempo, insistent drum beat and swirling pipes which make it nigh on impossible not to dance along with.
The glorious version of the traditional The Galway Shawl offered here sees a dramatic change in tempo as the gentle opening gradually builds, with entrancing keyboards and captivating vocals. The respite is short-lived, however, as the high-spirited Another Scatter! setsees nostalgia creeping in yet again as references are made to both the band’s second album and, though the use of small pipes, the band’s very, very early days.
With one more fine set, Mouse In The Ciiidsin – Cheery Groove (Hamish Napier)/Bobs Of Balmoral(Donald MacLeod)/Mouse In The Kitchen(Colin Farrell), an interesting departure by way of Jonathan Gillespie’s Tonight, and a sumptuous rendition of the traditional An tèid thu leam a Mhàiri (Will you go with me Mary?) made famous by the heritage activist and Gaelic singer Ishbel MacAskill, the album comes to its concluding track.
Written by band member Allan J Nairn, the title track, Countless Isles And Endless Miles ensures that the album ends on the highest of notes, (figuratively not literally). The initial instrumentation, including some outstanding guitar, is, in itself, mightily impressive, but when the pipes kick-in then things are taken to a different level. This is a superbly constructed and truly wonderful track, there surely cannot have been a better slice of Celtic folk-rock this year. In no way wishing to diminish the quality of their arrangements of the traditional, or their interpretation of the work of others, it is to be hoped that future releases from the band might consider more ‘home-grown’ material.
The production of the CD is excellent, once again an attestation to the efforts of the group’s longstanding producer and engineer Ross Wilson, who has succeeded creating a thoroughly contemporary sound which at the same time evinces both a sincere deferential nod to tradition and the exuberance of a live performance.
Countless Isles And Endless Miles is a cracking release which remains in the memory long after the CD has finished. It deserves to be heard by as wide an audience as possible, not least out of respect for those who campaigned in the 1980s for Ceartas airson na Gàidhlig (Justice for Gaelic).