One of Celtic Music's More Prolific Performers
MacLean began his performing career with the Tannahill Weavers in 1976, toured briefly as a member of Silly Wizard in the late '70s and went solo in 1981.
Dougie MacLean photo by Gordon Hotchkiss.
Composing, Recording, Performing
MacLean returned to his home area of Perthshire in 1981 to concentrate on his solo work, and he also toured in Europe and North America, and later in Australia and New Zealand. With his wife, artists Jennifer MacLean, e started his own label, Dunkeld Records with the release of Craigie Dhu.
During the 1980s, Dunkeld Records signed more Scottish artists including Hamish Moore, Sheena Wellington, Frieda Morrison, Gordon Duncan, David Allison and Blackeyed Biddy. By the early '90s, Dunkeld Records had its own studio, publishing company and retail outlet and expanded to manufacturing records in the United States.
MacLean himself kept composing, recording and touring and was working with musicians worldwide. In the 1990s he attracted the attention of the BBC, which did a special called The Land: Songs of Dougie MacLean and he was one of the artists invited to participate in The Transatlantic Sessions which brought together musicians from both sides of the pond. Meanwhile, "Caledonia," sung by Frank Miller, reached #1 on the Scottish charts. The song was also recorded by Irish singer Dolores Keane, and that version is still a frequent request on Internet radio station LiveIreland.com.
In 1998, with everything going strong, Dougie MacLean established MacLean's Real Music Bar in Dunkeld and it soon became the pub of choice for musicians in the area. It was still very successful when he sold it in 2003.
In May 1999, MacLean's suite in four movements, "Perthshire Amber," which has been commissioned by the Perth Festival of the Arts, premiered at that festival. It was widely acclaimed and was a sellout when it was performed the next year at the Celtic Connections Festival. In 2005, MacLean started the Perthshire Amber Festival, which has grown into a 10-day event with performances at many venues in the region. It will be a major part of the year-long Scottish Homecoming of 2009, which marks the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth.
Celtic Music by Dougie MacLean
is available from Amazon.co.uk but not Amazon.com (US).
Inside the Thunder
Recorded in 2005, this is Dougie MacLean's most recent album of original songs.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Inside the Thunder
Tracks:
1. Not Look Down
2. Song for Johnny
3. Home
4. Seventh Sea
5. Strathmore
6. Eternally You
7. Open Fields
8. It's Not for Me
9. Into the Flames
10. Beside You
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009) 
Live: From the Ends of the Earth
Released in 2000, this CD starts with six songs from a solo concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and continues with songs from the Port Fairy Festival in Australia.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: From the Ends of the Earth
Tracks:
1. She Will Find Me
2. Rescue Me
3. Rite of Passage
4. All Together
5. Green Grow the Rashes
6. Ready for the Storm
7. Feel So Near
8. Talking With My Father
9. Singing Land
10. Caledonia
11. This Love Will Carry
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/25/2009)
Perthshire Amber
Composed by Dougie MacLean as a commissioned work in 1998 and released in 2001, this instrumental suite combines traditional instruments with a small string ensemble. Eventually this work led to the Perthshire Amber Festival which began in 2005. It is now a 10-day festival beginning the last weekend in October.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Perthshire Amber
Tracks:
1. First Movement...Perthshire Amber
2. Second Movement...Crannog/Castle Menzies
3. Third Movement...The Fair City
4. Fourth Movement...Rannoch/The Butterstone Puddock/Castle ...
5. S. Mr. & Mrs. MacLean of Snaigow
6. The Search
7. The Kaimes
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/25/2009)
Riof
Recorded between 1995 and 1997 by Dougie MacLean and Graeme Hughes and released on Dunkeld Records in 1997.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Riof
Tracks:
1. Stepping Stones
2. Stolen
3. Scythe Song
4. Feel So Near
5. Gneiss Wind
6. 'S Fhada Leam an Oidche Ghemhraidh
7. She Will Find Me
8. Big River
9. Fragments from "A Mug's Game"
10. Distant Son
Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/25/2009)
Tribute
Released in 1995, this CD consists of songs by Robert Burns, Robert Tannahill and Niel Gow.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Tribute: a Tribute to Robert Burns, Neil Gow & Robert Tannahill
Tracks:
1. Ca' the Yowes
2. Are Ye Sleepin' Maggie?
3. Scots WHN' Hae
4. Neil Gow's Lament
5. The Slave's Lament
6. Banks and Braes
7. For A' That
8. Gloomy Winter
9. Rattlin' Roarin' Willie
10. Auld Lang Syne
11. Farewell to Whisky
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/25/2009)
More Celtic Music by Dougie MacLean
Marching Mystery
The title track is dedicated to 78 ancient chess pieces discovered in the sand after a storm on the island of Lewis in the Hebrides.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Marching Mystery
Tracks:
1. Deepest Part of Me
2. Marching Mystery
3. It Belongs to Us
4. All Together (Fiddle Tune-Butterstone Village Hall)
5. Holding Back
6. Hearts Can Never Hide
7. Broken Wings
8. The Land
9. When the People Speak
10. Expectation
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009)
Sunset Song
Not available directly from Amazon, but sold by Amazon partners, the CD is still available from Dunkeld Records and is listed on Dougie MacLean's website.
Available from Amazon.co.uk partners: Sunset Song
Tracks:
1. Sunset Song
2. The Burning Of Peesie's Knapp
3. The Kinraddie Scythe
4. Cloud Nine
5. Cirrus/The Eviction
6. The Bridge Incident
7. The Kaimes
8. Grey Granite
9. Distress
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009)
Indigenous
A reviewer in the "Scotsman" wrote, "a brilliant album - I don't think he has ever before sung so confidently and persuasively...the songs are attractive and intriguing...honed to the kind of point that pierces the soul."
Available from Amazon.co.uk partners: Indigenous
Tracks:
1. Rite of Passage
2. Rank and Roses
3. War
4. The Slave's Lament
5. Turning Away
6. Let Her Go
7. This Line Has Broken
8. Ae Fond Kiss
9. Thundering In
10. Eternity
Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/25/2009)
Search
The theme of the CD is the search for the Loch Ness Monster and includes the first recording of "The Gael," a tune later used in the movie "The Last of the Mohicans." Available from Amazon partners or MacLean's website.
Available directly from Amazon.co.uk: The Search
Tracks:
1. The Search
2. The Abyssal Plain
3. The Thermocline
4. The Origin
5. The Sixties Vigil
6. The Gael
7. The Underwater Vigil
8. Loch Ness
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009)
Whitewash
The reviewer for the "Scotsman" notes, "The most intriguing set of protest songs you are likely to hear in a long time...protest wrapped in warmth and beauty...faultless performance...MacLean is absorbed in his message and confident in its strength." Available from Amazon partners or MacLean's website.
Available from Amazon.co.uk partners: Whitewash
Tracks:
1. Trail Of The Survivor
2. Gloomy Winter
3. No No No
4. Rescue Me
5. Dolina
6. Family Of The Mountains
7. Shame
8. Mo Nighean Donn
9. Until We Meet Again
10. Little Ones Walk On
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009)
More Celtic Music from Dougie MacLean
Real Estate
A collection of MacLean's original work along with songs by Robert Burns and Robert Tannahill. Available from Amazon partners or MacLean's website.
Available from Amazon.co.uk partners: Real Estate
Tracks:
1. Solid Ground
2. Restless Fool
3. Buffalo Jump
4. Garden Valley
5. Emigrant
6. Green Grow the Rashes, O
7. Homerland (Duthaich Mo Chridhe)
8. Mhairi Bhan
9. Are Ye Sleepin' Maggie?
10. She Loves Me (When I Try)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009)
Singing Land
This CD has mostly original songs, with the title track and "Tumbling Down" inspired by MacLean's contact with Australian Aborigines. Three traditional songs are also included.
Available from Amazon.co.uk partners: Singing Land
Tracks:
1. Singing Land
2. Bonny Woods O'Hatton
3. Desperate Man
4. Other Side
5. This Love Will Carry
6. Tumbling Down
7. Kelphope Glen
8. Guillotine's Release
9. Another Story
10. Goodnight and Joy
Amazon Price: (as of 11/25/2009)
Craigie Dhu
This was Dougie MacLean's first release on his own Dunkeld Records label, and is a good place to start if you are unfamiliar with his music. It is a mix of traditional and original songs and includes "Caledonia."
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Craigie Dhu
Tracks:
1. Gin I Were a Baron's Heir
2. Ready for the Storm
3. It Was A' for Our Rightfu' King
4. High Flying Seagull
5. Edmonton Airbus/Craigue Dhu
6. Bonnie Bessie Logan
7. Seanair's Song
8. It Fascinates Me
9. Tullochgorum
10. Caledonia
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/25/2009)
Plant Life Years
This is a collection of songs MacLean recorded on the Plant Life label before he started Dunkeld Records.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Dougie Maclean's Caledonia: the Plant Life Years
Tracks:
1. Plooboy Laddies
2. Johnny Teasie Weasle
3. Over My Mountain
4. Mistress Mackinley's Breakfast Surreals
5. Northern Cowboy
6. I Lo'e Nae a Lassie But Ane
7. Rattlin' Roarin' Willie
8. Mormond Braes
9. Caledonia
10. Jock Stewart
11. Leis a Lurighan
12. Rolling Home
13. Mill Brae/Lassies Trust in Providence/Bonnie Isle O'Whalsay
14. Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 11/25/2009)
On a Wing and a Prayer
This album was originally released on Plant Life and re-released on Osmosys. It is not listed on Amazon.co.uk.
Tracks:
1. Almost Always Falling
2. On a Wing and a Prayer
3. Cruising
4. Silver and Gold
5. More Fool I
6. The Long Road
7. Sandy Bell;s Broadstreet
8. Let's Rock and Roll
9. You dont have to cry
10. Get Me Out
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 11/25/2009)
Dougie MacLean's First Solo Recording
Snaigow
Originally released on Plant Life and re-released on Osmosys Records in 2004.
Available from Amazon.co.uk: Snaigow
Tracks:
1. Rolling Home
2. King's Command
3. Mill Brae/Lassies Trust in Providence/Bonnie Isle O'Whalsay
4. Northern Cowboy
5. Back to the Island
6. Silently Sad
7. Heiland Harry
8. Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon
9. John McColl's Reel/Alex Campbell's Reel
10. Loch Tay Boat Song
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 11/25/2009)
The Gael
Dougie MacLean and Celtic Music Links
- Dougie MacLean's official website
- News, concert listings, photo and video galleries, biography, a store with many items including some CDs not available through Amazon. You can also sign up for his newsletter.
- Celtic Music lenses by MobyD
- A listing of Celtic music lenses and video showcases I've made.
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