Zetor in the Kailyard is a Scottish folk duo. The band features Roddy Johnston on fiddle, pipes, vocals, guitar and percussion, and Kate Badcock on flute, piano, alto sax and backing vocals. Since 2014, Zetor in the Kailyard has been playing regularly to audiences across Scotland, and touring in the wider UK as well as Europe.

Zetor in the Kailyard is known for their performances that combine traditional music with live looping, creating a full and energetic sound. With a highly-eclectic repertoire, richly-textured harmonies and rhythm, they have reinterpreted tunes and ballads from Scotland, Ireland and North America. Whilst the duo is rooted in traditional music, they frequently draw inspiration from other genres alongside an undying desire to defy convention. These are two multi-instrumentalists passionate about both the music they play and the world they live in.

Their debut album Collateral takes migration as its theme, through the vast wealth of traditional songs and tunes that reflect on this. On this journey, the listener hears of the likes of Glaswegian Jamie Raeburn, who finds himself transported for a crime he did not commit, as well as Woody Guthrie’s pastures of plenty reflecting on the mass migration from Oklahoma during the 1930s dust bowl. The duo draw on war both in Scotland with feuding clans, and Irishmen in the USA conscripted into General Mahers’ Irish Brigade. Alongside songs such as these, there is a celebration of the contribution that immigrant communities make to their new cultures, with sets of Cape Breton tunes, and songs such as Careless Love, which has transcended culture and genre.

“The material for Collateral came from a culmination of constant touring throughout the Highlands from before the 2014 independence referendum, through the migrant crises and the vote for the UK to leave the EU. As a band, we saw an increasing relevance in the traditional music we were already playing. Events from old ballads seemed to be coming to life as we performed them. The album was recorded in November and December of 2016 in Tpot Studios, Ochil Hills, during which time on a frosty sharp morning we discovered Donald Trump had been elected president of the USA! ” Roddy Johnston

Birnam CD Online Shop | iTunes | Apple Music | Amazon Music | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Google Play | Spotify

High-res, print-ready JPGs of the album cover and various press shots for use in your article. Please expand an image, then right-click and select “Save As” to download.