‘A Traveller’s Tales’ is a collection of twelve new songs from Gavin Sutherland, the singer-songwriting guitar player who began his musical career as a founder member of The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver. With friends old and new this, his sixth solo album, was recorded during the summer of 2018 and the early months of 2019 on Scotland’s north-east coast.

Joining him on this one are Heidi Browne on fiddle and fellow clansman Dave Sutherland on double bass, players who, with Nick Zala’s pedal steel guitar, bring a country flavour to the writer’s rootsy approach to music making. Old pals Dave McGarry and Terry Butters take turns at the piano, Sam Lumsden hits the drums and Steve Watts’ synthesizers add an extra touch of colour here and there.

As a ‘Sutherland Brother’, Gavin spent many studio hours voicing harmonies with his brother, Iain, something he still very much enjoys, whether in a duet, as he does on a track here with Seattle’s Nancy K Dillon or as a part of a vocal group as the voices of Heidi Browne, Debi Doss, Claire Kennedy and Gillie Nicholls add to the mix.

As the title might suggest, the underlying theme of the songs reflects a world through the eyes of the writer, his thoughts and observations. “The road gets rough for us all from time to time, it’s a chaotic world out there, but I try to stay forever positive and optimistic, it’s the only way we can deal with it all, and I think that comes through in the music.”

Much of the recording was done over the Internet, the great connector that now provides opportunities for collaborations like never before, but, as Gavin says, “No matter how sophisticated and versatile the technology becomes, with all it’s weird and wonderful gadgetry, it’s still all about people, their ideas and how they communicate. It was great to work with such a fine band of musicians in this way. It’s just like being in a studio building, but now the corridors can be hundreds, even thousands of miles long. It sounds like we’re all playing together in the same room. Maybe, in some magical way, we were?”

With a nod in a green direction the CD is packaged in a simple card sleeve with some basic sleeve note information. Lyrics, photos and much more about the album are found on a dedicated album web page at www.gavinsutherland.net.

iTunes | Amazon Music | www.amazon.co.uk | www.amazon.com | www.birnamcdshop.com