Charlie and Co take the magic roundabout to Kincraig
It’s been 24 years since Session A9 last performed at Kincraig on their very first tour, so it’s high time they returned!
They’ll getting ready for a great gig at Kincraig Community Hall on Saturday at 7.30pm
After hosting their annual teaching week and gig at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye, the band are now on a mini-tour, revisiting venues they performed at during their first major Scottish road trip.
“We know it was 24 years ago as Gordon Gunn’s son was born on the morning of the Kincraig gig”, says Kincraig’s very own Charlie Mckerron.
“We got a call to say that Gordon might not make the gig, but to our amazement he turned up to join us on the night. We are delighted to be returning to Kincraig again after all this time. Of course, this is even more special for me as it is my local village hall and I am hoping to see a few friendly faces and it will be lovely to introduce some new friends to our music.”
Session A9 have recorded six albums, most recently “The Magic Roundabout” as reviewed by the Strathy and which was nominated for Album of the Year at The Scottish Traditional Music Awards.
It’s their first at the awards, and in 2012 they were honoured to collect the award for “Best Live Act”. Scottish singer/songwriter Dougie Maclean has been quoted as saying “Session A9 are the best band to come out of Scotland in 100 years” and The Proclaimers stated that they are “tighter than James Brown” after watching their performance at Glastonbury Festival.
“In the early days of the band we were gigging more regularly but as the majority of us had commitments with other bands it was always difficult to get everyone available. We used to get other musicians to step in if someone wasn’t free, but we found that it was difficult trying to rehearse the music without the full line-up.”
The band now consists of musicians from all over Scotland, and one living in Norway. They are: Kevin Henderson, Adam Sutherland, Gordon Gunn and Charlie on fiddles, David Robertson on percussion, Marc Clement on guitar and songs, and Brian Mcalpine on keyboards.
“It is incredible to think we have been able to keep going as we usually only do one tour a year and maybe a few festivals, we feel very lucky and grateful to those who come to see us.
“Next year is our 25th anniversary. We are starting the year off at a Festival in The Netherlands and a tour in May and hopefully a few more things through the year. We love gigging and after the experience of lockdowns we all want to do more. Just before the first lockdown we had been working on the material for a new CD, our first in many years, and that came to an abrupt end leaving us in limbo.
“We finally got to make the CD and released it in January 2024 at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. It felt great to be back and the CD was so well received that we were shortlisted again for Best CD of the Year at Na Trads.
“All the band members have very busy lives but the love of playing live music together keeps driving us and we want to do more”, said Charlie.
Kincraig’s own up and coming musician, Cailean Mckerron, is going to open the night with a solo performance of his own music. There will also be a raffle to raise funds for the amazing charitable organisation, Fèis Spè. The band are delighted to be able to support the Fèis who bring traditional music lessons to the youth in Badenoch and Strathspey.
Many Fèis Spè kids have gone on to have great musical careers throughout the years, and this continues to this day with new musicians making a name for themselves.
The future is brighter for the scene with organisations such as the Fèisean movement making traditional music more accessible to all.
Kincraig Community stalwart, Ian Ash says, “It is just fantastic for a wee village like Kincraig to attract such a prestigious band as Session A9, with their unique blend of Celtic music, to our community hall”.
Saturday’s Kincraig Community Hall tickets are available via Eventbrite. It will be a licensed event.
