Musical heart in Highlands

SHEER POETRY: Emily Smith and Jamie McLennan have recorded tributes to Robert Burns

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A pair of acclaimed young musicians – she a Scot, he a Kiwi – will bring their take on the traditional sounds of Scotland to Nelson on February 26. Alice Cowdrey reports.

Being brought up on a diet of Robert Burns meant that Scottish singer Emily Smith was a bit put off Scotland's favourite son.

She eventually changed her mind about the poet, however, and along with her New Zealand-born husband, Jamie McClennan, has now recorded an album of Burns' lesser known songs called Adoon Winding Nith, some of which will get an airing when the couple perform in Nelson on February 26.

Smith is from the southwest of Scotland, where Burns spent the second half of his life.

"I guess through my childhood at school you kind of get Burns taught to you so much, you get a little sick of it. So in previous years as a traditional singer I have been a bit avoiding of Burns ... but 2009 marks the 250th year since his birth," Smith says.

The anniversary got the pair thinking that it would be nice to come up with a project to commemorate Burns.

"We started thinking about it this time last year and we gathered the songs and collected and arranged them through the summer and recorded in August and September. The album came together quite easily and quite quickly.

"Maybe because there was such a wealth of material, we just kept coming up with lots of new stuff and we recorded it in our studio at home."

Smith says that although she is usually drawn to dark, tragic ballads, the new album is optimistic and upbeat.

During their Nelson concert, the pair will play a selection of their music so people will be able to hear "the different sides" to it. Smith says that so far the New Zealand tour has been a blast and shows in the main centres have all sold out.

"I guess because so many folk over here have got a connection with Scotland, so it's been lovely to see people come out and a lot of expats, too – Scots who have moved out here and want an evening that's going to remind them of home."

Smith and McClennan have toured all over the world and have been writing and playing together for eight years.

They met in 2002 after Smith had won the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award and was putting a band together. McLennan joined on fiddle and during the years has become an integral part of Smith's sound, playing fiddle, whistle and lead guitar on recordings and in concert, and co-producing her latest solo album, Too Long Away.

McClennan was born in Hamilton, growing up immersed in New Zealand's folk scene. He played in several bands before moving to Scotland at 21 to further his musical career. He became a sought-after musician in Glasgow playing ceilidhs and forming an award-winning four-piece, Quarter Mile.

During the tour, McClennan is also promoting his first solo album, In Transit, a collection of self-penned tunes featuring Grada musician Gerry Paul on guitar and other guest artists who play percussion, double bass, bluegrass mandolin and cello.

• Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan play at Nelson's Fairfield House on February 26 from 8pm. Tickets are $20.

- © Fairfax NZ News