Biography

Dougie MacLean grew up in rural Perthshire in a Gaelic background, his father was a gardener, his grandfather a shepherd like his father before him on Loch Etive. The family originally came from the island of Mull, where they had been crofters. While at school, Dougie MacLean already made up a band together with Andy Stewart and Martin Hadden. Roy Gullane of the Tannahill Weavers noticed Dougie playing and singing in the street, and asked him to join his band: Dougie stayed on from 1974 to 1977. In that year he went over to Germany where he played alone and with Alex Campbell and Alan Roberts, with whom he brought out the LP "CRM". For a short period of time, six months in 1980, he was a substitute for Johnny Cunningham on the fiddle with Silly Wizard. After that he toured shortly with the Tannies again. In January of that year a solo LP came out - Snaigow - which he recorded together with Donald MacDougall, Alan Roberts, Kenny Hadden, Andy Richards, and Martin Hadden. In 1981 he went solo again, and started Dunkeld Records - his own company - in 1983. Dougie is married to Jennifer (Jenny in the songs), who was born in Sydney, Australia, and they have two children: Jamie and Julia. They live in the old teacher's house, part of the old village school in Butterstone, which both he and his father attended. There is also a studio there, a rehearsal room and a workshop. They maintain a small office in the town of Dunkeld, close by. His songs have been featured in theatre and film (part of "The Last Mohicans"). A 40-minute film of his life and music "The Land: Songs of Dougie MacLean" has been screened by the BBC, and recently his latest 50+ minutes videofilm could be seen "RoadSongs", in which he appears together with Kathy Mattea, with whom he also appeared in 1996 in a series broadcast by the BBC: The Transatlantic Sessions. The band he currently works with consists of Davie Duncan (vocals, percussion, harmonica), Ali Napier (vocals, piano, keyboard), Gordon Duncan (whistle), and Conrad Ivitsky (bass).

Dunkeld Records
Cathedral Street
Dunkeld, Perthshire
PH8 OAW Scotland
(01350) 727-686