Last night Helen and Gordon Rae and we went to the Women's Rural Institute (WRI) Hall for a concert of folk music. The headliner was Annie Grace whom we have in past years mistakenly claimed is from Comrie. We learned last night that she grew up in Lochaber which is near Ft. William. Her sister, Christine, lives in Comrie and that is Annie's connection with the village. Nevermind, we all consider her "family" by now as she comes to the WRI Hall at this time each year. Last night was our third year seeing her.
Annie has both grace and charm as well as a scintillating personality and a perky performance style. She not only sings beautifully but she plays many types of whistles and pipes, including the Uillean (elbow) pipes commonly associated with Irish music. Her line of patter between songs is humorous and entertaining.
She appears with two members of one of our favorite Scottish folk bands, the Old Blind Dogs. Jonny Hardie, songwriter, fiddler par excellence, and guitarist, has a good strong voice and was one of the founding members of the Old Blind Dogs (or "Dogs" as we faithful followers sometimes call them). Aaron Jones plays bazouki, bass, guitar and also sings. He joined the Dogs in 2003 and has proved a great asset. They perform often enough with Annie Grace that the trio make music together as though they played together every day. Their arrangements are seamless and their individual musical styles blend together beautifully.
The group easily sold out the tiny WRI venue. There were folks who came expecting to get their tickets at the door who were disappointed. No doubt Annie could have sold out the larger White Church Community Centre as well but she prefers to play in a small, more intimate setting. Her style lends itself to the small house. Those of us who managed to get our tickets early enough were richly rewarded.
As you can see from one of the photos above, the banner says "Cultybraggan is Comrie's." This refers to the local Comrie Community Trust's successful bid to purchase the defunct army base on the road out of the village. The CCT is made up of Comrie citizens (who must be on the voter rolls which, unfortunately, lets us out). There is still much work to be done and many decisions to be made about how to pay for and develop the property into facilities that will benefit the community and the environment and be sustainable on all fronts. In most quarters in Scotland, such community buy-outs of land are celebrated and hailed as acts of community spirit and accord and thus Comrie featured in radio and TV news reports and newspaper stories back in September when the purchase became certain.
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