KENNETH SPEIRS

A Paisley- born folk musician is donating the proceeds of his new single to a foodbank.

Charlie Harrigan, 65, was brought up in Causeyside Street and although he now lives in Glasgow, he maintains his links with the town.

“Once a Buddie, always a Buddie,” he said.

That’s why he is keen to support Renfrewshire Foodbank, in Abercorn Street, with his latest single Farmer’s Song.

He explained: “I had been having coffee with my sister in Paisley and she had mentioned she had donated to the foodbank. I had also read about it.

“So it was very much at the forefront of my mind.”

Always keen on music, Charlie started out on his journey to professional musicianship by a roundabout route.

“I went to Camphill High in Paisley, then joined the Army in 1971,” he said.

“Then, I married a Canadian and emigrated to Canada.”

It was while in Canada that he became the host in Edmonton of a weekly television programme called Just Folk for QCTV.

“My guests included Dougie MacLean and the Tannahill Weavers,” said Charlie.

The composer of Farmer’s Song, Murray McLauchlan, is also a Paisley man who emigrated to Canada.

He spent the first five years of his life living in Ferguslie Park before emigrating to Canada in 1953 with his family, where he grew up in Toronto.

In the 1960s Murray moved to New York and then returned to Toronto in 1970 where he signed with True North Records.

He had considerable success with the award-winning Farmer’s Song.

Murray was chosen to be inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in September 2016.

And Charlie’s recording of Farmer’s Song has plenty of resonance for Renfrewshire Foodbank as it contains the line “Thanks for the meal, here’s a song that is real, from a kid from the city to you.”

Renfrewshire Foodbank aims to provide three days’ nu t r i t i o na l l y b a l a n c e d emergency food and support to local people who are referred in a crisis.

Charlie’s recording is available for digital download at Amazon, iTunes, and Google.