BEAUTY IN WORDS
Two Irishmen’s creative salute to the Big County
There’s always a touch of nostalgia for home among Irishmen when St Patrick’s Day comes around.
But this year two Perthshire-based creatives from Northern Ireland gave a toast to the Old Country in an advert for Irish whiskey – as opposed to the spirit of Scotland, whisky.
Singer-songwriter Foy Vance and poet Jon Plunkett, from Bangor, County Down, are well-kent faces in Aberfeldy, and having seen their promotion of Bushmills Whiskey, in the form of a poem penned by Plunkett and spoken in Vance’s Northern Irish drawl, the PA challenged them to give praise to Perthshire, their adopted home.
Jon Plunkett, along with his wife (Lindsay Turk the painter) and their children, has made Perthshire home.
He’s poet in residence at Corbenic Camphill Community near Dunkeld, creating the Corbenic Poetry Path through idyllic mossy woodland.
Songwriter and singer Foy Vance has regularly given riotous support for his mate Ed Sheeran, and it is his composition, ‘Guiding Light’ they often duet together.
Vance has been out across the world supporting Elton John and Snow Patrol.
In the wake of the Bushmills promotion, it only seemed reasonable to ask the lads for an appreciation of Perthshire’s charms to match the ode to Ireland they’d participated in. Here’s the conversation...
“In a recent film for a certain Irish whiskey, you collaborated with Jon Plunkett to reflect on home in Ireland.
“What might stand out in a similar film if it were to reflect your home here in Perthshire?”
“Well it would still involve whisky.”
“Do you feel Aberfeldy and Perthshire have had an influence on your creativity?”
“I think wherever you are has an influence of your creativity.
“Which is partly why I moved there. For me, silence works well for creativity. Nothing gives that better than being surrounded by nature with few signs of human intent.”
Vance made his much hailed album Joy of Nothing from the ‘isolation’ of Aberfeldy, a record he previously said was inspired by the tranquillity of the countryside and the simple things in life.
“I wanted to slow things down a bit and learn to appreciate the smaller elements, the silences even,” says the singer.
“Aberfeldy was immediately peaceful and completely transformative.
“The move to the Highlands(from London) was a massive theme during the making of the album. It completely inspired me. I mean, Robbie Burns wrote a lot of his poems in Aberfeldy, he walked these hills!”
“What do you enjoy about life in Perthshire?”
“Mostly being round the corner from Jon!”
“Jon, you collaborated with Foy Stunning scenes such as Queen’s View at Loch Tummel in Perthshire have inspired Foy Vance and poet Jon Plunkett Vance on the Bushmill’s ‘Toast for St Patrick’s Day’ film reflecting on home in Ireland. If we did a similar film, what things would you draw on from living in Perthshire?”
“There would be a lot of similarities actually. The landscape of course. Green and beautiful over there, and similarly green and beautiful over here.
“Though there’s a lot more of it over here. And it’s wilder in places. And it turns white for a lot more of the year.
“Then there’s the whole creative thing too. Words and music are so much a part of the history and identity over there and over here. There also seems to be a trend
toward a left-leaning rebelliousness in the creative communities in both countries. Or maybe I’m just seeing things I like to see on that front.
“Then of course there’s the whiskey and the whisky.”
“Has Aberfeldy and Perthshire had an influence on you creatively?”
“Absolutely. When I write about Ireland I find nostalgia creeps in. I don’t find that happens so much over here and I generally end up with poems I’m happier with as a result.
“I really enjoy the more immediate and often raw and real impact of the landscape in Perthshire, particularly the wilder Highland areas.
“I like the influence of the hardship and harshness of some of these places when the rougher weather kicks in.
“The sense that the land has been worked for centuries, that inseparability of humankind and landscape seems really pronounced here in Perthshire.
“That has had an impact on a lot of my writing and on me as person as well.
“I feel if I was to move away from here, no matter where I’d go, the influence of Perthshire and the wild Scottish landscape in general would continue to come through in my work.”
“What do you enjoy about life in Perthshire?”
“Aberfeldy is a very open community. There are lots of people