‘Voices of the Loch’ give classic local touch
Scotland’s alt.blues troubadour Dave Arcari has made a bold move putting together his new single Loch Lomond (Home) which is scheduled for release today (Friday).
Never one to shy away from controversy, the East Loch Lomond resident has rewritten the Scottish traditional favourite Loch Lomond to make it more personal and up to date … and arranged the song for his trademark slide guitar and vocals.
And to give the project even more of a local twist, he secured the help of local neighbours and friends – collectively named “The Voices of the Loch” – to provide a singalong ambience on the choruses,
“This one’ll definitely put the cat amongst the pigeons,” said Arcari. “Some folks’ll love it but I’m guessing some will think it’s sacrilege to adapt such a wellknown song.
“For me, though, it’s a natural progression – so much traditional music has evolved over time and the words rewritten and woven round circumstances as the songs are passed from generation to generation.
“My wife and I moved to East Loch Lomond over 10 years ago and have been made so welcome that I wanted to encompass the feeling of goodwill in the song.”
The release is also Arcari’s way of setting the record straight after an overseas record label called his bluff and released a more traditional version of the song on an album nearly 10 years ago.
He said: “I was putting together an album on licence to a French label and at the last minute they asked me to add in a Scottish song. I wasn’t so sure it was a good ideabut I quickly recorded a version of Loch Lomond that I thought was so bad they’d see my point. But they didn’t. They loved it and it went on the album!
“Not only that, but it became one of the best loved tracks on that release - and I hate it. It’s just not representative of me or my music that’s why I thought it was time to come up with a version that I could stand behind.”
Arcari got the local community – as well as friends from near and far – involved to provide an extra dimension to the choruses.
“It all started when I performed a rough version of the song during a livestream,” explains Arcari. “A radio DJ and pal Paul ‘Pablo’ StewVoie crowd singing along to the choruses if I played it live.”
That started the songwriter thinking and gave rise to Arcari’s idea of putting together the “Voices of the Loch” that appear on the choruses.
“When I explained singing ability wasn’t an issue, and that I was looking for the effect of an audience singing along rather than backing vocalists a few took up the challenge…and as it turned out they could all sing. I’m delighted with the way their contribution to the recording turned out.”
By a pleasant co-incidence, one of them has another ‘link’ to the area.
“My pal Bill was over from Florida and came to play a house concert in the garden a few weeks ago and along with his wife Dorothy, daughter Valerie and son-in-law were persuaded to join me in the studio to add their voices. Bill’s son-in-law’s name is Shady Glenn!
“Now I can’t sing that verse without seeing him in my mind’s eye.”