Folk duo begins Highland tour
FOLK SINGERS Sophie Ramsay and Sarah Smout begin their Argyll and Lochaber tour of ‘new and old folk songs about nature, love, loss and home’ later this month.
The duo, taking turns to present their songs, are billed as ‘lending each other harmonies on voice, cello, viola and guitar, resulting in a conversation between two distinctive voices, each complementing and offering contrast to the other’.
Perthshire born and bred Sophie is a singer-songwriter whose ‘undeniably beautiful’ music and ‘freshly poetic lyrics’ are described as ‘deeply moving’.
Her third album of old Gaelic and Scots songs, titled The Seas Between Us, is praised as ‘atmospheric, elegant and beguiling, … an exciting new voice to carry Burns onwards’. It follows her first album of traditional songs called Ca’ the Yowes, and her second of original compositions of love and grief, The Glassy Mountain.
Sarah Smout is a cellist, singer and song- writer from Yorkshire, who has toured the world playing with acts like Michael Chapman, Rachel Ries, Gren Bartley and King Creosote. But as a singer and poet in her own right, it was only a matter of time before she began a solo career.
2016 saw the release of her EP, Decision to Leave, featuring ‘songs with cello which are original, beautifully crafted and hugely touching, exploring themes like home, land, love and climate change’.
Sophie and Sarah met at a Rachel Ries concert at the Green Note in Camden, where Sarah was playing. They got talking about nature, beaver reintroduction and probably climate change, and almost immediately began dreaming up future musical journeys.
Their tour begins at Lochaline Village Hall on Tuesday April 25 at 7.30pm, followed by performances at Craignish Village Hall on Thursday April 27 at 7.30pm, and at The Oyster Catcher in Otter Ferry on Friday April 28 at 8pm.