Capercaillie

• 6 August: Guinness Irish Festival, Sion, Switzerland
• 14 August: Roshven21 August: Innerleithen Music Festival
• 11 September: Scottish Weekend, Belgium

Karen Matheson - solo dates

• 6 May  - The Tolbooth, Stirling. Box Office: 01786 27 4000
• 9 May  - Woodend Barn, Banchory. Box Office: 01330 825431
• 15 May - Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock, Glasgow. Box Office: 0141 577 4970
• 21 May - The Met, Bury. Box Office: 0161 761 2216
• 23 May - The Buccleuch Centre, Langholm. Box Office: 013873 81196
• 28 May - Eastgate Arts Centre, Peebles. Box Office: 01721 725 777
• 29 May - The Sage Gateshead. Box Office: 0191 443 4661
• 2 June  - Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh. Box Office: 0131 665 2240
• 3 June  - Howden Park Centre, Livingston. Box Office: 01506 777 666
• 4 June  - Universal Hall, Findhorn. Box Office: 01309 690 110
• 5 June  - Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline. Box Office: 01383 60 23 02

Karen's gig at the Hebridean Celtic Festival last year has been nominated for Best Show in An Lanntair as part of Heb Celt's 15th Anniversary Hall of Fame celebrations. Vote for Karen here

Michael McGoldrick

• 24 July: Spain - Big Band
• 29 July: Speyfest - Big Band
• 2 August: Sidmouth FolkWeek - with Future Trad Collective
• 7 August: Guinness Irish Festival, Sion, Switzerland
• 28 August: Shrewsbury Folk Festival
• 29 August: Towersey Festival

The brand new studio album from Capercaillie is now available in Europe.

Credited with being at the forefront of the renaissance in folk/roots music over the last 20 years, Capercaillie, Scotland’s finest celtic band, return with a brand new studio album “Roses and Tears”. The album features many songs sourced from the Gaelic song archive at the School of Scottish Studies, new songs and reels penned by Donald Shaw and a beautiful rendition of John Martyn’s anti-war song “Don’t You Go”.

Capercaillie are: Karen Matheson - vocals; Donald Shaw - accordian & piano; Manus Lunny - bouzouki; Charlie McKerron - fiddle with Michael McGoldrick - pipes & flutes; Ewen Vernal - bass; Che Beresford - drums & David Robertson - percussion.

"Roses and Tears" is already picking up some strong reviews:

"a sublime marriage of traditional songs with modern twists" - Scottish Sunday Express

"...[roses and tears] skillfully combines newly discovered traditional songs ... with new material ... and a great cover of John Martyn's anti-war song Don't You Go" The Sunday Post

"polished collection of songs and ... sparkling instrumental sets" The Scotsman

The Capercaillie song "Oh Mo Dhuthaich" has been used in a web promotion for Bono’s (of U2) recent book, “ON THE MOVE”. It is book of his speech given at a National Prayer breakfast in the US, and will help raise funds for ONE.org. It's not up on the site yet, but should be soon.

Don't forget you can purchase all CDs released on Vertical Records at our website - verticalrecords.co.uk, just £10 + p&p each. This includes the brand new releases from The Old Blind Dogs, Breabach, Rory Campbell and Roisin Elsafty as well as albums from Capercaillie, Karen Matheson, Michael McGoldrick, Roddy Hart and James Grant amongst others.

The inspiration for Capercaille was sparked in the early-1980s by high schools friends Karen Matheson (grand-daughter of traditional Scottish vocalist Elizabeth MacNeill and a former member of a folk group, the Etives), and English-born/Scotland-raised keyboard player Donald Shaw. The original band included Scottish bodhran and whistle player Marc Duff (who had played in several bands with Shaw), fiddler and vocalist Joan MacLachlan, guitar and bouzouki player Shaun Craig, and bass and fiddle player Martin MacLeod. After building a reputation with local performances, the band recorded their debut album, Cascade, in a fast-paced, three day, recording session.