Sustainable storytelling | Life in focus
A new single about learning to live life in recovery from alcoholism has inspired a groundbreaking songwriting project for people in recovery to be trialled in Glasgow next year. ‘Yesterday’s Promises’ by Americana-Indiepop trad band The Tumbling Souls, from Lewis, is a part-biographical look back at the early musical career of Willie Campbell and the …
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The co-founders of Highlands and Islands based electrical and renewables experts IDM Energy have won the major national award announced at this year’s Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards. Iain Macphail and Kyle Smith were crowned ‘National Winner 2025’ of The John Caudwell Award, named after the philanthropic billionaire and founder of Phones4U. The Highlanders …
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“It just felt so… cringe,” blushes Laura Silverstone. “It just felt so, I don’t know, girly.” The singer-songwriter is sitting cross-legged in the trusty van she has called home for the past eight years or so. It’s strewn with plants, pictures, instruments, cosy blankets, vegan food and hand-crafted mugs. She’s talking, of course, about her …
A top Scots songwriter turned up to the Scottish Album of the Year Awards styled as a futuristic android pop star - in a dramatic warning against the rise of AI use in music. SAY Award nominee Stephen McAll, of experimental folk group Constant Follower, attended the £20,000 prize ceremony at Dundee’s Caird Hall with …
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This year’s HebCelt Festival was the most successful in the event’s 28-year history as its investment in new technology, infrastructure and enhanced sponsorship packages paid dividends. Tickets for Saturday’s headliners Skerryvore sold-out, as did local fringe events, with Lulu only a handful of tickets away from achieving the same. More than 18,500 attended the festival, …
A group of acclaimed Scottish songwriters and performers has warned musicians risk being ‘AI-brushed’ out of existence unless urgent action is taken by the music industry and government to protect human creativity from artificial intelligence. Tumbling Souls - a Scots supergroup featuring members of 90s indie darlings Astrid, trad favourites Hò-Rò, and festival stalwarts Boys …
For HebCelt’s Michelle Shields, the road from sparkly wristbands to programming the main stage has been as natural as it’s been extraordinary. Born and raised just a short walk from Lews Castle Green, her connection already ran deep. Looking back at what has been her coming-of-age wrapped in music, it seems obvious now that she’d …
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The co-founders of Highlands and Islands based electrical and renewables experts IDM Energy have been jointly named finalists in the national 2025 Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards. Iain Macphail and Kyle Smith have been shortlisted in two high-profile categories including the prestigious John Caudwell Award, the most distinguished honour presented by the awards programme. …
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“Yeah, that song is very much about my childhood experience,” laughs former Astrid frontman Willie Campbell, flashing a mischievous grin. “Growing up too early in the 90s, on Lewis, that’s just what you did. Everybody got up to no good – it was the way it was back then.” He’s talking about ‘1995’. The nostalgia-soaked …
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Festival goers heading to HebCelt next month are now destined for an out of this world experience - after uber popular Sci-Fi and fantasy collective OH!CON blasted into the line-up. Tide Lines, Lulu and Skerryvore will soon be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Star Wars favourites Darth Vader and R2-D2, Daleks from Dr Who …
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