Richard Peter Gaughan, usually known as Dick Gaughan (born 17 May 1948, Glasgow) is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.
Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Rottenrow Maternity Hospital, when his father was working in Glasgow as an engine driver. He spent the first year-and-a-half of his life in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, after which the whole family moved to Leith, a port on the outskirts of Edinburgh. His mother was a Macdonald from Lochaber, and was a native speaker of Gaelic. As a child in the 1930s she won a silver medal at the Gaelic Mod. His father was born in Leith, and his paternal grandfather was an Irish speaker from County Mayo, who played the fiddle. The three children, of whom Dick was the eldest, grew up surrounded by the music of both Scotland and Ireland. The family experienced considerable poverty, which had a very strong influence on Gaughan's chosen path in life and his political views. (Read more at Wikipedia)
Despite the number of John Peel's Scottish Sessions over the course of his career, very little Scottish traditional music was played on his shows. This may have been because most performers of Scottish folk music had little appeal for Peel or his audience, from the polite, "drawing-room singing" of classically-trained singers like Moira Anderson and Kenneth McKellar to folksy entertainers like Andy Stewart, or middle-of-the-road folk groups like the Corries or the McCalmans. Many Scottish artists reacted against such interpretations of their country's music by avoiding folk altogether and embracing more modern musical influences.
Only in the 1970s did the Scottish folk revival produce performers who, following the example of their Irish contemporaries, developed a more musically interesting and modern take on folk music. Again, Peel didn't pay much attention to most of them, probably because this Scottish revival coincided with the rise of punk. But an exception was Dick Gaughan, who did three solo sessions for Peel between 1973 and 1977, as well as two as a member of The Boys Of The Lough in 1972 and 1973, and four as singer and guitarist with his group Five Hand Reel between 1975 and 1978. During this period, he was a favourite of Peel - who described him as "one of the five or six great voices of our time"[1]- sharing with the DJ both left-wing political sympathies and a love of football, but during the 1980s, he, like many other folk artists, appeared much less often in Peel's playlists. Instead, he became a firm favourite and regular session guest on the shows of Peel's friend and colleague Andy Kershaw. For a time Dick Gaughan also became a radio host, on the community station Black Diamond FM in Midlothian. In 2013 he participated in a John Peel tribute weekend in Hull, before illness forced him to retire from performing in 2017.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
None
Sessions[]
'Kist O' Gold' 08 The 51st Highand Division's Farewell To Sicily
Three sessions, none currently available commercially.
1. Recorded 1973-01-29. First broadcast 13 February 1973. Repeated 22 May 1973.
Rattling Roaring Willie / Fine Flowers In The Valley / Jock Of Hazeldean / The Gillie Mhor
2. Recorded: 1974-11-11. First broadcast 21 November 1974. Repeated: 06 February 1975.
Farewell To Whiskey / Planxty Johnson / Farewell To Sicily / The Gypsy Laddie
