Last Friday night I went to an Alastair McDonald concert at Hope Park Church across the street from my flat. I had never heard of him, but people at the church last Sunday said that he was famous. Maybe he had a tv show in Scotland back in the day? He sings Scottish folk music, especially humorous songs on the banjo. I'm a little surprised he used an American instrument like the banjo, but he said so many Scottish expatriates in the US had used the banjo that he felt justified in using it, too. He's a humorous character, so his concert was very entertaining. I especially enjoyed his anecdotes about how he ran across the music he sang. It seemed as though he wrote very little music that became famous but instead sang others' music. I guess that's not much different from most popular musicians. His famous songs include versions of "Massacre of Glencoe," "The Barras," "Centiped" (he was the first to make that song famous), and "Sam the Skull" (he made this song about a Glasgow cat famous, too- everyone in the congregation knew and sang- that made me feel a wee bit awkward because I was probably the only American in the crowd- I was also probably the only person there under 35). Even though I went by myself since no one else seemed interested, it was worth it. They had free wine and snacks afterwards, and I could have talked to him. Instead, I had to leave quick because I was meeting some friends at the pub and was running late.
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