Spinning Christina Harrison's latest work, Lassie wi' the Lint-white Locks, is like bringing a piece of Scottish heritage right to your ear. With Ian Bruce on percussion and backup vocals, Iain Fraser on fiddle and viola, Ian Lowthian playing the accordion, Tony McManus on back up guitar and bass, and Marc Duff with his bodhran and various whistles and recorders, a splendid collection of twelve songs are presented for the sheer pleasure of the listener.

Harrison's roots are well explored in songs such as "Women of Dundee," where the women must take work when the men are away. Likewise, the toe-tapping lament for the stolen yowie horn (a piece of a whiskey still) in "Yowie wi' the Crookit Horn." And in "Hills of Ardmorn" we hear the longing for the far-off hills of home.

But the range of depth isn't lost in this album. For instance, there is the tale of a sad queen in " Captive Song of Mary Stuart," told with only Harrison's sweet voice and one mournful fiddle. With "Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk" you'll experience the woes of a woman who married only for money to find her groom "worse than the devil himself"; her only escape from torment and beating is to spend every night in an alcoholic fog.

With fiddle, pipes, guitar and voice, Harrison and her crew deliver twelve tracks of good range and melodic tone to entreat the listener to make a trip to the hills of bonnie Scotland.

[ by Charlie Gebetsberger ]

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