I live on the west coast of Scotland, have lived in Scotland on and off for nearly 25 years and am very fond of it. If you look into Scotland’s contribution to rock, it’s much bigger than you might imagine for a small country.
There’s greats like Sensational Alex Harvey Band, of course and Dunfermiline’s Nazareth. Jimmy Dewar was Glaswegian, as is Maggie Bell and Stone The Crows. Brian Robertson, formerly of Thin Lizzy, is from Renfrewshire as is blues master Miller Anderson.
The idiosyncratic Ivor Cutler was from Govan which isn’t far from Maryhill which is where Donovan actually hails. Mark Knopfler was actually born in Scotland, in Glasgow. Jimmy McCulloch was from Dumbarton and played in Stone The Crows and Wings. The great singer, Frankie Miller is from the east of Glasgow. Jim Mullen is another Glaswegian and toured with the Average White Band, who were formed in Dundee.
Al Stewart was born in Greenock, just over the water from here. The Youngs from Glasgow went on to form AC/DC in Australia. Jimmy Barnes likewise. Eric Woolfson of the Alan Parsons Project was also Glaswegian as were Marmalade.
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson was born in Dunfermline, though formed in Blackpool. Pye Hastings was born in Banff in the northeast of Scotland. The Incredible String Band were from Edinburgh as was Davey Johnstone guitarist from Elton John’s band and Neil Murray bass player for, amongst others, Whitesnake. The Shulman brothers from Gentle Giant were from Glasgow. Gerry Rafferty was a son of Paisley.
Len Tuckey of Tucky Buzzard was from Aberdeen as were prog band Pallas. That’s just a few. There are loads more from the 80s like Orange Juice and The Blue Nile and Aztec Camera and numerous folk bands like Silly Wizard, who for a time toured with Dougie MacLean, writer of ‘Caledonia’, Scotland’s unofficial national anthem.
It’s a diverse country and a relatively small population but it punches above its weight pretty consistently.
Scotland - The Greats...
