Lanark music veterans still cut it in studio

Going under the title of Touchwood, Dougie Semple and Hunter McConnell, whose musical pedigree stretches back to the Seventies, have issued the 12-track CD entitled ‘Our Turn’, the highlight - so far - of a collaboration which stretches back to 2009.

Freely admitting that they are no new ‘boy band’, Dougie explained that the album is made up of many different styles and moods and, indeed, ‘Our Turn’ does swing from the country sound of the opening track ‘Signs’ to the very bluesy ‘Norweigan Rose’ and ‘Night Narrative’.

It also features the modern lament ‘Break down and Sigh’, the sentimentally romantic ‘Thinking of Leaving’ and the very trad Scot folksy ‘The Water is Wide’.

The final and title track ‘Our Turn is a “message” song about growing older and realising that, instead of rebelling against your parents, you steadily BECOME them.

Although the album is largely the work of Dougie and Hunter, some local musician friends have also helped out with their thanks going to PJ Lynch, George McNally, Duncan McConnell, Amy Geddes and Wendy Weatherby.

Copies of ‘Our Turn’ are now on sale and can be obtained from Lanark’s Tolbooth, costing £10.

One music-lover the Gazette loaned its copy of the CD to probably summed it up best by commenting: “This is just the kind of reflective album that Mick Jagger would listen to when he gets home from a Rolling Stones gig and doesn’t have to pretend he’s still 21-years-old.”