Rachel Newton 'West' Album Launch Tour at The Slaughtered Lamb

Singer, Harpist and BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Musician of the Year 2017 Rachel Newton's fourth solo album ‘West’ was recorded in her late grandparents' old croft house in Achnahaird, Wester Ross.

Always striving to achieve something different with each release, Rachel decided that she would make a completely solo album this time around, simply featuring her voice and acoustic and electro harps with no guest musicians. The album was arranged and recorded on a beautifully sunny week in July 2018. Rachel's longtime collaborator and sound engineer Mattie Foulds travelled north to record it all, with Somhairle MacDonald joining them to take photographs and create the artwork. The spectacular views of the landscape from the house have influenced the music, with short improvisations named after the mountains threading their way through the album.

Rachel released solo albums The Shadow Side in 2012 , Changeling in 2014 and Here's My Heart Come Take It in 2016. Here's My Heart Come Take It was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award 2017. Rachel was awarded Instrumentalist of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards 2016 and BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Musician of the Year in 2017.

Rachel is a member of The Furrow Collective and The Shee as well as projects such as The Elizabethan Session and the upcoming Lost Words Spell Songs.

Photo Credit Somhairle MacDonald
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