Despite my fondness for the Gaelic language due to its eminent suitability for song, I can’t say that I am much of a fan of what is generally referred to as traditional Scottish music. Yet the demand for such a thing seems still to be present and correct and, duly, “Afore Ye Go” by Hamish Hepburn & Jack Houston was brought to the attention of my tartan ears.
Hamish Hepburn, flautist and piper, and Jack Houston, fiddler and not actually a Scotsman, share a synergy that makes these eight songs seems the very model of conventionality performing proudly within the artistic confines of the Scottish traditional music scene. No surprises should therefore be expected and none are supplied yet it is hard to ignore, refute, or otherwise criticise, the fluency of playing that distinguishes this album with both gentlemen, and their fellow musicians, treading their chosen melodic path with a surety that is a certain reminder that practice does indeed make perfect.
“Afore Ye Go” sounds just like an album of traditional music should and it can surely be said with conviction that fans of this type of music should have little in the way of trouble introducing the music of Hamish Hepburn & Jack Houston to their collection.