Calum & Annie Johnston were born on the Scottish Hebridean island of Barra.

As this album amply demonstrates, both were fine singers – by which is meant not so much that they possessed voices which would have been at home on the concert stage, as that they performed their songs with great sympathy, with subtlety and with respect for the Gaelic context in which both they and the songs had their origins.

Calum was also a piper. He died suddenly, while piping the coffin of Sir Compton MacKenzie to the grave in 1973.

The accompanying CD booklet contains the full Gaelic lyrics (with English translations), spoken track transcriptions, photographs and notes.

The Scottish Tradition Series consists of a selection of material previously held in the School of Scottish Studies Archives at the University of Edinburgh. The widely acclaimed collection is quite unique, and has been regarded as “the most important series of traditional recordings ever…”.