Heather Heywood

Heather is widely regarded as a 'singers singer' and has earned the respect of many of the country's top performers, most regarding her as among the very best of Scottish singers. She is best known for her interpretation of traditional songs, her repertoire is wide and the bulk of her material comes from the Scottish tradition. It is the particular quality of her interpretation of ballads that has made many people hold her in such high regard. She sings in an uncomplicated manner that belies her skill in putting across the big songs, grabbing and holding the attention. Although she is still principally singing traditional songs, she is also now using that same gift for telling a story in ballad form to present some contemporary material.

Heather is not a professional singer and has been modest about her own talents. First of all she has seen her role as one of housewife and mother, and has brought up three daughters, Fiona, Susan and Katy. Her faith is very important to her - she has a strong Church connection - and works locally with homeless people in an organisation called ‘Allies’. This work was partly inspired by a Huw Williams’ song, Some People Cry, and ‘Allies’ was developed after her husband Pete saw a project during the Folk Alliance annual convention in Portland, Oregon. He attended a fundraising concert for an organisation called ‘The Sisters of the Road Café’ and brought back a ‘how to do it’ manual to Scotland. Bringing up the family has restricted Heather’s ability to travel as a singer, but the reality is that she has not wanted to do that on a full time basis. Her singing talents are natural and she can rightly be viewed as a traditional singer.

During the period that is often referred to as ‘the folk revival’, there was a tendency to put singers into one of two categories – source singers or revival singers. This was a useful distinction at the time but gave the impression that a revival singer was of less importance to the ongoing tradition. Without new singers the tradition would clearly die and revival singers or any era become the source singers for the next generation. The term ‘tradition bearers’ is perhaps a better description of what always seems to be a relatively small group of singers who are genuinely bearing a tradition. Singing in a traditional style does not mean a slavish copy or a lack of personal input or innovation. Real style does not come easy, but comes from those who have immersed themselves in a tradition and have the skills to carry it forward. Who currently is, or is not, a genuine tradition bearer is a subjective judgement and recognition of a person as a tradition bearer is perhaps best done by their peers. By this measure, Heather takes her place easily, having earned the respect of her fellow singers.

Heather’s first recording was on a compilation recorded at the 1973 Kinross Festival of the Traditional Music & Song Association of Scotland. The recording featured traditional singers including Flora McNeil, Stanley Robertson and Charlie Murray and musicians including Tom Anderson and Aly Bain. In 1987, Heather was finally persuaded to make the recording that many people had asked for over the years. She was reluctant to go into the recording studio but once inside, her performance was remarkable and the result was an LP that has generated tremendous interest and excellent reviews. ("Some Kind of Love" – now reissued on CD)

In 1993 Heather recorded again for the Greentrax label. The result was By Yon Castle Wa', a CD produced by Brian McNeill. With less of a time limitation the recording features a wider range of songs giving a better insight into her ballad singing, together with accompanied traditional songs and some contemporary material. Accompaniments are provided by Brian McNeill (fiddle), Dougie Pincock (Highland pipes and whistle), Colin Matheson (piano), Iain Goodwin (guitar) and Ron Shaw (cello).

In 1975 Heather was one of the first revivalist singers to be booked as a guest at the TSMA Kinross Festival, a measure of the respect she has in Scotland. She has appeared at various festivals including Edinburgh, Girvan, Aberdeen, Inverness and Arran. She has recorded for a programme in a short television series for BBC Scotland and has broadcast several times for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 2.