Dear Scotland

Andrew O’Hagan’s Booker nominated 2006 novel Be Near Me tackles themes which are common in modern Scottish literature, but in a manner which is very much of his own styling. Religion, politics, bigotry, class, nationality and sexuality are explored in the novel but with a more considered eye than...

Dundee’s The View are currently in Australia and are scheduled to play in Brisbane tonight, Sydney tomorrow and Perth on Friday. Radio 1’s Vic Galloway tells us why this is his pick of the Scottish gigs abroad this week.The View in AustraliaIt’s a hard life being a rock’n'...

Each Sunday we present some of the best new photos of Scotland in the gloaming, the magical time before sunrise or after sunset. This week featuring images of Edinburgh, Tarves, The Black Isle and Ayrshire.……For more photos please visit the Scotland in the Gloaming blogAll the photogr...

Following Scotland’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, our Fifa World Ranking dropped down to 30. However in October 2009, Billy invented the above named scale which took into account the size of our country and propelled us to #4 in the World. Brilliant. Full details below.—&#821...

As our after-parties or hangovers rage across the world, let’s look back on what our musician friends reckon was their best after-show happening. Answers below from members of the Average White Band, Twin Atlantic, Broken Records, Fangs, Dananananaykroyd, FOUND, Come On Gang! and more.—————...

It’s Hogmanay and apart from Auld Lang Syne, what other songs will we be singing to celebrate Scotland? In 2009 we asked loads of great Scottish bands what they thought the Scottish national anthem should be. Answers below from Mogwai, Camera Obscura, The Phantom Band, We Were Promised Jetp...

Notes on Scottish bands touring internationally and features on Scottish music, sport, film and the life written by and for Scots around the world. More →

“When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had and never will have” -- Edgar Watson Howe.Having been coaxed out of ’self imposed exile’ by Dear Scotland, this was the first of many brilliant articles by Alec Downie on the joys of Scottish music .Happ...

“When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had and never will have” -- Edgar Watson Howe.Having been coaxed out of ’self imposed exile’ by Dear Scotland, this was the first of many brilliant articles by Alec Downie on the joys of Scottish music .Happ...

This week in Scottish Entertainment / Actor News we look back on some of Craig Ferguson’s best Scottish interviews of 2009 featuring Gerard Butler, Robert Carlyle, Ewan McGregor, Billy Connolly and Peter Capaldi.———————————&#...

Today Vic highlights one last gig of 2009, and it sounds like a cracker. We Were Promised Jetpacks and Frightened Rabbit will join Vic Galloway on stage at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party on Thursday night. The music starts at 9pm. More from Vic including Frightened Rabbit’s session...

Each Sunday this year, we have presented some of the best new photos of Scotland in the gloaming, the magical time before sunrise or after sunset. Today we look back at some of the best images of 2009 featuring the Culloden Battlefield, Tobha Mòr, Oban and Dalbeg Beach.……For more phot...

Earlier this year Alec brought us his top 20 Scottish cover versions. 20 through 11 can be found here. His top ten included classics from Belle and Sebastian, Aztec Camera, Travis and Biffy Clyro. ————————————This article was...

The full story can never be made public, but I had to leave New York in a hurry; angry people were looking for me.  I left my apartment with just a few minutes’ warning carrying nothing except my passport, the Williamson cats, and Mrs Williamson (she didn’t want to go). ———&#821...

Stuart Adamson on guitar. Paul Thompson on drums. Derek Forbes on bass. On vocals…? From almost a hundred suggestions we finally came up with this shortlist: Liz Fraser, Alex Harvey, Jim Kerr, King Creosote, Annie Lennox, Billy Mackenzie, Frankie Miller, Paolo Nutini, Bon Scott and Rod Stew...

Hi. Tomorrow we’ll publish our shortlist of Scotland’s Ten Greatest Vocalists for you to vote on (and for you to give us pelters for leaving out Susan Boyle etc). So today, in the calm before the storm, I thought I’d reflect on Dear Scotland’s first six months and, with your help, look forward to...

This week in Scottish Entertainment / Actor News, Ewan McGregor’s film with Roman Polanski gets a name change, Dougray Scott has a new project, Kevin McKidd stars in a new BBC drama from the writer of Black Watch and more news on Gerard Butler, David Tennant, James McAvoy and Craig Ferguson...

Well, it’s that time of year… best album of the year, best single of the year, best weekly gig blog on Dear Scotland etc! Yes, it makes sense for me to do my best gig of the year! It’s a tricky one as I’ve seen so many. However, one really sticks in my mind:Vic’s Gig...

Each Sunday we present some of the best new photos of Scotland in the gloaming, the magical time before sunrise or after sunset. This week featuring images of Aberdour, Dundee, Loch Tummel and East Beach, Moray.……For more photos please visit the Scotland in the Gloaming blogAll the ph...

Dan Willson is a clever f**ker, really he is.  I always think indie Christmas music fails somewhat, primarily because all the pain and unhappiness which I tend to like in music clashes with what tiny of fragment of Christmas spirit may still survive within me.With that in mind, Avalanche Records ...

Did you know that Santa was a fan of Dear Scotland? Apparently he also likes a bit of Scottish music too. In this brand new animation, Swatrick Payze shows us what Santa gets up to between deliveries on his netbook-internet-laptop.…Santa’s netbook-internet-laptop…By the way, Fra...

Colin MacIntyre, aka Mull Historical Society, will be playing a one off gig in St. Augustine, Florida in January ahead of a show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Details of the Florida gig below along with Colin’s thoughts on who deserves the title of Scotland’s Greatest Ever Vocali...

This week a leaked document came into my possession from a mole deep within the SFA hierarchy.  Obviously I can’t reveal his name, so let’s just call him Gorgeous Pete.Gorgeous Pete tells me that SFA Chief Executive Gordon Smith was recently sent on a residential management training course &#8211...

More on the great Scottish vocalists. Here Alec presents ‘The Popstars’, ‘The Troubadours’ and ‘The Rogues’. From today’s lists and last week’s female vocalist article, we need your help to somehow produce a top ten for next week’s public vote...

Alec’s final article in the “Greatest Ever” series is an epic. So much so that we’ve had to break it into two pieces for fear that our readers’ heads may explode. Following last week’s list of females, Alec provides 50 of the greatest ever Scottish male vocalis...

Camera Obscura have announced their first ever shows in Japan for early 2010. The band will play 2 nights at Fever in Tokyo after a short tour of Australia and New Zealand. Ticket details for all shows and a review of their recent Brooklyn show below:The influential New York music blog Brooklyn V...

This week in Scottish Entertainment / Actor News, Dougray Scott joins Brian Cox and Ewen Bremner to battle The Triffids, Ewan McGregor is on the set of ‘Beginners’ with Mélanie Laurent, and Craig Ferguson is voted America’s sexiest talk show host. More from Saba below:Photos f...

Edinburgh maverick Finley Quaye was in Brixton last night and he will now head out to Dubai for the Jump Fest on Friday night. Vic highlights that show along with Finley’s gig in Bahrain on Saturday as his pick of all of the Scots touring internationally this week:Finley Quaye in Dubai and ...

Each Sunday we present some of the best new photos of Scotland in the gloaming, the magical time before sunrise or after sunset. This week featuring images of Loch Ness, Troon, Elgol and the Cuillin Ridge.……For more photos please visit the Scotland in the Gloaming blogAll the photogra...