Thursday, August 11, 2016

Where's Carl?

Just in case you were wondering why my schedule seems so light this year...
I decided that after 30 years of doing hundreds and hundreds of concerts and festivals I needed a break. So I'm taking this year off to pursue other interests.
One of the things I want to do is work on getting my book finished. I've been working for years on "Ewan Colin Coupar and a Touch of the Fae" and I never seem to have the time I need to get it done. I've already made progress in this endeavor.
I spent three weeks in Scotland in June, and one of the reasons I went, besides visiting the family, was to explore fairy places, those places that were steeped in fairy folklore, as research for the book.
I started in Earlston, near Selkirk, and visited the sites where the stories of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin are said to have taken place. This included the Eildon Hills and Tam Lin's Well near Carterhaugh. They are not a part of the book but the ballads of both these fairy abductees are on my CD "A Faery Place".
Further visits took me to Tarbat Ness, north of Inverness, and Aberfoyle, east of Loch Lomond. Both of these feature prominently in the book. I also visited fairy places in the Isle of Skye and around Loch Ness. Most of the story in the book takes place in and around Greenock and I spent a lot of time there exploring my old haunts. Further updates to the progress of the book will be in later blogs.
While in Scotland I had a fortuitous meeting with a filmmaker from Glasgow who is interested in using the book and my "A Faery Place" CD as part of a TV series which would also include going in search of fairy land. More on that later...
I will try to keep the blog updated, and I welcome your comments and questions.