Although he was born in Calcutta, Hamish Imlach (1940-1996) claimed to have been conceived in Glasgow, Scotland. He was described by Ewan McVicar, the Scottish storyteller and singer, as “a raconteur who taught Billy Connolly, a singer who taught Christy Moore, a blues guitarist who taught John Martyn.”
While I don’t know that much about him, I get the impression from this record that he could perhaps be called the “Weird Al” of Scotland. While Yankovic chose to parody current pop hits, Imlach minced traditional folk songs, which is perhaps a more daring feat. Bob Dylan found out the hard way that 1960s folk fans could be a bit tight-assed about culture.
Despite his humour Imlach was a true folk singer, performing both celtic and American folk songs. The two songs included here are American classics. I wonder if the Deep Elm Blues (popularized by the Grateful Dead) is about Deep Ellum, Texas?
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