These days, Dick Gaughan might not be quite the "hard-nosed Communist" he once was but he still retains plenty of passion for justice in an unfair world.  His playing and singing come straight from the heart, as if his life depended on it.  But tonight saw Dick in a particularly relaxed and avuncular mood, which might have had something to do with the warm and balmy evening during which he chatted before the gig to friends and fans in Chequer Mead's pleasant courtyard garden! 

After kicking off with Si Khan's powerful song 'It's Not Just What You're Born With (it's what you do with what you've got'), Dick played a new song to me, 'Shipwreck', which  epitomised the fire he can bring to a song.

The highlight of the first half for me was a song about Anna Mae, the Canadian native activist, who was killed in the 1970s while taking a stand for injustices on native Americans. Dick's singing was masterful, and moving.  Another highlight for me was 'The Yew Tree' written by Brian McNeill (which Dick described as "a thousand years of Scottish history in 5 verses as witnessed by a conversation with a tree").  'Muir and the Master Builder' followed, a mighty song about the Calvanist John Muir, who fought for the protection of California's redwood forests.   Another highlight was the Jo South song, 'Games People Play' (sung with such anger that the song took on a whole new meaning).  

The second half began with an all-time favourite, Robert Burns' 'Now Westlin Winds', sang and played impeccably - it was worth coming out on a warm night for this alone. Then we heard Dick back in fiery mood, with the Hamish Henderson/Brian McNeil composition 'No Gods and Precious Few Heroes', followed by Pete Seeger's 1967 song 'Waist Deep in the Big Muddy' (a song about Vietnam, which still has parallels today), and then 'The Workers Song'. 

Such was Dick's mood that he partially abandoned his playlist and did several requests from friends in the audience, including the traditional and beautiful 'Jock o' Hazeldean', from his first 1972 album (which I'll probably rush out and buy on the strength of this alone). He also included 'Life at the Edge', written by the Broadway lyricist, Yip Harbug (blacklisted as a communist).  The evening finished with Leon Rosseelson's 'You Diggers All' and a popular encore of 'Erin-Go-Bragh'.

He's been described as  arguably Scotland's greatest living troubadour.  It's not hard to see why.

Martin