Rachel Newton

About the show

Singer, harpist and composer Rachel Newton draws on poems and ballads that are hundreds of years old, working them into her contemporary style to create a rich sound that is ambitious, original and unique. Previously awarded Musician of the Year at both the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award and the Scots Trad Music Award, Rachel has had two of her solo albums shortlisted in the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award. She also has a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for Best Use of Music and Sound.

A skilled collaborator, Rachel is a member of The Furrow Collective, The Lost Words: Spell Songs and duo projects Heal & Harrow with fiddler Lauren MacColl and Anna Bhàn with her cousin Mairearad Green. She has worked across various platforms including theatre and storytelling.

Her latest album Sealladh (a Gaelic word which at once evokes a view or spectacle, the power of vision and elements of the supernatural) began as a commission for the National Galleries of Scotland, home to a new vast collection of artworks by Scottish painters, a selection of which both inspired and are in conversation with Newton’s music. Each track is based on a particular painting and draws on the mythology, language, history, culture and landscapes that originally set the scene for these artworks.

Her previous album To The Awe placed women at the centre of the narrative, at various stages of life and often marking a coming of age and an acquisition of power. The record is a tribute to the women who have insp