CHARLIE HARRIGAN is a troubadour, teller of songs and singer of tall tales from Glasgow. He plays Americana, folk and blues.
Charlie got his first guitar in 1968 and, in the early 1970s, begame friends with the hard-travelling Glaswegian folk singer Alex Campbell. He recorded his first solo album in 1977.
The late 70s and early 80s saw Charlie hosting a weekly programme on Canadian TV called “Just Folk”. He recorded his second album “On The Road” in 1983.
A string of collaborations and performances around Europe followed and Charlie was a director of the Glasgow International Folk Festival between 1989 and 1996.
In 1998, Charlie put his musical career on hold, opting to lead a quiet life during which he discovered boats. He became Commodore of the Royal Scottish Motor Yacht Club.
In 2016, Charlie returned to music with renewed vigour following major heart surgery. His first album in almost twenty years, on Medicine Hat Records – “Wasted and Wounded” was received to much acclaim.
2016 – Recorded “Wasted and Wounded” CD for Medicine Hat Records
2016 – Recorded hit single “Morning Train” for Medicine Hat Records
2019 – Recorded “Le Cowboy Ecossais” EP for Medicine Hat Records.
2020 – Stripped and ready for action………..
Charlie had been out of the limelight for some time, however he has recently come back to music with renewed vigour subsequent to major heart surgery. His first album in almost twenty years, on Medicine Hat Records – Wasted and Wounded, was received to much acclaim
In 2019, Charlie recorded the EP “Le Cowboy Ecossais” for Medicine Hat Records. The EP was produced by Raymie Wilson and recorded, mixed and mastered at Duke Street Studio in Glasgow.
The EP gets its name from Charlie’s long-time friend, the folksinger Alex Campbell who, in Paris in the 1950s, carried the nom-de-plume “Le Cowboy Ecossais”. Charlie says, “He was larger than life; I loved how he would play San Francisco Bay Blues one minute and a traditional Scottish folk song the next”.
Whilst Charlie was described some years ago by the Belfast Telegraph as “a sort of Tom Paxton, Luke Kelly and Billy Connolly rolled into one”, today his engaging laid back style and eclectic material may well be best classified as Americana – an amalgam of folk music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions and sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, and other external influences, all of which is augmented by his uncanny ability to tell a tale!
