Bristol folk

Shelagh McDonald
Shelagh McDonald became famous, not so much for her music, but for her sudden and long-
term disappearance in 1972. More people know about her disappearance than have heard
her music, which is a shame because she had a voice in the mould of Sandy Denny, only
better, and through being signed to September Productions had access to some of the most
receptive musicians around. The LPs she recorded for B&C, Album, and Stargazer, are
amongst the most highly-sought after folk records on the collectors market.

McDonald first moved from Scotland to London, where she played the clubs and made
some primitive recordings for the BBC Dungeon Folk LP, issued in January 1969. She
received so little interest at this point that she gave up singing and worked in a bookshop
instead. A little later, McDonald decided that this rest away from music scene had been
beneficial and she moved back onto the folk scene, saying:

The rest did me good … For a start, it taught me one thing, that I have got to sing.
Like lots of others, it was something I started because it seemed rather nice, but I didn’t
have any real dedication to it. As a result, I got nowhere.168

McDonald decided to move to Bristol because of the reputation of its folk scene and was
soon playing at the Troubadour, signing up with the newly-formed Village Thing agency.
One review of a two day event at the Troubadour highlighted McDonald’s set, which was
no mean feat when the ‘competition’ was provided by John Martyn, Al Jones, Steve Tilston,
Al Stewart, Ian Hunt, Keith Christmas, Ian Anderson, Dave Evans and Strange Fruit. Jerry
Gilbert of Sounds wrote:

… one of the best receptions of the evening went to Shelagh McDonald who has also
moved to Bristol and the main feature of her set was “Silk and Leather” which
spotlights her own fine guitar technique.169

McDonald continued to play solo at folk clubs throughout mid-1970, but no record deal
was forthcoming, despite several promises. This changed when Keith Christmas invited her
to play a few of her songs at one of his gigs. Sandy Roberton, who had already signed
Christmas, was there and pretty much signed McDonald on the spot. Initially, McDonald
wasn’t convinced that anything would come of this and said:

Keith Christmas took me to a concert with him and I did a few songs. Sandy Robertson
(sic) was at the gig but I thought it was just another false promise when he mentioned
recording.170

True to his word, Roberton organised joint recording sessions for Christmas and McDonald,
from which both released LPs. The sessions included various musicians from Mighty Baby
and Sandy Denny’s backing band, Fotheringay. Others at the sessions were labelmate Andy
Roberts, who was currently with a non-gelling band called Everyone, and London-based
Bristolian jazz pianist, Keith Tippett.

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