Alistair Hulett

Published on Friday 5 February 2010 20:38

Folk musician

Born: 5 October, 1951, in Glasgow.

Died: 28 January, 2010, in Glasgow, aged 58.

ONCE referred to as "one of the defining voices of Scottish music", Alistair Hulett was a genuine folk hero, perhaps best known for fronting the folk-punk band Roaring Jack.

Hulett was born in Glasgow in 1951, at a time when the Protestant/Catholic split was pronounced. His parents, Harry and Annie, wanted to name their child Michael. Alistair's grandfather James Robertson, a Freemason, was the undisputed head of the family and vetoed the name, a move which was to prove ironic, when as an adult Hulett campaigned to end sectarianism violence in Glasgow and became a staunch supporter of Celtic FC.

Hulett spent much of his childhood at the home of his grandparents in Penilee. His parents had worked hard to buy a house in a more desirable neighbourhood with better schools and had moved to nearby Ralston. Hulett attended Ralston Primary School, which was close enough to his grandparents for him to run there during lunch times and after school. It was from his grandfather that Hulett heard stories about the old ways and itinerant travellers such as Saturday Johnny and Jimmy the Rat, characters who were to provide valuable material for his later songwriting.

Hulett's musical proclivities were unleashed after he was presented with a guitar at the age of 11, a present from an uncle. Guitar in hand, he rushed to Glumb's music shop in Paisley and bought himself a beginner's guitar handbook endorsed by Pete Seeger.

He took to the instrument immediately, caressing the strings in a way which prompted his parents to upgrade the old Tommy Steele replica. At a time when most of his contemporaries were listening to Herman's Hermits and the Hollies, the 12-year-old Hulett was playing the music of Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee and Muddy Waters. The closest he ever came to mainstream music was to become a lifelong passion, a love of Bob Dylan.

Leaving Ralston Primary to attend the John Neilson Institution in Paisley, Hulett discovered a close group of friends who remained loyal to his genius for humour and music for the remainder of his life.

In 1965, when Hulett was 14, his parents made another momentous move to attain a better life for their family, they set sail for New Zealand. For a teenager who had already discovered the Glasgow music scene (largely by climbing out of windows after his parents had gone to bed to watch The Incredible String Band play in the clubs of Glasgow) the move to an Antipodean colony was a nightmare come true.

At the time, he regarded Christchurch as a cultural backwater and was particularly horrified at being forced to wear a school uniform which had remained unchanged for more than 50 years. The school also had a strict rule on hair length. Hulett had shoulder-length hair and no intention of shortening it, showing a stubbornness that ensured he spent weekday mornings having his hair pinned up by his sister.

He was also one of the earliest conscientious objectors at the school, when he and his new best friend, Charles White, refused to participate in the senior pupils' army cadet training scheme. Knowing his immovable opinion on the matter, Hulett's parents supported him and managed to lobby on his behalf for him to be excused from the training and to spend that time where he was happiest, in the school's art room.

Music, and folk music in particular, played a constant part in his life and one night, aged 16, Hulett and White consumed almost an entire flagon of beer to give them the courage to take to the stage at the local folk club.

Phil Garland, who ran the Folk Centre for many years, said: "I still remember Alistair's first appearance at the Folk Centre back in 1967 and the stir he caused. I have never before or since come across a 16-year-old singing Childe ballads and Ewan MacColl songs, let alone sing them so well. His was an immense talent."

Hulett enrolled at Canterbury Fine Art School, but left after less than two years to work as a carpet and rug designer. His heart was most definitely not in his job, but he was determined to earn enough money to return to Scotland and pursue the life of a folk singer, and to supplement his savings he stoked the furnaces at a glass factory, routinely burning his eyebrows and ankles.

He left New Zealand aged 18, heading first to Australia for a sightseeing trip, seemingly en route to Scotland. In Sydney, however, he fell for 21-year-old Jane McDonald and a year later returned to New Zealand with her. There he formed a band called Croodin Cant (which included his sister Alison and various friends). The band sang unaccompanied traditional British folk ballads incorporating complex harmonies.

Hulett and his new wife then left New Zealand for India, basing themselves in McLeod Ganj, a small town in the Himalayas where the Dalai Lama lived in exile from Tibet. Hulett had at least two audiences with the Dalai Lama and he maintained a healthy respect for Buddhism for the rest of his life.

Hulett then decided to return to Australia, though Jane did not go with him. Back in Australia, he became a founder member of Roaring Jack, a five-piece folk-punk band specialising in Celtic beats and radical lyrics. For five years the band toured to great success in Australia, releasing their first album, Street Celtability in 1986.

The album reached number one in the indie charts. By the time their second album was released (The Cat Among The Pigeons, 1988, nominated for an Aria award) the band were supporting big-time overseas acts such as The Pogues and Billy Bragg. A third album saw another Aria award but the band had decided to call it a day.

His solo work continued his success, and his first album, in 1991, Dance of the Underclass cemented his place as one of the most influential musicians in Australia. Further success followed, with the albums In the Backstreets of Paradise and Saturday Johnny and Jimmy the Rat. Hulett then started working with Fairport Convention fiddler Dave Swarbrick, and after a successful tour in Australia the pair moved back to the UK. Their 1996 Sidmouth performance was broadcast by the BBC and was followed up with a live studio session. Hulett continued to tour with Swarbrick, and produced two acclaimed albums with him.

Back in Scotland he continued to write and perform, returning briefly to Australia in December 2008, as part of a double bill with US singer David Rovics.

Outside of music Hulett had strong political beliefs and in 1991 he became a member of the International Socialist Organisation, a reaction to the perceived injustice of the Iraq War. In 1995 he co-founded the Socialist Alternative, using Roaring Jack to press the message at benefit concerts and political rallies. Many of the band's songs were in support of oppressed minorities, such as indigenous Australians, or attacked oppressive regimes.

On New Year's Day 2010 Hulett became acutely ill. He was hospitalised on 5 January with suspected food poisoning. Further tests revealed an aggressive cancer which had already spread, and on 28 January, only days after diagnosis, he died. He is survived by his wife, Fatima, and his parents Harry and Annie Hulett.

CHRIS MAIR