The Scotsman Sessions #426: Rhuari Campbell & Friends
Contemporary folk songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rhuari Campbell has been making music for as long as he can remember. Hailing from a family of folk singers and players, he has cut his teeth gigging round Fife and Angus as a self-confessed weekend musician in such imaginatively named outfits as Cawdor Drive, Filthy Pink Clipper and Kimble Bullets and, in his words, “chopping and changing musical influences and projects like King Henry VIII did wives.”
Last year was a watershed moment. Campbell was chosen as one of the recipients of the annual Dundee Musicians’ Award, providing a vital funding stepping stone to becoming a fulltime musician. He was no slouch as a part-timer either. His Bandcamp page is replete with self-released EPs and albums of material, rather putting the lie to his favoured soubriquet “slow for a poet”.
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Hide AdHe cites classic and contemporary musical storytellers such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, King Creosote and Bon Iver as touchstones, while his latest album Sonder weaves folk, indie and reggae influences into a collection of songs inspired by grief, mental health and healing.
He has chosen one of the album’s singles as his Scotsman Session recorded, like the album, at Counter Culture Studios in Perth. Bruvver is inspired by Campbell’s relationship with his brother Calum, also a musician. The pair have gigged together regularly over the years with Rhuari offering his mandolin skills in Calum’s band at the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival. The lyrics of Bruvver zero in on a particularly dramatic memory.
“The third verse tells the true story of the time we raced to the beach in St Andrews, where we lived at the time,” recalls Campbell. “While running, I fell off a 40-foot cliff and landed on the beach just as Calum arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Miraculously, I was unharmed, and that experience has become a personal mantra for me: if I can survive falling off a cliff, I can probably get through whatever challenges come my way.
“The rest of my album is deeply focused on mental health, which reflects both my professional passion and personal experiences,” he adds.
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Hide AdIn 2019, Campbell took a leap of a different kind, leaving his day job in hospitality with the long-term aim of training as a music therapist. To that end he studied and then worked for 18 months as a community mental health nurse, supporting older adults in Angus, a vocation he said has “deepened my commitment to addressing socio-economic inequalities.” He is now halfway through a Master’s degree in Music Therapy at Queen Margaret University, saying “through my studies and therapy, I’ve learned to extend the same empathy to myself when I’m struggling, and I hope to help others do the same once I qualify as a music therapist.”
Sonder is out now and available to purchase at https://rhuaricampbell.bandcamp.com/album/sonder Rhuari Campbell launches the album with shows at The Star Bar, Montrose, 29 November, Nola, Dundee, 30 November and The Twa Tams, Perth, 4 December
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