TALES OF THE OAK

One of the traditional songs that was never recorded for the Downriver CD , there's echoes of the nonsensical lyrics of The Irish Rov...

Today Magic Torch charges headlong into the late 20th Century with the launch of our new online sales facility or "wee book shop...

This is a story I wrote a good few years ago for Downriver , but which we ultimately never used. It's my wee tribute to John Donald...

The final track from our Downriver CD, is also the only original piece written for the album. Shelagh McKay recorded The Mermaid for the pr...

We've been cleaning out the old Magic Torch archive over the last few weeks (actually, archive sounds quite grand, its a battered old fi...

Hey. How ye? Just wanted to take a wee moment to say "thanks very much" to all the new readers who have joined us this month...D...

There is, let's be charitable and call it "a friendly rivalry" that exists between Greenock and Port Glasgow, epitomised...

Sticking with our Gourock theme, here's what can only be described as "a music hall classic", made famous by Belle Stewart . ...

This version of the poem An Evening in Gourock Bay was recorded by Marky Boy of Destiny . For a classic exploration of Old Gourock, check...

This recording of Lady of the Lake for our Downriver project was performed by Kevin Murphy. Lady of the Lake is a lovely traditional folk...

It's Captain Kidd month ALL May on Tales of The Oak...help us celebrate the 310th anniversary of his execution  on May 23rd, with all m...

We could have marked St Patrick's Day with the legends of Patrick and Dumbarton, or stories of Irish migrant workers in the sugar wareh...

Versions and variations of this shanty exist in ports all around the UK, it is believed to date from around the 1600s. In all versions, the...

Here's one from a couple of Old Romantics, recorded for our Downriver CD. This piece was written by Greenock born composer Hamish MacC...

Today we present the first in a series of selections from an album of local folksongs – Downriver : A Celebration Ode. In Magic Torch’s o...