Fraser vinyl to be released in Orkney

A REMASTERED vinyl edition of Thomas Fraser’s album Long Gone Lonesome Blues will be launched at Grooves record store in Kirkwall on Saturday.

The limited edition release, produced by the late country musician’s grandson Karl Simpson, is timed to coincide with Record Store Day, a countrywide event to celebrate independent record shops.

Simpson said Saturday’s launch would feature a talk by writer Duncan McLean as well as live performances from May, Mackie and Rhonda, as well as Jenny Keldie who is originally from Burra.

The launch will also be aired by local broadcaster Tom Morton on his Beatcroft Social show via 60 North Radio from 7pm to 9pm on Saturday night.

Fraser was a fisherman and crofter from Burra who left thousands of songs recorded at home using a reel-to-reel recorder, and his music was first released in 2002 after his tapes were undiscovered for 25 years.