Nine days into 30, Dick Gaughan crowdfunder nears $100,000

01/04/2025

Vulpes Vulpes berated me privately about not promoting the Dick Gaughan box set aggressively enough here… Trust me, I’ve been busy throwing track down in front of the train these past 9 days, promoting it on social media, scrambling to create new ‘extras’ because things keep selling out etc etc. That said, here’s a ‘9 days in’ PR sheet about where we’re at: £76,000+ / nearly $100,000. It really is a phenomenon – and tremendously heart-warming, to know that a lifetime of fabulous music and activism informed by values like compassion, social justice and peace will be appreciated anew, and that great amounts of ‘new old’ music and scattered rarities will be polished up and made easily accessible. 🙂

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Dick Gaughan – R/evolution: 1969–83

Phenomenal success of crowdfunding campaign (9 days into 30 days) to restore folk legend’s early repertoire and re-establish his legacy

Unable to convince any record labels that there was a market for a box set on Scottish folk icon Dick Gaughan – who retired after a stroke in 2016 and now lives modestly, off the grid, in Edinburgh – Belfast music biographer Colin Harper decided to do it himself. The proposed R/evolution: 1969–83 (7CD/DVD) launched via a Kickstarter.com crowdfunding campaign on Monday 24 March; the target sum of £28,250 necessary to create the multi-licensor project was exceeded within that day. Seven days in, more than £76,000 (nearly $100,000) has been pledged by over 870 fans.

Harper: ‘The response has been staggering – it affirms the belief I had that Gaughan’s artistry is timeless and that his decades of tirelessly supporting social justice causes would not be forgotten. A small team of musical pals around Gaughan shared that view – Robin Dransfield, Barbara Dickson, Karine Polwart, Ian McCalman, Andrew Cronshaw, Billy Bragg, Steve Byrne and others. In the nerve-wracking days before pressing ‘go’ on the crowdfunder, this moral support was crucial – I wasn’t mad, the man really was a genius, and all we had to do was remind people!’

But the scale of engagement in the campaign after one week means that much more can now be achieved in upgrading the presence and quantity of Gaughan’s music ‘out there’ – a goal that Gaughan himself is thrilled by.

The sole initial Kickstarter ‘extra’, a signed Live in Belfast 1979–82 CD (500 units), sold out within days. A 2CD Live in the 70s has now been created as a replacement ‘extra’, comprising club gigs from 1973 and 1977, salvaged from reels and exquisitely mastered.

A standalone vinyl / CD / download Live at the BBC 1972–79 is being created for general release, in partnership with a small UK label (Talking Elephant). Its 10 tracks are all on the box set but it is to meet demand for a vinyl offering and a download offering.

A 2CD / download Complete Andy Kershaw Sessions 1986–2005 (plus) and a vinyl/CD/download Labour Songs: Studio Rarities 1971–2015 – gathering selected guest appearances and scattered tracks on themed various-artist sets – are also being prepared, ahead of a Celtic Connections January 2026 Gaughan tribute concert. The Kershaw Sessions set will comprise the 26 tracks from the latter half of his career that Gaughan recorded for Kershaw’s BBC radio shows, bolstered by 8 further BBC concert tracks from that era.

Gaughan’s son Sean is creating a Bandcamp page for his father (now legally blind) and it is envisaged that some carefully selected soundboard concert recordings from 1981–2012 will be mastered and made available to fans via download in that way over coming months. A 2CD / download School of Scottish Studies Collection: Live in Edinburgh 1966–71 collection is also a goal.
Harper: ‘After years of back catalogue neglect, or unavailability for various reasons, there is now a glorious opportunity to put things right – which is what we’re now peddling hard to do! John Peel said in 1977 that Gaughan was ‘one of the five or six great voices of our time’. He was right – Gaughan is one of the all-time greats, regardless of genre. This new tranche of easily accessible, sonically refreshed music will back that up for all to hear.’

Background:
For complex reasons, much of Gaughan’s recorded work from 1972–88 never made it to the digital era (CD and/or digital platforms), nor is available to third-party licensors. Also, since retiring, and given his visual impairment, Gaughan has had no internet presence – ironic, given that he was a website pioneer in the 90s, coding his own and teaching others the skills. Through this inaccessibility, in an era when artists have to shout loudly to remain visible, Gaughan’s vintage music and his place in the culture were in danger of fading away.

R/evolution: 1969–83 (7CD/DVD) will restore Gaughan’s ‘lost era’ by way of BBC and concert recordings and scattered studio work: 126 audio tracks (83 unreleased), including over 100 distinct songs or tune sets, and two hours of film from various broadcasters, all superbly remastered.

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