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Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States is the first and only collection of songs composed by Scottish Highland immigrants in the United States in Gaelic, their native tongue. Men who led a vigorous life as farmers, hunters, and soldiers bequeathed these songs to us to record their experiences all across America, and we have set out to present them with that same masculine energy.

Communities of Scottish Highlanders began settling in the territory we now call the "United States" in the 1730s, particularly in the Carolinas, Georgia, and New York State. Large numbers of them were recruited during the French and Indian War (1755-1763) and many of them stayed in North America, beckoning their relations to join them. Although they were as attached to their homeland as any people, Gaels responded to worsening conditions in the Highlands by emigrating.

The trickle turned into a flood by the 1770s. Most fought for Britain during the Revolution, forcing some to relocate to Canada or return to Scotland when independence was won. By the mid-nineteenth century, they were attracted to the rapidly industrializing North and to the frontier in the West and could soon be found from the seaports of New England to the factories of Detroit and the gold mines of California.

The songs on this album are excerpts from a larger body of songs, given in full (with English translations), in the companion volume We're Indians Sure Enough: The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States.

1. Introduction
2. The Black Watch Departs (1756) [596K mpg3 file extract]
3. At the Siege of Quebec (1759)
4. After Quebec (1760?) [724K mpg3 file extract]
5. From Uist to North Carolina (1773)
6. I'm Tired of This Exile (1776)
7. We Will Go to America (1777) [884K mpg3 file extract]
8. War or Peace (1781)
9. Pioneer's Song (1846-1886)
10. Gold Miner's Elegy (1857)
11. Ethnic Diversity (1870s) [420K mpg3 file extract]
12. I Sailed Last Year (1910s?)
13. Boston Gaelic Society Anthem (1920s?) [1MB mp3 file extract]
14. Air Slighe na Fìrinn ('On the Path of Truth') [828K mp3 file extract]

Na Fògarraich are

• Peg Aloi: backing vocals (14)
• Benjamin Bruch: backing vocals (3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13)
• Jonathan Dembling: solo vocal (4) and backing vocals (3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14)
• Bennett Hammond: guitar (14)
• Michael MacNintch: bagpipes (big and small, 3, 5, 8, 13)
• Michael Newton: solo vocals, keyboards
• Ed Pearlman: fiddle (4, 5, 7, 10, 13)
• Dan Pitts: step-dancing (5, 13)
• Susanna Porte: cello (1, 3, 4, 8)

Produced by Michael Newton and Peter Johnson in association with Living Folk Records.