Under One Sky is an hour-long vocal and instrumental suite

Suite

In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...

 composed by Scottish folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 multi-instrumentalist John McCusker

John McCusker

John McCusker is a Scottish folk musician, record producer and composer. An accomplished fiddle player, he had a long association as a member of the Battlefield Band beginning in the 1990s and was later a band member and producer for folk singer Kate Rusby...

. A studio album was released in February 2009, through Navigator Records. According to a poster advertising the Under One Sky tour: "This large scale composition explores and interweaves the many different styles, genres and traditions at work in today's dynamic UK folk scene"

John McCusker states: "When I started putting Under One Sky together the idea was to do two gigs, one at Celtic Connections

Celtic Connections

The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of traditional Scottish music and also features international...

 and the other at Cambridge Folk Festival

Cambridge Folk Festival

The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs...

. It was such a magical experience though, that after the second gig I knew really wanted to work with these amazing folks again. Every musician strives to keep doing exciting things, musically, and to play with great people to keep them inspired. Getting to collaborate with these musicians has been the highlight of my musical career so far, and we're all totally chuffed to be taking it on tour."

Track listing

1. "Under One Sky" - 9:50
   • "Under One Sky"
   • "Tom Rose"
   • "Eigg Bound"
   • "With Her Tocher What a Lassie" (trad.)
2. "Will I See Thee More/Hush a Bye" (McCusker/Tams) - 12:00
3. "'S Tusa Thilleas" - 15:35
   • "'S Tusa Thilleas"(McCusker/Fowlis)
   • "Mornin Lion"
   • "Banais Bhaile" (Fowlis/Carr)
   • "Cher's Trip to Scotland"
   • "Touche Pas" (McCusker/Carr)
4. "Long Time Past/Lavender Hill" - 8:01 (McCusker/Woomble)
5. "Jigs, Strathspey & Reel" - 9:01
   • "First Coast"
   • "Theatre" (Cutting)
   • "Nikki's Leap" (Carr)
   • "The Witchery"
   • "Billy's Reel"
6. "All Has Gone" - 4:55 (Coxon)
7. "Jack Seward's/Boys of the Puddle" - 4:00

Personnel

• John McCusker
  John McCusker
  John McCusker is a Scottish folk musician, record producer and composer. An accomplished fiddle player, he had a long association as a member of the Battlefield Band beginning in the 1990s and was later a band member and producer for folk singer Kate Rusby...
  
  
• Andy Cutting
  Andy Cutting
  Andy Cutting is an English folk musician and composer. Born 18 March 1969 in Harrow, he plays melodeon and has had instruments made by Castagnari to his own specification. He won the Folk Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008 and 2011...
  
   - diatonic accordion
• Ian Carr
  Ian Carr
  Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...
  
   - guitar
• Emma Reid - fiddle
• Iain MacDonald - bagpipes, whistles, flutes
• Ewen Vernal
  Ewen Vernal
  Ewen Vernal is a Scottish musician.Born in Glasgow to a musical family, Vernal began taking piano lessons at 8 years old—inspired by a Beatles-singing mother and a choir-leading, saxophone-playing father...
  
   - bass
• Roy Dodds - percussion
• James Mackintosh
  James Mackintosh
  Sir James Mackintosh was a Scottish jurist, politician and historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a journalist, judge, administrator, professor, philosopher and politician.-Early life:Mackintosh was born at...
  
   - drums
• Roddy Woomble
  Roddy Woomble
  Roderick "Roddy" Woomble is the lead singer of Scottish rock band, Idlewild and a solo contemporary folk musician. To date, Woomble has released six full-length studio albums with Idlewild, and two solo albums, My Secret is My Silence and The Impossible Song & Other Songs...
  
   - vocals ("Long Time Past/Lavender Hill")
• Graham Coxon
  Graham Coxon
  Graham Leslie Coxon is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter. He came to prominence as the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of rock band Blur, and is also a critically acclaimed solo artist, having recorded seven solo albums...
  
   - vocals ("All Has Gone")
• John Tams
  John Tams
  John Tams is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician.- Folk musician :John Tams was a member of Derbyshire folk group Muckram Wakes in the 1970s, then worked with Ashley Hutchings as singer and melodeon-player on albums including Son of Morris On, and as a member of the...
  
   - vocals ("Will I See Thee More/Hush A Bye")
• Jim Causley
  Jim Causley
  Jim Causley is an English folk singer, songwriter, and musician from Whimple, East Devon, England.-Biography:Jim Causley is a folk singer and musician from Devon who specializes in the traditional songs and music of the West Country and Devon in particular...
  
   - vocals ("Will I See Thee More/Hush A Bye")
• Julie Fowlis
  Julie Fowlis
  Julie Fowlis is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic.-Musical career:Fowlis grew up in North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides, in a Gaelic-speaking community, and has been involved in singing, piping and dancing since she was a child.She is a...
  
   - vocals ("'S Tusa Thilleas")
• Rod Jones
  Rod Jones (musician)
  Rodric "Rod" Iwan Pryce Jones is the guitarist and backing vocalist for indie rock band Idlewild.Son of classical musician, John Pryce-Jones, Jones is an energetic live performer, and his guitar playing has been described as "gritty yet melodic."In 2000 Jones played second guitar for Graham Coxon...
  
  - harmony vocals ("Long Time Past")