Sound of Scotland...Musical Correspondent

Story behind the song… Calum’s Road

In 1988 Scottish folk band Capercaillie recorded a track called Calum’s Road for their album The Blood is Strong.

It was a fitting tribute to commemorate the extraordinary triumph of a Highland crofter who single-handedly built a highway almost two miles across an island - because nobody else would.

Calum MacLeod was born in Glasgow on 15 November 1911, the son of merchant seaman Donald Macleod of Arnish, Raasay. When war broke out in 1914 the young Calum and his five siblings were taken by their mother back to the croft next to his grandfather’s in northern Raasay.

For most of Calum’s 77 year life the community he grew up in was separated from the rest of the island due to the lack of a proper road. The only highway on the island stopped at Brochel, almost two miles from Arnish so the only way the local community could travel was on foot or by boat.

Capercaillie

Ralf Schulze CC BY 2.0

After decades of unsuccessful lobbying the crofter, lighthouse keeper and part-time postman decided to take matters into his own hands. At the age of 56 Calum picked up his shovel, pick and wheelbarrow and, armed with a Victorian guide to Road Making & Maintenance: A Practical

Treatise for Engineers, Surveyors and Others published in 1900, he got to work.

For the next 10 years, between 1964 and 1974, Calum built one and three quarter miles of single track road, with passing places, between Brochel Castle and Arnish. It was an epic piece of engineering as he had to navigate his way up and down incredibly steep inclines, through boggy moorland and around the cliffs above rocky inlets.

However, his single-handed struggle and perseverance against the red tape of officialdom paid off as the road was eventually adopted by the authorities in 1982.

Calum's Road on Raasay

PaulT (Gunther Tschuch) CC BY-SA 4.0

Calum, who died in 1988, has since become part of the folklore of the Highlands and Islands and been immortalised in the track by Capercaillie, which can be heard on Musical Correspondent, our latest podcast celebrating the best of new and traditional Scottish music.

This month’s show, presented by Tom Morton, features a variety of performances from the likes of multi award winning folk band Breabach and the celebrated fiddle and guitar duo Ross Couper and Tom Oakes.

There are also performances from the late singer-songwriter and musician Michael Marra; the isle of Skye’s electronic Celtic fusion band Niteworks and two-times winner of Scottish Traditional music’s ‘Live Act of the Year’, Skerryvore.

Electronic Celtic fusion band Niteworks

Photo Harald Krichel CC BY-SA 4.0

Other featured artists in this month’s 60-minute show include Dougie Maclean, Jim Hunter, Gunna Sound, Julie Fowlis and the traditional music duo Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell.

There are also tracks from Airdrie pop band The Big Dish and the sadly missed Scottish-Canadian musician Martyn Bennett.

Musical Correspondent is free to listen to and can be heard here: https://scotlandcorrespondent.com/musical-correspondent/