Hi guys, First of all can I thank Christine Primrose for telling me, not only about this discussion but for letting me know of this great website. Incidentally she is the greatest singer I know and all her albums are in the media of her native Gaelic tongue so check them out. They are on the Temple label and I think Flying Fish does them in the States. Anyway, about Indiana; I wrote the song and tune about 15 years ago. I was then living in the village of Ullapool in the far north west of Scotland and my best friends Tom and Val Brian had, quite a few years earlier, moved out to Terre Haute, Indiana. I had missed them a lot and I was delighted to hear from them that they decided to come back home to stay. They loved Indiana but the "old calling" was too strong a force. I decided to write the song, trying to seeing things from Tom & Val's point of view. I had never recorded the song but when my mate Andy Irvine was singing in Ullapool, he heard me sing it and "demanded" it from me. The oul Irish rascal did a really beautiful version of it but changed it into an Irish song - actually, I find it a great honour that someone makes my song their own. In musical terms there's nothing stolen between Scots & Irish but a lot of sharing. A couple of wee corrections though; Andy sings " and the shy hare runs so swiftly" I wrote "And the red deer runs so freely". Actually, the latest version of the song and my personal favourite has only recently been been recorded by Dave Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic, "The Drover Road" CFA-008 Centerfire Music. Denise Withnell sings the song and has a divine voice. Dave and Denise contacted me prior to recording and made sure that they used my original words. Another great version is from Nancy Curtens from Portland Oregon. And John D, I'm not from Oban, but what the hell, it, close enough. Actually I'm from Balintore ( a wee Easter Ross Village), lived in Ullapool for over 25 years and recently moved to the Isle of Skye. My day job is repairing things on fishing boats and I've been intending to do an album since we had big black round things with a wee hole in the middle. I've just never got round to doing it but if anyone books me for a wee tour in USA, then I'll do one overnight - Opportunist - moi - never. Le durachd Andy Mitchell

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David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHsuAeUZJPQ