I first met Archie in the Autumn of 1968.  I think that in the podcast made with Brian, last year, I mentioned a time when I was running the Bull and Stirrup Folk Club, in Chester, with a guy named Pat Slater, now also gone, who was steeped in the Edinburgh folk scene and bringing a host of Scottish artists – Haemish Imlach, Ray Fisher, Rab Noakes  and ultimately, Barbara Dickson, into the area.  But the first of these and arguably the finest, was Archie, captivating his audiences with his soft and gentle singing style, exemplary guitar playing and a wide repertoire of traditional, contemporary and self penned material.  I like his audiences was rapt and songs like Bogies Bonnie Belle and Matt Highland soon joined my own pathetic few.  And at the end of the gig there was no rapid ‘collect fee and leave’.  His time was your time – to party or simply reflect on the world, whilst sinking a bottle of Archie’s Glenmorangie.

It was about this time Archie turned up at an inpromptu drinks party, 9booze up), what else, with a demonstrator LP and  seeking our views on its contents,  The combination of a host of self penned numbers coupled with a young Barbara Dickson’s voice, was mind blowing and a few weeks later Through the Recent Years was on the shelves of your local record store.

That was by no means to say that he didn’t have a more ‘edgy’ side to his character.  Archie was well  into the noble art of driving fast cars – fast.  At the time he was the proud owner of a red Saab 96.  For those not in the know, that’s the air cooled, front wheel drive,  slope backed, go to, rally drivers beast you see on contemporary TV shots of snowy checkpoints en route for Monte Carlo and other exotic places around the world. They went like the proverbial and stuck to the road using the same technology!  Anyway, Archie had a gig in Preston.  I had offered to go with him and we were late.  A deeply, deeply, regretted decision, that was. The fist ten minutes of the journey left me cowering on the floor in the back.   Seat belts?  In those days?  Don’t be silly. And the journey back?  Well, the five pints of Red Barrel helped – a bit.

Sometimes, fast driving was his get out of jail card, not surprising for an artist who lived up in the Scottish Borders and was popular throughout the UK.  I remember booking him for our club in Wrexham, a winter Sunday night.  By four pm he hadn’t turned up and I had had no call, so I rang.  The ‘Gig, what gig?’ jig began.  But he was ready to go on stage at eight pm, sharp.  No problem it appeared now the A74 had been so much improved.

But, from time to time, he did get caught out. I remember Sidmouth about seven years ago.  We queued for the advertsied workshop.  No show!  Management regrets.  Rescheduled for next day.  The place was packed.  He explained that as all his clocks were set to Western Scotland time, hence the misunderstanding.  Wild applause.  I think they actually believed him!  Who wouldn’t? 

The last time we saw Archie was at Celtic Connections in 2023, at the National Piping Centre.  Rab Noakes had just passed away.  We got ninety minutes of faultless performance.  The proceedings were only slightly marred when at the end of the final encore he couldn’t find his way off stage, through the black tat at the back.  He stood there smiling, acknowledging the unrelenting applause, until someone solved his predicament.  

May he rest in Peace and rise in Glory!

Barry Evans