My article on Peter MacLean’s connoisseur tape collection is finally out on The International Journal of Traditional Arts— an international, peer-reviewed gold open access journal that promotes a broad-ranging understanding of the relevance of traditional arts in contemporary social life. It’s always available and always free.
Read the article here!

Abtract: The late Peter MacLean’s private collection of forty-eight reel-to-reel tapes is a connoisseur’s archive of Gaelic and English songs, fiddle music and radio shows, and a resource that sustained MacLean’s own practice in his later years. This article makes a preliminary survey of the collection and considers it as a significant piece of Cape Breton musical history. Personal recordings of house parties are a source of rare performances and windows into an individual’s musical experience. They also reveal much about céilidh culture in mid-20th-century Cape Breton, providing material to carry that culture into the future.