Lookie, lookie, it's Dougie!

Saturday night, I got to see Dougie MacLean perform live at the Cactus Cafe. If ye ever were looking for a model of a successful Celtic songwriter, Dougie is your man!

At over twenty dollars a head, he packed the Cactus on his whirlwind tour of the US that includes five gigs in a just a week's time. If every venues is as successful as the Cactus', wow!

Before this weekend, I confused Dougie MacLean with a couple of the other notable Scottish songwriters, but no more. He has a knack for writing beautiful, thought-provoking songs. Scottish folk songs are best-known for their sing-along-ability. You can tell that Dougie MacLean as master of that tradition.

He put on a captivating and inspiring performance that left me anxious to hear more (yeah, I bought a CD too). By all accounts, I can list myself as a fan of Scotland's "songmaker". If you're looking for great Celtic songwriting, Dougie MacLean is a must for your music collection.

Special note: At the end of the show, there was an encore. I heard someone shout out, "You can't leave without playing 'Caledonia'." A word to the wise, NEVER tell a musician what to he can and can't do. If I was in his shoes, I might not, just to spite the bastard. In any case, he did not play the song.