Heather Findlay - Wild White Horses (2019)

Though I’ve been doing what I do for about 22 years; that is writing and singing, and as the years have gone by, playing and producing too, Wild White Horses is actually my first full solo album. I was honoured to have the wonderful Luke Morley come in as my producer / co-writer on this album, which was written over a couple of years, and as you may already know, was recorded last summer at Rockfield Studios in Wales. I learned a lot from Luke, who raised the bar so high, that if I ever needed to find another co-pilot, there'd be an awfully large pair of shoes to fill…!

Down at Rockfield (Wait, as in, Queen's, Bohemian Rhapsody Rockfield…? Yup. The very same…!), we were met by the dynamic duo, Nick Brine & Kenny Dog-leash, who deftly (and daftly, in equal measure!) engineered my record. I was joined by a host of beautiful people who one by one, each brought their creativity to the project. First, was the impeccable Dave McCluskey with his army of drums, followed by Sarah Dean & Katy Burgess with their vocal chords of wonder. Tim Oliver joined the show for unspeakably brilliant piano duties on Firefly. My everything girl, Georgia Rankin sang harmony vocals, played manjira, herded and hosted hungry fandangoers and generally made it extra special wherever she could.

My gorgeous lambs Drayke & Harlan sang their little hearts out on ‘Winner’. Harlan also programmed some tabla & tanpura loops for 'Face In The Sun'.

Being the diamond that he is, Luke skilfully played everything else on the album, so the house band credits stop there, cunningly leaving me to fully engage my focus into vocal / lyric world,

where I was free to be all that Heather Findlay needed to be for Wild White Horses to run free with me…

After we finished at Rockfield, Pete Maher tied his magical bow of mastering wonderment around the audio, and handed it off to the land of cutting and pressing…

Meanwhile, on the visual side of things, adding his spark of creative lustre, Jason Joyce photographed everything, from May 2018 until January 2019, when we got together again at Holborn Studios in London. It was there, and thousands of pictures later, we finally bagged our cover shot. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but believing in the music we had made, Jason worked very hard at making sure the album sparkled on the outside too!

Whilst Marty Moffatt’s talents were brought in to capture some fabulous reportage shots, to give things an extra dimension, Roger Newport brought his patience, skill, his helpful brother, Paul and a lot of video cameras in to interview us and film everything else. (On his birthday too! Bless him).

Editing Karma was duly reaped in the days that followed, as Roger’s luscious filming was painstakingly turned into days, weeks, months of video editing at camp Findlay!! 4 trailers and a lyric video later, I am a tired, but very grateful girl. (There is plenty of un-released footage still to come, so please subscribe my new YouTube Channel, where you'll see it all unfold over the next couple of months…)

In February, Hugh Gilmour took over the visual reins and has since woven his magic into creating the wonderful artwork for the LP sleeve design, the beautiful Digipak sleeve, the T-shirts and all the beautiful images unleashed across my webstore today. Far more than he signed up for, and ever quick to deliver too! In fact, I had begun to think that artwork couldn’t get rustled up any quicker, until Dayle Lunn, like an illusionist pulling an origami swan out of his sleeve, made from a used bus ticket, produced all my beautiful banners from Jason, Howie & Hugh’s pics in about 0.3 seconds last week!! Amazing.

My humble gratitude goes to each of you.

If that wasn’t enough to fill my glad heart, I also have the following luminaries to thank for lending me their talents on Wild White Horses.

Danny Bowes, vocal powerhouse extraordinaire of Thunder, sings with me on a duet called, ‘Just A Woman’. The mystical wonder of Troy Donockley of Nightwish and his Uilleann pipes feature on the track titled ‘I Remember’ and on the track 'Winner’, a glorious guest appearance from non other than the Flute Father Himself - Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull graces the album.

Without Howard Rankin, non of this would have been possible. Not only did he bring the best executive production a Wild White Horse wrangling gal could ask for, he also brought real Carmargue Horses photography. And by sheer coincidence too…!

Behind the scenes, supporting me with the bit that most don’t get to see, Luke, Danny Bowes, Lisa Bardsley and Chris Hewlett, Steve Dinwoodie and Debi Cochrane have helped me assemble a plan to take things to the next stage… Exciting times!

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been with me on this journey and in making this album. Thank you for your art, love, support and kindness. It’s been fun, exhausting, exhilarating, empowering, hilarious, emotional, awe inspiring, enlightening and yes, damn hard at times too! I don’t know what’s next. Well, except for the rest of the hard work that comes with releasing a new album, but, if I get to do it all again, I do hope it’s with you!

An extra huge amount of love and gratitude goes to my amazing parents, Lynda & Alan, to Harlan, Drayke, and to all of my friends, family and teachers. You haven't seen so much of me over the last year or so, but may I take a moment to thank you for your support, love and patience. As I set these horses free, I expect it will be back to business as usual, so see you soon!

As to the finished product, I love it. I'm so happy with it. It's actually the first ever album to be pressed onto vinyl featuring songs written by me too, which fills me with extra gratitude for the experience. I’ve only held the test pressings for which so far, but listening to those was pretty special!! I can’t wait to see what the white vinyl looks like…

What a journey! So far…

To my loyal supporters, thank you so much for being with me. Without you, I would not be able to do any of this. As you may know, I'm releasing this record on my own label, which means even with an amazing team around me, without a record company behind me shouting my corner, I am reliant upon the voice of those who enjoy my music to spread the word, so your support means everything to me.

Much love to you all from the bottom of my grateful heart,

H xxx



Track List:
01. Here's to You (3:53)
02. Just a Woman (3:55)
03. The Island (4:07)
04. Face in the Sun (4:44)
05. Southern Shores (4:23)
06. I Remember (3:49)
07. Wild White Horses (4:49)
08. Winner (4:59)
09. Already Free (4:38)
10. Cactus (3:18)
11. Firefly (4:29)
12. Forget the Rain (4:25)

Heather Findlay - vocals
Luke Morley - guitars, bass, piano, keys, harmony vocals, percussion & recorders
Dave McCluskey - Drums
Tim Oliver - Piano (track 11)
Sarah Dean - harmony vocals (tracks 1; 6 & 12)
Katy Burgess - harmony vocals (track 5)
Georgia Rankin - harmony vocals (tracks 1 & 8); Manjira (track 4)
Drake Findlay - Loftus - harmony vocals (track 8)
Harlan Findlay - Loftus - harmony vocals (track 8); tanpura & tabla programming (track 4)
Fandangoers - Sergio Barcia, Matthew Seed, Paul Flood, Steve Bones
Joanne Duck, Craig & Cheryl Clarke, Jeremy Hartley, Patrick Edwards, Abbi Knight and Paul & Anne Quinton - hand claps (track 1)

Special Guests:
Danny Bowes - featured vocals (track 2)
Troy Donockley - Uilleann pipes (track 6)
Ian Anderson - flute (track 8)

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