Souter honours heritage with new music album
A CD recording entitled Souters, which celebrates Selkirk, its people, stories and traditions, has been released to to coincide with the town's 2026 Common Riding.
The project, which took two years to complete, has been conducted by Selkirk-born Loudon Temple, a retired journalist and music promoter, who fronted some of the most successful bands to emerge from The Borders, back in the 1960s.
“I suppose you could say I’ve been a late developer,” said the man who has so far produced no fewer that FOUR CDs since he started to write songs in a serious way, back in 2024, all released under the name of Cheery Odin.
“To say I’m flabbergasted about how well they’ve been received, is a massive understatement,” said the musician, who turned 78 earlier this year.
“We had to go for a reprint of the first one, ‘Gan Yer Dinger.’ Tracks were played on both local and national radio, and the album got some amazing reviews.”
The last release, entitled ‘The Folli Up,’ won Album of The Week status at Celtic Music Radio and picked up 5-star print and online reviews.
“Souters is different as it focuses on my connections with the town of my birth, personal memories, personalities who needed to be remembered, experiences, special places and events and stories I’d both remembered and been told,” he added.
“A lot of them are about individuals whose contributions were crying out to be recognised.”
There’s a heartfelt tribute to one of Selkirk’s most fondly-remembered characters, Albert McKessack, who ran The Fleece Hotel with almost military precision “strictly but with a big, warm heart,” and once reputedly showed Mick Jagger the door due to his unkempt appearance.
Another song, entitled Bobby Dazzler, celebrates the achievements of one of the town’s great heroes, legendary footballer, Bobby Johnstone.
Four of the tracks focus on different aspects of Selkirk Common Riding – The Toot O’ The Flute, Gan Teh The Shows, Up The Rig On A Guid Day and The Buntin’ Girls, a song which celebrates the efforts of a group of local volunteers who work away behind the scenes to make sure the streets are always bright and cheery, and bedecked each year with their creations. “It was time to sing their praises,” he stressed.
One of the tracks praises another great Borders character, music promoter Duncan Mackinnon, who put on dances in town halls, corn exchanges and drill halls all the way from Berwickshire across to Carlisle and Dumfries & Galloway in the 1960s, bringing many of the top names to Scotland.
In 1968, when Loudon was lead vocalist with the Hawick-based band, The Ceiling Light Machine, they supported The Bee Gees on their first ever UK tour, when they appeared at Selkirk’s Victoria Hall.
“I took the opportunity to pay a personal tribute to individuals who have played a part in my life from childhood to the present day,” he says.
“Far too many to mention by name here, but it was something I felt compelled to do as I’ve been shown so much kindness by so many down the years.”
Fittingly, the final track is a tribute to “The Last True Souter,” John Guthrie, and taken from a hand-written poem he gave to local man James Scott when he was a lad, entitled Contentment.
“I asked if he’d let me put it to music. I felt it was a special treasure,” added Loudon.
The title, ‘Souters’, was an obvious one. Joining him for all of the studio sessions, was another Selkirk-born musician, Paul Tasker, from the popular band, Doghouse Roses.
Loudon added: “He was so generous with his time and talent. What a great pleasure it was to work with him.”
Paul Tasker told The Southern that he had “thoroughly enjoyed” the journey as it had brought back so many happy memories of living in the town as a schoolboy.
The well-known Selkirk actor, playwright and volunteer at The Haining, John Nichol, travelled up to Glasgow, to share the vocals on the track, A Hertwarmer.
He said: “Loudon is carrying on the age-old Borders tradition of storytelling through rhyme and music, and I feel delighted and privileged to be part of it. He brings to life the unique character, and characters, of the Borders.”
The spectacular cover shot of Selkirk, was taken by ex-Merchant Company Standard Bearer, Keith Rogerson, an exceptional photographer, who was happy for it to be used.
Loudon added: “It was an overwhelmingly joy-filled journey, recorded and co-produced by, George Miller, in his KGM Sound studio, where the other two Cheery Odin CDs I’ve released, which take a nostalgic look back at memories of my teenage years while living in Hawick, were also done.”
The album is now available in local shops and can also be listened to/downloaded at cheeryodin.bandcamp.com where much more detailed notes on the tracks can also be found.
Loudon, like many of his fellow-Souters, lives for Selkirk Common Riding coming around again each June.
“I have to be in Selkirk every year,” he says. It helps to provide an energy boost to my life-support batteries. I meet with good friends and relatives and there’s an instant inner glow. The conversations are genuinely enjoyable experiences, we sing the old songs together, remember those who have passed on before us, and relish that strong sense of community that so many struggle to find in these days of 100-miles-an-hour living.
“In the process, you become re-connected with the source, a place we all love dearly. I am so glad to be a Souter!”