Well, having embarrassed the heck out of Mr. Scott-Douglas, [cough] allow me now to introduce you to Mr. Kevin Walsh!
(I showed this picture to our excellent web-mistress, who said, “Does every Scot have a kilt pic? What they don’t realize is, all they have to do is go on any Diana Gabaldon fan board, and pick up any single woman they want, from anywhere in the world! *g* Doesn’t even matter what they look like, they just need the kilt and the accent.” )
Kevin is both the singer and the song. By which I mean that he’s the composer and creator of all the music for the Outlander: The Musical CD—and also sings the voices of Dougal MacKenzie and Ian Murray _on_ the CD. (You can hear him as Dougal in “The Message” and as Ian in the hilarious “Why Did I Marry a Fraser?” (in which Jamie and Jenny bicker in the background as Ian and Claire condole with each other: Ian/Claire: “[Frasers]…they’re awkward/and sulky/bad-tempered/and vain” (Jamie: “VAIN?!” Claire: “Yes, you strut about there like a Highland John Wayne…”)) as well as a brief bit in “I Am Ready”).
Kevin’s also aka the Laird of Balnamoon – pronounced, he says, “Bonny Moon” in old Scots—this being the name of his house, “Cotton of Balnamoon,” an ancient structure once belonging to a Jacobite laird named James Carnegy-Arbuthnott*)
* James Carnegy-Arbuthnott, Laird of Balnamoon, favoured the Jacobite cause and was known as the Rebel Laird. He was Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s Deputy-Lieutenant of Forfarshire and an officer in Lord Ogilvy’s Angus regiment. He survived the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and fled to Glen Esk where he was harboured by locals until he was betrayed by the local Presbyterian minister. Sent for trial in London, he was acquitted on a misnomer. (In 1745 he had added his wife’s surname and territorial designation of Arbuthnott of Findowrie to his own name, from whence arose the confusion). [From Wikipedia]
Alas Dianna all the good men are taken are they not? One can dream one day I will find MY Jamie…be it through a time space rift or what not. Thanks for letting all of us share in Jamie and Clair and the love they have…it gives us hope a good one may yet wait for one of us!
The Anonymous one!
hello, was just browsing on google and came across this blog post. I can definitely say that this is NOT the laird of Balnamoon. The real laird of Balnamoon is in fact my uncle James Carnegy-Arbuthnott. I have no idea why this Kevin Walsh is pretending to be the Laird of Balnamoon as he has no relation at all to my family. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss this a bit further, it’s just a bit disconcerting that this stranger is pretending to be my uncle… Not sure why he would want to lie to you, feel free to do some research about balnamoon and the Carnegy-Arbuthnott name and it’s easy to find out that my uncle still owns Balnamoon, or I can email more information to you.
Hi, Patrick!
Not to worry; Kevin isn’t pretending to be the laird of Balnamoon. {g} He’s the composer of the music for Outlander: The Musical, which is how I know him. He lives in a very old cottage on what was the Balnamoon estate, as I understand it, and has a deep interest in the Jacobite laird–he gave me a book about that gentleman, which actually may have been written by yourself…? (book not handy, so I can’t check, but I seem to recall that it was rewritten from an older manuscript by a descendant of the original laird). But with regard to Kevin, “laird of Balnamoon” is just a nickname between friends, not an imposture.
–Diana
Hahaa sorry Diana if my first message seemed a bit heavy handed, was just very confused! Anyway thanks for clearing it up. Good luck with everything in the future.