33 years ago I was staying in a hotel in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. I came down the stairs one evening to hear beautiful music coming from the lounge. I entered the room quietly with the intention of asking the patrons who the artist was but instead, as I walked in, I saw that it was being played and sung live. The singer wore jeans and had long hair. He was accompanying the lyrics on his acoustic guitar.
We chatted after he stopped playing and I learned that he was an American singer/song-writer called Kelly Fleming on a first tour of Scotland and had just visited Culloden Moor. As we chatted, I joked that I would make him a star in Scotland and in return he gave me a tape he had recorded with a number of songs on it, including the one about Scotland he had played in our Boarding House called “Only Yesterday”. We talked that evening but never met again and, to my eternal shame, my day job and complete inexperience got in the way. I never promoted his music in the way I would have liked and felt a little guilty about that ever since. I heard nothing more of the singer or his music and the cassette tape sat in an old box for many years with the hand-written note long unreadable but that I knew once read: “Hey Norman, make me a star!” I often wondered how he had got on or even if he was still alive but never found anything else about him.
Fast forward 30 years and I was helping my brother with his boating business on Loch Ness. We had some American visitors with us that day who mentioned they were huge fans of the Outlander TV series and that it was a major reason behind their visit to Scotland. They were amazed I had never watched it but gave me an outline of the show and storyline that put me into a “time travel” situation of my own. As I stood looking over the Loch, which is always a place of mystery in any event, I was transported back to that day in the Highland capital 30 years before. The haunting lilt that I had heard at that time was going round and round in my head but now it was about Outlander - except of course it couldn’t be, as it had been written many years before I - or anyone else - had even heard of Outlander. When I got home I did some research but could not find the music tape I had been given all those years ago. I was devastated as I recalled how it seemed to perfectly echo the themes. Time travel, love, Culloden, and forgotten memories of a Highland cottage “we once shared” in a “past life”. This reminded me of my promise and convinced me that I must at least try to get someone from the Outlander production team to listen to the tune and see if they heard what I did. But how to progress? Not only did I not know the current whereabouts or status of the artist but I didn’t even have a copy of the tune. I also had no contacts with the Outlander production team and no means of progressing. I turned to social media, writing to a number of Outlander fan pages who were delighted to share my story and provided some great contacts. I was able to make contact with Diana Gabaldon (the author’s) publisher but unfortunately this didn’t get me anywhere due to the distance between her and the TV production team as well as the lack of any music to actually share! I also got the details of Bear McCreary who is responsible for the Outlander soundtrack but sadly haven’t received a response to date. So, no progress… I then began to contact people in the US with the name Kelly Fleming (believe me, there are a few!)
I wrote a simple note in the vane hope of a response: “Sir, my name is Norman Sutherland and I live in Scotland. I am trying to contact a singer I met in Inverness around 33 years ago called Kelly Fleming. Sir, is that you?”
That was on 4th May 2021. Sadly I heard nothing. But then, more than 6 months later on 28th November I got a single word reply to one of my messages. It simply read “yes”.
We have corresponded since - and just before Christmas I received a CD copy of two of Kelly’s albums - including “Nightime Man” that features the song Only Yesterday. I would eventually like to make an appropriate Scottish video to accompany this song (unless the Outlander production team end up doing something!!!) but until then have put the track to some paintings by my great friend, Scottish landscape painter Douglas Roulston. (Although the two have never met, their work seems to complement each other beautifully!) Of course, this is only part of the story and I now really need some help and even more good luck. Can anyone get this story - and more importantly this song in front of someone from the Outlander production team who may be able to do something with it? If so, any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide that may help bring my own very special but also very real time travel story to a happy conclusion!
Yours
Norman