A Happy Place: Musician Rachel Walker thanks cancer charity for their support with new EP recorded during her treatment

Creating music was the perfect escape for Rachel Walker as she faced the challenges of cancer treatment during a pandemic.

A year on from her diagnosis, she has released the fruits of her labour as a special thank you to her local Maggie’s centre for their support throughout.

A Happy Place, Walker’s EP launched on Friday, was recorded alongside close friend and collaborator Aaron Jones to raise funds for the charity’s vital work.

The Lochaber-based singer said the title perfectly encapsulated how music gave her sanctuary when times were tough, fitting in recording sessions online and eventually in person around her treatment.

“Music was a happy place for me during that time,” Walker said. “When you get diagnosed with cancer it’s quite overwhelming but also you tend to feel like you’re defined by it. Everything you do is based around it and your treatment.

“To be able to go and do music, for me, was the happy place where I forgot for a while that I was a cancer patient.

“It was a really good place for my head to go and I know that Aaron felt similarly in terms of lockdown and having a very young family, it was an escape for him as well in a different way.”

Brand new E.P with @AaronHJones featuring ‘A Song of Hope’ is out today, all sales will go to @MaggiesCentres. All five tracks are available on Bandcamp at https://t.co/uuKPOdiekx Please support if you are able 🙏🧡 pic.twitter.com/hTL8ORAkNQ

— Rachel Walker 🌹 (@RachelWlkr) February 25, 2022

Walker, who is a Mòd gold medallist and performs solo as well as alongside bands like vocal quartet Cruinn and folk-rockers Skipinnish, finished radiotherapy in November and wanted to use her talents to help those who’d helped her.

“I will never forget the warm welcome I received at Maggie’s, especially from cancer support specialist Eilidh Wilson who really took the time to listen and chat,” she said.

“Eilidh was at the end of the phone to listen to my worries and offer reassurance when I needed it and that support is truly priceless when faced with cancer.

“I’m in a really lucky position that I am able to do something like this and give a little bit back and I really hope that we can raise some money.

“Maggie’s offers support to people going through cancer treatment and also their family, children, friends. I’ve both popped into the centre in Inverness and accessed classes online and on the phone support and all of these things have been so helpful.

“It’s so overwhelming, you don’t know where to go for support, who to ask, and they’ve been brilliant and just made a real difference to the mental ability to cope with what’s happening.”

Along with a selection of traditional Scottish Gaelic tracks for which Walker is renowned, the EP includes a brand new English composition, Song of Hope.

Written together by Walker and Jones, the song is directly inspired by tbe personal experience of living with cancer, the relief and joy of escaping it and the healing power of music.

The album as a whole also reflects on the sense of togetherness that can be so vital when facing the disease.

“Before I was diagnosed, I was in a reasonably privileged position of not having known very many people who’ve been through this at all,” Walker said.

“I think being able to have contact with other people going through the same, to be able to chat with them and support each other as you go has also made a huge difference. I’m pretty sure I’ll stay in contact with a lot of the women I’ve met.

“When you’re diagnosed with cancer it’s difficult enough as it is, but going through it during Covid, and going through treatments by yourself, you can’t have anybody with you and it can feel really difficult.

“I remember walking into my first chemo appointment by myself – I just wanted to turn around and run away. The nurse at the door actually walked me into the unit which was lovely.

“I think more than ever we need that contact and the sense of togetherness – Maggie’s has allowed that for me and it’s been a real help.”

In addition to Walker’s lilting vocals, the emotive five-track EP features Jones’s vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitar and cittern. Elsewhere, bodhrán player Martin O’Neil also lends his skills to the track Càite Bheil i ann am Muile.

Jones said: “Before and during the early stages of the pandemic, Rachel and I had struck up a very joyful and rewarding writing partnership which we had planned to develop and grow once we were able to get back together in person.

“When she received her diagnosis it seemed important to us both to maintain our regular writing sessions online to give us some escape. The power of music and the escape of creative flow has been an essential part, not only of Rachel’s recovery, but also my own journey through lockdown with a young family.

“We both felt very strongly that something positive should come from such difficult times and so releasing the tracks as an EP for Maggie’s was a no brainer.”

A Happy Place is available to download on BandCamp with all proceeds going directly to Maggie’s. Visit rachelwalkerandaaronjones.bandcamp.com