COLIN MACINTYRE // MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2026 BIOG

Colin MacIntyre/Mull Historical Society is a multi-award-winning musician, songwriter, producer, author for adults and children, playwright and educator, who has been publicly voted Scotland’s Top Creative Talent. Born into a family of storytellers and writers, he was raised on the isle of Mull in the Hebrides and has released 9 acclaimed albums to date, most notably under the moniker Mull Historical Society, as well as 5 books. Album #10, ‘In My Mind There’s A Photograph’, comes early 2026 (read on). A songwriting junkie since aged seven, he had written & recorded 300 songs before he even secured a record deal with the legendary Rough Trade Records and Geoff Travis, then transitioning onto Warner Records and BMG Publishing. He has achieved three UK Top 20 albums and four Top 40 singles to date, since his Gold-selling debut album, ‘Loss‘, which was widely acclaimed as one of the best British records of the year. When his debut Mull Historical Society single ‘Barcode Bypass’ (Rough Trade) was named NME’s Debut Single of the Year in 2000, and then received its first daytime airplay (all 7 minutes of it) on BBC Radio 1 on Jo Whiley’s show, as well as MTV playlisting, it was clear a truly original song-writing talent had emerged as if fully formed — and from the unlikely Atlantic outpost of Mull (population of 2,500 people, 28,234 sheep) – and named after a genuine society on the island, who within a year had to change their name (to Mull Historical & Archaeological Society).

MacIntyre’s debut novel ‘The Letters of Ivor Punch’ (W&N) won the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award and he adapted it for the stage as ‘The Origins of Ivor Punch’ at A Play, A Pie & A Pint, running to sold out theatre audiences in Glasgow & Edinburgh’s Traverse (May 2019). The novel was shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. Mull’s local hero status secured, Colin – whose late father, Kenny Macintyre, was the hugely respected BBC Scotland Political & Industrial Correspondent – it was his sudden death that inspired ‘Loss’ – has been celebrated globally. He has been voted Scotland’s Top Creative Talent at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards, as well #12 in the Greatest Scottish Artists of All Time public poll, and his single ‘Watching Xanadu’ made STV’s ’Scottish Greatest Album’. Colin has performed around the world and at all the major UK and European Festivals, and has collaborated with a range of leading musicians including Bernard Butler (who produced 2018’s acclaimed ‘Wakelines’ album), Irvine Welsh, Annie Lennox, Snow Patrol, King Creosote, Tony Benn (appearing in Benn’s famous Diaries) and has supported bands such as REM, Elbow and The Strokes, on their seminal and hot-ticketed debut UK tour. He has appeared across the board on TV and Radio, in the UK and abroad, including ‘Later… with Jools Holland’, ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, MTV as well as crossing over into BBC Scotland’s TV ‘Debate Night’. His memoir, in which he talks about his journey from growing up on Mull to headlining in New York – his boyhood hero, Talking Heads’ David Byrne turned up to his debut U.S. MHS show – is ‘Hometown Tales: The Boy in the Bubble’ (W&N), and his first book for children, ‘The Humdrum Drum’, with accompanying music, were published in June 2018. In 2019, Colin signed with Mute Song, the publishing arms of Mute Records. 2023 also saw the release of an expansive 80-track anthology box seton the BBC’s Demon Records: ‘ARCHAEOLOGY: COMPLETE RECORDINGS 2000-2004’, plus special anniversary reissues on vinyl of his first 3 self-produced MHS albums, ‘Loss’, ‘Us’ and ‘This Is Hope’, which all re-entered the official UK Top 20 Scottish Albums Chart upon his signing to the progressive label, Last Night From Glasgow, in 2025.

 NEW ‘IN MY MIND…’ MHS ALBUM SERIES

2023 also saw the release of a groundbreaking and acclaimed new albums series with Colin collaborating with a cast of leading authors, he playing ‘Elton to their Bernie”, bringing his worlds of words and music together for the extraordinary album ‘In My Mind There’s A Room’. Across its fourteen songs, MacIntyre enlisted an all-star cast of award-winning literary giants to contribute their own words about a special room in their lives. Using these words as the lyrics, Colin then composed the songs. Fittingly, these songs were recorded in a room that holds a special place in Colin’s heart – his ‘Bard of Mull’ poet-come-bank-manager grandfather’s flat above the bank in Tobermory, isle of Mull, which has recently – remarkably – been turned into a fully-equipped recording studio. His collaborators were: Jackie Kay, Sebastian Barry, Nick Hornby, Ian Rankin, Jacqueline Wilson, Liz Lochhead, Val McDermid, Jennifer Clement, Alan Warner, Stephen Kelman, James Robertson and Jason Mott, and it was mastered in another significant room in Abbey Road, London.Following on from the critical and commercial success of “Room” – in 2026 MacIntyre again looks to the literary world for inspiration with the second album in the series, ‘In My Mind There’s A Photograph’. Featuring lyrical contributions from world-leading authors on a single significant photo to them, they are Best-sellers, Pulitzer, Booker, Women’s Prize & Saltire Award-winners: Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith, Len Pennie, Alexander McCall Smith, Jehan Bseiso, Yiyun Li, Louise Welsh, Irenosen Okojie, Paul Lynch, Colum McCann, Alan Johnson and Dan Richards. The songs shine a light on hope, empathy and understanding, just what we need in this fractured world — taking in themes of childhood, place, identity, memory, family, language and more. We span the globe, from the horrific impact of 9-11 and Gaza, to tales from Inverness to Botswana, China to Glasgow, featuring a guest spot from London African Gospel Choir. Colin’s remarkable ear for melody yet again provides the perfect platform for the powerful lyrical content. 

‘MULL MYSTERIES’ CRIME SERIES

May 2024, saw the publication of MacIntyre’s first Crime novel, ‘When The Needle Drops’, the first in a new Mull Mysteries Crime Series featuring Sergeant Ivor Punch from his debut. Colin, who of late has shared stages with Crime royalty Sir Ian Rankin and Val McDermid, publishes the second in the series, ‘An Island Burning’, in April 2026. 

‘CULLODEN’ MUSICAL

Colin – in an act surely fully rubber-stamping his “Renaissance Man” credentials! – has also recently written the music and book for a new multi-genre musical, ‘Culloden’, which has been supported by Creative Scotland and goes into pre-production soon to hopefully hit stages in 2026/27.

MacIntyre is also a music educator and works with an international array of talented emerging talents on BA and MA songwriting and production programmes at several universities, and is a visiting tutor at Scotland’s National Writing Centre. He also hosts ‘From Stage to Page’, a music & storytelling show with fellow musician-“paperback writers”. Colin has led the children’s feeding charity Mary’s Meals in London, and once spent a year with the Scottish professional football club, Queen’s Park FC. He has performed at the major literary festivals, including Edinburgh Book Festival. Despite his absence of a working shield, Colin is a descendent of the Scottish Warrior Poet, Duncan Ban Macintyre.

//Mull Historical Society // Author Site // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

MUSIC (some reaction to new MHS album ‘’IN MY MIND THERE’S A ROOM’):

“At once melodious and spiky” – The Sunday Times Culture

“Both epic and intimate” – The Scotsman

“A remarkable, utterly fascinating album”– Far Out Magazine

‘MacIntyre gets it all write’ – Daily Express

 “Beautiful & gorgeous. Catchy as hell.” – Jo Wiley, BBC Radio 2

“The latest gorgeous offering from Colin MacIntyre.” – BBC 6Music

BOOKS reactions:

‘One of my favourite songwriters of all time’ – Irvine Welsh

‘A twisty mystery set on Mull, the island being a character in itself. Ivor Punch is a detective well worth spending time (and a dram) with.’ — Ian Rankin

‘A truly original and enthralling novel. Ivor Punch is a magnificent creation and his story is mischievous, sad, funny and truthful‘ – Stephen Kelman, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED author of PIGEON ENGLISH

‘I raced through this clever, poignant, beautiful book in one sitting. It’s peopled by a cast of brilliantly off-the-wall characters, and full of keen-eyed observations about life on a remote Scottish island – and, by extension, everywhere. A must-read.’ — Laura Barnett, Best-selling author of The Versions Of Us

‘Incredible… In parts witty, shocking, curious and wry, it is a multi-faceted novel that delights at every turn… A thing of genius and wonder… It is hard to believe that this is his first novel, so original and impressive it is.’ welovethisbook.com

‘Tragedy and superstition hang over the characters like a mist, and the sea laps against every page. These are beguiling tales built on secrets and sadness, each of them with a keen sense of place.’ — INDEPENDENT

 ‘A genuinely heartfelt novel with some standout elements of dark comedy.’ — THE LIST

Click here for Colin’s Mull Historical Society website 

https://www.facebook.com/mullhistorical

https://www.twitter.com/colinmacintyre

http://www.instagram.com/colinmacintyremull

http://www.mullhistoricalsociety.com

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