COMING from a musician with such a distinctive Irish name as Brian Ó hEadhra, new album "An t-Allt" might be something of a surprise.

Most of the songs are in Gaelic, but it is the Gaelic of the Inverness-based singer and guitarist's adopted Scottish homeland rather than Ireland.

However, for Ó hEadhra it is a perfectly natural choice.

"I don't use Irish Gaelic apart from speaking to some friends and family in Ireland. It's usually Scottish Gaelic, so I'm more comfortable using it," he explained.

"There are other Irish people in Scotland who have learnt (Scottish) Gaelic and are better in it than in Irish Gaelic. First and foremost I'm a Gael and then secondly I'm Irish/Scottish."

"An t-Allt (The Stream)", features songs in both English and Gaelic.

They include traditional Scottish songs and Irish songs translated into Scots Gaelic, a translation of the Richard Thompson song "Dimming of The Day", a song written by Mrs Ó hEadhra, Lewis-born singer Fiona Mackenzie, and a couple of songs dating back to his time with the band Anam but originally sung by Orkney vocalist Aimee Leonard.

More recently Ó hEadhra has been heard playing in a trio with Inverness fiddler Bruce MacGregor and Edinburgh accordionist Sandy Brechin, one of whom appears on the album for a very simple reason.

"Sandy's playing a lot on this album because I did it on his record label," Ó hEadhra added.

"He did it for free so of course I used him! I got Fiona in, because I didn't have to pay her either. I got the sound engineer performing bits and pieces because he was there anyway. We had to pay the banjo player and the bass player, and that was it.

"It was great to do because I've been working in arts management, so it was good to be able to remind myself why I'm so passionate about the arts and Gaelic and culture.

"There's a mixture of styles from singer-songwriter to bluegrass and a slightly eastern European Gypsy sound. Of course there are traditional songs there, because I feel passionate about that, but there's more to it than that."

Ó hEadhra, who released another solo album "Life" in 2005, will be appearing at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow next month and in March he visits Norway to play with Norwegian and African musicians.

These days, though Ó hEadhra prefers to do his playing closer to home.

"I'm not really interested in doing too much touring. I like doing the odd television thing or festival because it's all laid out for you, or very local gigs," he said.

"I love touring in the Highlands and I'd happily do that for the rest of my life. We have infrastructure here, we have people who are interested in the music, we have beautiful scenery, nice accommodation - there's no better place to tour in my mind."

Brian Ó hEadhra's new album "An t-Allt" is released by Brechin All Records.

He can be seen live at Hootananny's Ceilidh Bar on Thursday 13th January and Ceol Is Craic at the CCA, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, on Thursday 20th January as part of the Celtic Connections Festival.