BROADCASTER, shinty hero, box player and soon-to-be father, Gary Innes has had a wide and varied career to date. In fact, such is his apparent ubiquity that it is hard to believe that he will be merely 38 this year.

Despite his many commitments, including the biggest one which is due in April this year, Innes has somehow managed to find the time to record his second solo album of the past few years. Imminent, named after the life-changing moment soon to bless Innes and wife Hannah, follows on from 2017’s ERA and is very much a milestone in Innes’s recording career. In fact, it serves as something of a waymarker for his life as it reaches a crossroads.

It is a delightful journey through self-penned turns and song and one that both celebrates life and commemorates it. For Innes, as for most people, there has been loss and heartbreak on the way and this is reflected in Imminent, but overall this is an uplifting piece of work as befits the ebullient nature of its composer.

“I had a pot of material for ERA and I was delighted with that response that album got,” says Innes. “And after that I sat down and I had a lot of songs and tunes I handn’t recorded so that was really my thinking behind it all. And once Hannah and myself found out we were expecting then I thought that I probably wouldn’t have much time to do much for the first year or so, especially as we are so busy with [supergroup] Manran as well, so that’s how the record came about.

“It was quite a quick turnaround from deciding to make the album to getting in and recording it so there are definitely parts of the album I’m happy with and others where I wish I’d had a bit more time, but generally I’m happy with it.

“And it does feel like I’m marking a milestone in my life with Imminent.”

For Innes, music has always been an escape. However, after losing too many friends too young, it was only recently that he fully discovered the cathartic release that music can provide. The results of that can be heard on Imminent in the form of Swan Song, sung by Karen Matheson, and Dream Fields, sung by Ross Wilson of Blue Rose Code fame. These are both beautifully realised tales of loss and love and mark Innes’s maturing as a songwriter.

“I think as you get older you realise that some things should be addressed more or should be talked about more,” says Innes. “Certainly Dream Fields is about something that is still going on, that six lads from Fort William Shinty Club took their lives, that’s something that I really wanted to highlight for nothing more other than to mark it.

“It’s still a difficult one for me to talk about, I just wanted to mark the boys’ lives and to highlight the fact that it is happening and that there is help available.”

For Innes, though, while the Highlands have more than their fair share of blighted lives, the people and the scenery mean it is always going to be where he draws inspiration. The Spean Bridge native has been living in the city for a few years now but when it comes to music his heart remains firmly in the Highlands.

One track on Imminent in particular, The Sheerwater, recalls a balmy summer day spent with his father exploring the Isle of Eigg in summer 2018 after taking a day trip from Arisaig on the boat of the same name.

“My dad and myself went to Eigg last year,” says Innes. “It was just such a stunning day. We went over on the Sheerwater and cycled around, had some lunch and spent the day. It was just gorgeous.

“I was on the boat heading over and this wee tune was going round in my head so I sang it into my phone. And then afterwards, after the day we had which was just glorious, as we headed home the second part of the tune was coming in dribs and drabs so again I started singing the tune into my phone. When I got home I grabbed the box and came up with this little tune so I thought it was fitting to name it after the boat.

“I’ve lived in the city a few years now and I love it but there’s no question that my heart and the blood of the music lies in the Highlands,” says Innes. “I think once you grow up in that, and especially playing traditional music and being surrounded by those people, you can’t help but be drawn into that way of life and the Highland folk.

“I think I’ve learned to appreciate that even more having come to the city just by my surroundings and where my own heart lies, especially in terms of music.”

While Innes’s heart undeniably lies in the Highlands, there is a rather specific few square metres that mean more to him than most. An Aird, the home of Fort William Shinty Club, is a place that will always resonate with Innes. He played for the side for his entire career, retiring in 2014 after guiding the team to a return to the top division. Unfortunately, music and broadcast commitments, and impending fatherhood, mean that he rarely now gets to experience shinty live. But when he does it is something he clearly still relishes.

“I’m delighted I still get the shout every year for the BBC commentary team for the Scotland games and the Camanachd and Macauley Cup finals as a pundit, but in terms of actually getting along to see shinty it’s few and far between now,” says Innes. “I’m usually travelling to or from a gig and with a little one on the way I doubt that’s going to change. I do miss the lads and the camaraderie but I get that with the band as well.”

In addition to Innes’s stints as a shinty pundit, his solo work and, of course, touring and recording with Manran, one of the country’s biggest folk bands, he has also recently taken on a new role as a radio host.

As presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s Take the Floor, Innes now finds himself a custodian of one of the country’s real institutions.

“Take the Floor has been such a tremendous experience,” says Innes. “It’s opened so many doors and I’ve met so many people through it. It’s been really nice to be able to meet all these musicians I’d heard of from the dance band world but who I was previously unlikely to ever meet as we moved in different circles.

“I don’t suppose I quite appreciated just how much of a national institution it was but we have people writing in from all over the world every week. On a Saturday night between seven and nine, Take the Floor has more listeners than Radio 1 or Radio 2. It’s just remarkable.”

A remarkable show for a remarkable man. Innes’s energy and enthusiasm is infectious but Imminent shows there is far more to this musician – and there is a lot more to come from him.

Gary Innes plays Fochabers Public Institute on February 23

Imminent is available now as CD or download