My Secret Is My Silence is the debut studio album by Idlewild lead vocalist Roddy Woomble, released 24 July 2006 on Pure Records. The album, produced by John McCusker, features tracks co-written by McCusker, Rod Jones, Michael Angus and Karine Polwart, as well as the vocals of folk singer Kate Rusby. Background and recording Between 1997 and 2005, Roddy Woomble released four studio albums with his band Idlewild, which toyed with grunge-lite punk rock to folk-inspired rock. Their latest album up to this point, Warnings/Promises (2005), also incorporated country elements, which a lot of the band's fans did not take to. Despite the album's favourable reception from music critics, it spent one week in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart, falling to number 39 the following week. Idlwild had promoted it with a handful of acoustic shows; sometime after Woomble moved to the United States, living in New York City. Woomble opted to expand on the band's shift in style, focusing on his love for traditional Scottish folk music. My Secret Is My Silence was recorded at Pure Studios in South Yorkshire with McCusker as producer over nine days in March 2006. Woomble and other musicians lived in a farmhouse next to the studio. Andy Seward handled recording, while Joe rushby did additional engineering. Seward mixing the recordings, before the album was mastered by Calum Maclolm. Writing and composition Woomble noted that My Secret Is My Silence was predominantly written inside his small flat in Glasgow following the Warnings/Promises period. He said that was a period of extensive touring and "record company pressure. I had a longing for wide open spaces, glens, rivers and trees, and to be rid of the trappings of a moderately successful major label rock band. So [the] record is all about escapism". He added that the "barriers were down so I could do whatever I wanted. I don't look at it as a solo record [...] it's more of a collaborative effort. There are ten people on it!". He co-wrote nearly all of the songs, bar "Whiskeyface", with Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones, McCusker, Michael Angus of Foxface and Karine Polwart; "Whiskeyface" is solely credited to McCusker. Woomble was surrounded by a variety of musicians playing various instruments, while he only did lead vocals. Angus, Ian Carr, Jones, McCusker and Polwart all contributed gtuiars, either acoustic or electric, while Woomble's wife Ailidh Lennon of