Handful of Earth is the fifth solo studio album by Scottish folk musician and singer Dick Gaughan, released in 1981 by Topic Records. The album was Gaughan's first after spending several years largely avoiding playing music while regaining his health following a mental breakdown in 1979. Containing an array of traditional and contemporary folk songs performed on guitar with open tunings, Handful of Earth was by far Gaughan's most political to that point, and was inspired by the political turmoil in Scotland following the Conservative Party victory at the 1979 general election.

Gaughan recorded the album with engineer Robin Morton at the latter's Temple Studios. During recording, Morton extended the album's recording sessions to allow them to complete what they both felt was becoming Gaughan's best work. When the album was completed, Gaughan felt he had released the best album he possibly could, causing him to change direction following its release rather than use the template he had on Handful of Earth. The album was critically acclaimed, and was named "Folk Album of the Year" by Melody Maker and, later, Folk Roots readers and critics both named it the greatest album of the 1980s, while also ranking 907th in the 1998 edition of All Time Top 1000 Albums. The album has proven influential on artists such as Billy Bragg. In 2007, Gaughan played Handful of Earth live for the first time at Glasgow City Halls.

Scottish folk singer/guitarist Dick Gaughan released his acclaimed debut album No More Forever in 1972, and throughout the 1970s, he developed a career primarily steeped within Celtic folk music. Within the blossoming Scottish folk scene, Gaughan soon became a veteran. After Gaughan left the band Five Hand Reel towards the end of 1978, he started having on-off bouts of depression and mental illness which came to a nadir in 1979 when he had a total breakdown. Gaughan felt the 'inevitable' result of his touring life, such as unhealthy living and heavy alcohol consumption, had caught up with him, and as such he spent the following two years doing very little but focus on becoming healthier again, aside from the occasional short European tour and contributing to the collaborative folk compilation Folk Friends 2 (1980), which contains seven solo or collaborative Gaughan songs.

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