Hello, and thanks for stopping off to look at my my page.
I'm a musician, I've recently re-located to Switzerland having spent nearly 22 years in London, England.
I earn a living by playing cover versions in pubs, but also compose, record (and even occasionally perform live) my own songs.
I sing and I play -
acoustic guitar, 6 & 12 string electric guitars, double bass, fretless electric bass, dobro, lap-steel, banjo, mandolin and keyboards. I can find my way round a drumkit, but the drums on the recordings here were programmed by Martin Fisher who produced 'Elise' my first album and also pitched in with additional instruments.
Influences
I was born, Scotland in the 60's, my parents used to put a radio in my cot/pram to keep me company when I was a baby. My earliest years were filled with great music, the 60's was a good time to have the radio on a lot. TV wasn't too bad then either, when I was four years old The Monkees TV show became a hit, I was hooked, they're still my favourite band. I started music lessons age seven on accordion, this combined with the fact that the only place musicians could get up and perform live was the local folk club led to an ongoing love of acoustic music. My parents didn't have much of a record collection, what they did have was nearly all country music (country music was hugely popular in Scotland at the time, it's still pretty big now). I also have a deep regard for singer-songwriter type artists, Joni Mitchelll, Carol King, James Taylor, Laura Nyro et al. So there you go, my main influences are classic sixties pop, 70's singer-songwriters, country music and folk music.
These days I'm listening to people like Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Squeeze, Jerry Douglas, Aimee Mann, Semisonic, Shawn Colvin, Ben Folds, Matthew Sweet, Marshall Crenshaw, Steve Earle, The Beatles, Jon Brion, Jellyfish, Flatt & Scruggs, The Replacements, Big Star, 60's Motown, Burt Bacharach, Lindisfarne, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Beach Boys, Blue Rodeo, Gillian Welch, The Raspberries, The Hollies, Jim Croce, ELO, Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynn Miles, Girlyman, Kate Rusby, Joni Mitchell, The Velvet Crush, Fountains Of Wayne, Emmylou Harris, Todd Rundgren, The Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, Steely Dan, Lyle Lovett, Richard Thompson, 10CC, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Turtles, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Small Faces, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Hiatt, Elton John, Joe Jackson, Randy Newman, Janis Ian, The Seldom Scene, Nirvana, Sharon Shannon, Townes Van Zandt, The Kinks and as ever, The Monkees........to name but a few.
