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Gig - Adam Sutherland, Paul Jennings and Mike Bryan - at Leith Folk Club, The Village, Wednesday 17th September 2008

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The Bills

North America with a touch of Europe and Latin America

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Amy Geddes
Amy was born and raised in Galloway, Southwest Scotland and began the fiddle at 10. Along with playing the fiddle, Amy was taught to sing in Scots Gaelic (Gàidhlig) and studied Scottish Step Dance. Now an experienced teacher of fiddle, dance and song with organisations such as the ALP Scots Music Group in Edinburgh, Glasgow Fiddle Workshop and Fèisean Nan Gàdheal.

Gordon Gunn
Gordon Gunn plays with Session A9 and is a past winner of many Scots fiddles competitions, was twice runner-up in the Golden Fiddle awards and six times winner of the Caithness & Sutherland Mod! He has recorded many radio broadcasts with Addie Harper and The Wick Fiddlers, and more recently on BBC radio Scotland's "Take the Floor", "Live at the Lemon Tree" and "Mr Anderson's Fine Tunes", plus live work on BBC Radio 2. Gordon has also written and performed music along with Ruby Rebdall for BBC TV's "Beechgrove Garden" and more recently the Gordon Gunn Band appeared on Grampian and STV's "Northern Nights", for which the band received rave reviews. Gordon is a prolific composer and his tunes have been covered by other artistes such as Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham. Gordon regularly performs to worldwide guests at Ackergill Tower near Wick, and has also performed for the Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey.

Anna-Wendy Stevenson
Anna-Wendy's distinctive sound is a product of classical expertise and traditional passion. Her early family surroundings were exceptionally musical, embuing Anna-Wendy with a broad perspective and love of the arts. She is the third generation in a line of composer/performer, from her grandfather Ronald Stevenson through Savourna Stevenson to Anna-Wendy herself. After winning a scholarship to lead an orchestra in Texas, Anna-Wendy returned to her native Edinburgh to pursue her love for Scottish fiddling and has since travelled internationally with Anam, Calluna and Fine Friday. She has also played with the Belle McNab Ceilidh band and has appeared in Balamory! She recently released her debut solo album "Gowd and Silver".

Mike Vass
Hailing from Nairn in the NE of Scotland, Mike first learned the fiddle at school and was subsequently taught by Ian Hardie (also from Nairn). Mike has competed successfully throughout Scotland including winning two Mod gold medals. Mike has been invited to adjudicate at music competitions including two at Keith Folk Festival and also regularly teaches fiddle throughout Scotland with the Feis movement. Mike has been gigging in Scotland for the best part of a decade, appearing at Celtic Connections, the Fringe, Eden Court Theatre Inverness, Bute Folk Festival, Albert Hall Stirling, The Tron Theatre Glasgow, Hootannany Inverness among others. He was a finalist at the BBC Young Trad Musician awards 2005

Julie Fowlis
Julie grew up in North Uist, a small island in the Hebrides, in a Gaelic speaking community, and has been involved in singing, piping and dancing since she was a tot. She was Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards, by public vote, and has recently won the "Horizon Award" for best newcomer at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She supported Bob Geldof during his Nationwide tour at the beginning of December and the following week her album was the BBC album of the week. She is a member of the successful Scottish sextet, Dòchas, who were voted winners of “Best Newcomer Award” at the Scots Trad Music Awards 2004, where Julie herself was nominated as Best Gaelic Singer.

Anna Massie
Anna Massie was the winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2003 Award. A talented multi-instrumentalist, she excels in playing the fiddle, mandolin and tenor banjo. Though perhaps most impressive is her guitar playing - equally at home either accompanying in her unique rhythmic style or flatpicking tunes, Massie’s dexterity shines through. She has performed twice at the Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton. As well as solo performances, Anna also formed the Anna Massie Band – a trio featuring the impressive guitar and vocal talents of Jenn Butterworth and the outstanding accordion and border pipe playing of Mairearad Green. With performances at Celtic Connections, Shetland, Orkney, Hebridean Celtic and Tønder festivals, this year has seen these talented young women’s careers go from strength to strength.

Karine Polwart
Winner of "Best Album", "Best Original Song" and the "Horizon Award" for Best Emerging Artist at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2005, Scottish Borders based singer-songwriter Karine Polwart established herself at the forefront of the UK folk-roots scene after scooping three prizes at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in February 2005. Her prize-winning debut CD "Faultlines" resonated with roots influences but its incisively intelligent lyrics and liberal borrowing from indie and alt-country as well as folk gave it a resolutely contemporary sensibility. Despite her recognition as an emerging talent, Karine is, at 34, no novice, and her many years of apprenticeship on the folk-roots scene with traditional groups Battlefield Band and Malinky make her a vibrant communicator in live performance. In her writing, she combines the economy and universality of the folk storytelling tradition with the kind of probing intellect and lyrical attention to uncertainty you would expect from someone with a Masters degree in philosophical inquiry.

James Ross
James Ross, from Wick, plays piano, keyboards and accordion. He began playing music at the age of eight, studying under respected musician and composer, the late Addie Harper. He went on to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow, from which he graduated with a BA in Scottish Music in July 2000. James, as part of a group, was a finalist in the 1999 Radio 2 Young Folk Award. He has performed extensively throughout Britain, Ireland and America, and has recently recorded a live broadcast on solo piano for Celtic Connections, BBC Radio Scotland. James currently plays piano as part of Gaelic singer James Graham's trio and he also works and tours with fiddler Anna-Wendy Stevenson. He has just released his debut album on Greentrax Records.

The Wee Midge Theatre Company
This is a new workshop for EYG 2006! The Wee Midges were formed in 2001 by Douglas Beck and friends to promote Gaelic language, culture and music through drama. Douglas will tell a folk story and then participants will get the chance to reinterpret this story and use the themes/ideas to create their own play. Annimation will be involved as well so if you're up for something new and exciting, this is the place for you!

Mark Neal
Mark Neal grew up in East Kilbride and moved to Edinburgh to study, quickly getting involved with the music scene in Edinburgh. Also a multi instrumentalist, he focuses mainly on Guitar and Cittern but suffers from the shared complaint of playing anything that comes to hand. Mark also plays with the bands Teannaich and Heeliegoleerie and has played in a variety of different musical projects of different styles including jazz, blues, rock and gospel along the traditional folk music. These different styles can often be heard in his accompaniment as Mark has a love for blending these different types of music together. Mark has just finished an Acoustics PhD. If you're lucky he won't tell you about it.