Stonehaven Folk Club

Kenny Speirs on guitar & vocals and highly regarded singer Eilidh Grant  perform widely at home and abroad.

Borders based Kenny, well known to audiences throughout Europe, is a fine singer of Scottish and contemporary songs and an excellent guitarist.  Eilidh Grant has been in and around folk clubs all her life. Her excellent voice is well suited for both classic folk songs and original material. In 2011 she won a Scottish New Music Award for best Folk/Traditional recording of year for her debut album.

Their repertoire includes not only many songs and tunes from both sides of the border, but also contemporary and self-penned material, and to date they have released several popular albums.

Steve Turner is known as a pioneer of highly sophisticated English concertina song accompaniments, stretching the boundaries of traditional forms, with one of the best voices in the business. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who also accompanies himself on the cittern, and also plays mandolin and banjo.

After a thirteen year break, building up an internationally known stringed instrument business, he made a welcome return to performing in folk clubs and festivals in 2005.

Steve’s 5th album, his first for 22 years "The Whirligig of Time" waslong listed for the BBC folk awards in 2008. His 6th album "Rim of the Wheel" was released in spring 2012 and received rave reviews – David Kidman in N.E. Folk Roundabout called it “sheer genius a sure contender for one of my folk albums of 2012” This was backed up by many festival bookings and re-plays on the radio on the Mike Harding Show Radio 2 and Late Junction Radio 3.

Steve’s new 7th album “Spirit of the Game” was released in January 2016.

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A true preserver of the spirit of folk music, 2017 Juno nominee Maria Dunn is often compared to Woody Guthrie for her keen social awareness and unvarnished songs about ordinary people. In 2016, she released her sixth independent album Gathering (Nominee - 2017 Juno, WCMA; Winner - 2016 Edmonton Music Prize), songs of courage and struggle, local and global (produced by Shannon Johnson of Juno-winning band The McDades).

Edmonton-based, Maria tours internationally. Accolades for her songwriting include publication in Sing Out! and Penguin Eggs magazines and the Rise Again songbook (2015). Other artists have recorded (Niamh Parsons, Bob Bossin) or performed (Archie Fisher, Andy Irvine, Nathan Rogers) her songs.

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Jefferson Hamer is a songwriter, guitarist, and interpreter of traditional music. Murphy Beds, his acoustic duo with Eamon O’Leary, features harmony vocals backed by intricate guitar and bouzouki accompaniment. The Huffington Post said it succinctly: “The [Murphy Beds] album bears repeated listening from start to finish, with ten beautiful, crystalline songs.” In 2016 he recorded and co-produced the Session Americana album “Great Shakes” and traveled extensively in the US and Europe as the band’s electric guitarist. His 2013 “Child Ballads” album with Anais Mitchell earned a BBC2 Folk Award and was named one of NPR’s top-ten Folk releases of the year.

Pauline Alexander & Sandy Stanage are a duo that combine incredibly pure vocals with equally fine fingerstyle guitar.  Their natural talent is equally balanced delivering a performance which is 'spellbinding' [Fatea Magazine] and 'nothing short of mastery' [Falkirk Folk Club].   

The duo’s song choices are driven by a belief that a good song is a good song regardless of genre and yet, they manage to deliver them with a compelling honesty that is seamless in its listening experience.  Original songs are performed alongside interpretations whilst retaining something that makes them feel that they were always theirs to begin with.

Pauline and Sandy have enjoyed many years on the folk circuit before coming eventually together at the end of last year.  Despite this relatively new music partnership, the duo were recently showcased by Fatea Magazine with their song 'The Dreamer'.  Sandy has performed with many well remembered folk bands including Kentigern, Scotland Yard and Molendinar.  Pauline has been a former album of the week on Iain Anderson's BBC Radio Scotland show and supported the likes of Rumer, Shelagh McDonald and Dougie MacLean.

Witness Mike Silver singing live or on record, and you can immediately tell that here is an artist whose voice, musicianship and song-writing talents have been honed over a rich and well-lived lifetime. His easy rapport with his audiences, his endless fund of stories, plus his finely wrought songs of experience, observation and wisdom all bespeak a life-story worth many more songs and stories to come. 

Born in 1945, Mike’s early interest in music was awakened by one of his elder brothers, who introduced him to the music of Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Lonnie Donegan, the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group, Slim Whitman, Phil Harris, Connie Francis and many more. 

At the age of nine Mike discovered a guitar at home, left overnight by a friend of one of his brothers – no more than five minutes later this tantalising discovery had awakened in him, a passion for the instrument which endures to the present day.Right there and then, he made a deal with himself that he was going to play this instrument; that he was going to be an outstanding singer as well was not in the original plan!

Drawn to acoustic music, Mike was soon developing his skills as a floor-singer in folk clubs, forever learning from established visiting performers until he too had the experience and expertise to take to the stage area himself, as the guest artiste. Singing his own songs, telling his own stories, following his own road, Mike toured Britain and the continent extensively during the ‘60s, ’70s and ‘80s, forever gaining in confidence, strength and ability - to the extent that he was signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records in 1973, touring the USA with the likes of Dory Previn, and Ashford and Simpson. 

Over the years Mike has accumulated an impressive portfolio of albums featuring a multitude of his own superb compositions. Accompanied by his own multi faceted guitar playing, as well as the contributing musicianship of many other fine players, including Gloucester’s Johnny Coppin, with whom Mike has been touring and recording since 2005, the outstanding guitar work of Jo Partridge, his friend since the late 60s and more recently the wonderfully talented multi-instrumentalist Nils Tuxen (Denmark); each of Mike’s songs takes the listener on its own special journey…

Now in his 70th year, Mike has just released SILVER COLLECTION, an album made up entirely of covers, sung and performed in his own style, each of these tracks becomes his own. Mike continues to play both at home and abroad — so you can be sure that he’ll be appearing at a venue near you before very long. Don’t miss the chance to see him; you’ll be amazed at the breadth of his singing, the height of his musicianship, and the stature of his performance — adding up to a unique musical experience honed by a life in music and a love of all that that music bestows on the singers, players and most important of all, their audiences. 

With a combined working history reading like a Who’s Who of household names in music…    Righteous Brothers, Mary Hopkin, Chet Atkins, Strawbs and many more, now it’s their turn at the front of the stage, to sing and play their own well-crafted brand of acoustic guitar-based material.

Cathryn and Brian met in Michael Snow's recording studio in Nashville. Brian and he had written the song Hard Luck Café…Michael said he knew just the person to sing it!

When Brian came to record the first album of his own songs, Black & White (which includes Hard Luck Café), he invited Cathryn to sing. Together they wrote The Fire, Alice's Song and Black & White.

Apart from Love Belongs Right Here, a Mary Hopkin/Brian composition sung by Mary, Cathryn sang on the whole album and so the duo of Cathryn Craig & Brian Willoughby was born…

“Long live traditional music, even when it's only just been written” (The Living Tradition)

“…sublime guitar work and one of the finest voices around” (Folking.com)

Their “Alice’s Song” was an Aled Jones “Highlight of the Year” on BBC Radio 2.

Cathryn was Simon Mayo's star guest on BBC Radio 2Day, live from Nashville.

The Telegraph’s Martin Chilton named the duo as his “Folk Gig Pick” in 2015.

American singer songwriter Steve Dan Mills was the co-founder of Speed Limit 35, one of the first folk rock bands in the American South. He has been enjoying a solo career since the mid 70's and has performed at the Sark Folk Festival, Cornwall Folk Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, London Folk Festival, Belfast Nashville Songwriter's Festival and the UK's Top Folk and Acoustic Clubs.  His music has been described as "the real thing, sensitive, moving, cathartic and healing." He couples his very powerful vocals with acoustic guitar and harmonica. His masterful story telling, based on his rich and challenging life experiences, lays the groundwork for each song in a most engaging manner. He elicits tears and laughter and instills hope in his audience. He has recently moved to London and has begun performing in folk clubs throughout the UK. 

His song "Dream On Texas Ladies" went to #18 on the Billboard Charts for Rex Allen Jr and sold over 4 million copies for John Michael Montgomery. His songs have also been recorded by major artists such as Neal Coty, Mel MacDaniel and Benita Hill. Guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel has been covering the title cut from this CD, "Inside Out Lookin' In" and his performance of the song may be viewedon here on the "Home" page. Steve's CD's "Inside Out Lookin' In" and "Remembering Young Stephen" are also available on the "Buy CD's" tab on this site.

Bob Knight is a folk/traditional singer based in Aberdeen, Scotland. As well as traditional songs, he also writes new songs in traditional Scottish style, using Scots and Doric. For his own songs he accompanies himself on guitar, but traditional material, for the most part, is often sung unaccompanied. He is also an excellent story teller and gives talks on song-writing.

Bob is a very experienced musician and performer, and through his mother, Margaret Stewart, he is related to all the great Scottish traditional singers of traveller origin. In recent years he has been booked to perform at the prestigious Whitby Folk Week, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, and again this year, 2017. He also be performed at Cullerlie Traditional Song Festival, 2017, in Aberdeenshire.

Bob has also appeared at Celtic Connections (Glasgow) gaining a highly commended award in the Danny Kyle Open Stage event. The Portsoy Boat Festival, The Rolling Hills Club and Festival, and many clubs in various parts of Scotland. He has also won various song writing competitions including the Falkirk Folk Club song writing competition, and the Glenfarg song writing competition.