Forgaitherin are four friends from around the Cupar area of Fife who have now been performing together for the past 3 years.  In that time,they have performed at many of the Scottish clubs including second appearances at some; never a bad sign!  In the past month we have been to Irvine and the Rolling Hills FC and, after our gig with yourselves, we are going to Nitten, Strathaven, Leith,The Edinburgh, Almond Valley and finally Glenfarg FCs during 2017. So, we do get out and about and, in addition, we have recently released our second CD.

We are delighted to have Rod Clements and Ian Thompson of Lindisfarne visiting the club.  Rod and Ian have a big following and we are expecting a very busy night at the club! 

Roderick Parry "Rod" Clements (born 17 November 1947, North Shields, Tyne and Wear) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK Top 5 hit in March 1972, which won Clements an Ivor Novello Award. Lindisfarne broke up in 1973 and Clements became a founding member of Jack the Lad, also working with Ralph McTell and Bert Jansch. Lindisfarne reformed in 1977 and Clements continued to be part of the line-up until 2003. Rod rejoined Lindisfarne in 2015 and is currently touring and performing with the band.

“Jenny Sturgeon is a singer-songwriter who brings together the old and new with a rare skill.” (R2 Magazine)  The inspiration for Jenny's lyrics comes from folklore, historical events and personal experience, and having trained as a biologist her enthusiasm for nature creeps in to all her work.  Jenny plays in a duo with Jonny Hardie (Old Blind Dogs, Clype), and with Lauren MacColl and Ewan MacPherson in the critically acclaimed band Salt House.

Some of the projects Jenny has been involved in are:

A songwriting workshop tutor, writing songs and tunes for St Kilda to celebrate 30 years of it being a World Heritage Site and collaborating with Aberdeen based artist and fabric designer Helen Ruth.

In 2015/16 year Jenny co-ordinated a songwriting project in conjunction with FitLike Records called 'Even in Winter', for which female musicians from different genres wrote songs inspired by the women of Aberdeen.

A collection written to celebrate 30 years since St Kilda became a World HeritageSite for nature.  The 4 tracks were written by Jenny as part of a project with The National Trust for Scotland.

Song ‘Sail & Oar’ was written about herring fishing in Peterhead for Pete Coutts’s 2016 album.

Songs ‘The Honours’ and ‘Linton’ were written for a Stonehaven Folk Festival commission in 2015.  As part of this project Jenny ran a songwriting workshop at the festival and has since been involved with teaching these songs and musical arrangements to more than 300 primary school pupils around Stonehaven.

Winners of the 2015 Spiral Earth Award for Best Debut,  Cardboard Fox are an exciting new four piece with a fast growing fan base.  In May 2016, the band followed up on the success of their EP by releasing their first full album ‘Out of Mind’.

All four musicians have their roots in bluegrass music but their collective influences reach much further and this shows in their music. Formed in late 2013 in Bath, the band features the sibling harmonies of Charlotte and Laura Carrivick (the Carrivick Sisters) on guitar/vocals and fiddle/vocals respectively, the extraordinary talents of young mandolin player Joe Tozer and the driving and technically demanding double bass playing and harmony vocals of John Breese. With a focus on original songs with a strong pop sensibility and energetic live shows, this is a group of musicians who are very, very excited about what this line up can create and that’s what makes this acoustic quartet so special.

Barbara was brought up in Fife, learning Scottish and Irish songs from her grandparents. She was delighted to meet up with many other traditional singers and musicians when she left home to become a skint student at Dundee Uni and was persuaded to start singing for her supper. At that time she became a founder member of the band Coelbeg.

She still sings many of her grandparents’ songs and is delighted to have had numerous, recent opportunities to air them despite a 20 year break from performing during which she had 3 bairns and pursued a medical career. She did get a telling-off from Sister once for singing “Mrs McGrath” to a Mrs McGrath, but nowadays people rarely tell her off for singing traditional songs, either solo, or with the talented and weel-kent singers and musicians she collaborates with from time to time.

Check out her latest collaboration with Dundee musician and producer Christopher Marra – Leaf an’ Thorn. Chris has been a musician since his teens, working in many distinct fields from bighair rock to sophisticated pop with Danny Wilson via London’s Theatreland. The majority of his time was spent recording and performing with his brother Michael Marra, producing albums for Michael and the legendary Saint Andrew.

One of our finest exponents of storytelling through song, BOB FOX is deeply influenced by the working class culture and industrial folk song prevalent in his native County Durham.  For over 40 years he has toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, USA, New Zealand and Australia, performing mostly solo but also alongside such musical heavyweights as Ralph McTell, Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention.  Twice nominated as Best Folk Singer in the BBC Folk Awards, Bob has long been a favourite on the live circuit.

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Bob played the role of SONGMAN in The National Theatre’s multi-award winning West End production of WarHorse 2011-2013 and subsequently in the highly acclaimed and record breaking UK, Ireland and South Africa touring version which ended in February 2015.  Since then Bob has returned to the concert platform with his “Evening with the War Horse Songman” show and “The Pitmen Poets” project as well as doing solo dates at folk venues and festivals throughout Britain and abroad.

Don’t miss a chance to experience his warm, rich voice, virtuoso guitar style and newly acquired melodeon playing skill as he performs material from WarHorse, newly written songs from the Radio Ballads along with old favourites from his many recordings.

Gerry Creen has been a stalwart of the Belfast folk scene long before his first album 'A Rose By Any Other Name' graced the Irish airwaves in 1986. Yet over 30 years later his voice and songwriting has not diminished but like a good barrel of a certain Antrim whiskey his music has enhanced with age.  His latest release 'My Shoes' is a lesson to all young singer/songwriters in how to construct a great folk song. Recorded in Belfast under the guiding hands of Rod McVey, Gerry has put together a fabulous collection of songs with a host of top musicians adding substance to recording that picks melodies straight from the heart.   FATEA Magazine 2016

Gerry was delighted to have been nominated for the Singer Songwriter of the year Award 2016 

by THE ACOUSTIC YARD FESTIVAL & EVENTS  and  BLUES & ROOTS RADIO.

Over the years he’s shared stages and billings with Nanci Griffith, Mary Black, Paul Brady, Altan, Dougie MacLean, Eddie Reader, Kieran Goss, Ralph McTell, Declan O’Rouke, John Spillane, Eleanor McEvoy, Tom Paxton, Donovan, Loudon Wainwright, the Dubliners John Martyn, Danny Thompson, Lindisfarne, Pierre Bensusan, Stefan Grossman, Mary Coughlan, Alan Taylor, Freddie White, the Battlefield Band, Ossian, Stocktons Wing, Scullion, 

Ian Matthews, The Strawbs, Henry McCullough ...

Fiona Hunter is one of Scotland’s foremost traditional singers and is fast garnering a reputation as a highly gifted song interpreter.  Fiona began her singing career while completing her degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), where she studied under the tutelage of highly revered singers Andy Hunter, Alison McMorland and Brian MacNeill.

Fiona undertook an internship at the illustrious Smithsonain Institute in Washington DC, home to decades of invaluable folklore study. Having developed a particular enthusiasm for the songs of the Scottish Travellers, she has worked with members of the Perth-shire based Stewart family, learning her craft first-hand from the last tradition-bearers of this celebrated folksong dynasty.

Fiona has been singing as part of renowned folk song group Malinky for the best part of a decade.  Her time with the group has seen them win many accolades including the prestigious Folk Band of the year award at the 2010 MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards. Fiona has also been nominated three times in the Scots Singer of the Year category at the awards.

2014 saw the release of Fiona’s highly anticipated debut solo album, featuring songs from her native Glasgow and beyond. The recording features a cast of some of the finest instrumentalists currently gracing the traditional music scene, including Mike Vass, Matheu Watson, Euan Burton, Gillian Frame and some special guest vocalists.

Award winning fiddle player and singer Tom McConville is internationally renowned for his fiery, heart-stopping performances. Winner of the BBC Folk Musician of the Year in 2009, he is truly the most original fiddle player in the UK. Blending traditional music from his home town of Newcastle with Irish, American and Scottish influences, he creates a sound that has jazz, folk, bluegrass and classical influence. His live performances are a roller coaster of musical delights; fast rhythmic dance tunes through beautiful slow airs and of course great singing – all presented with his inimitable sense of humour and style. He has recorded with and appeared alongside Stephane Grappelli, Barbara Dickson, Lindsifarne, Richard Thompson and many others on well over a hundred albums - and continues to be in huge demand.  Seth Lakeman and Kate Rusby count him as a huge influence. Indeed, it was Seth who presented Tom with his Musician of the Year award.

Having played all the major UK festivals and concert halls. Tom has no intention of slowing down. Always keen to put his music in front of anyone, anytime. Audiences are always happy to listen and come away with the tunes in their heads, singing the choruses, and with the memory of an unforgettable show.

Name many of the most notable recordings and/or performers in Irish music and it's a fair bet that the Irish guitar wizard - John Doyle - had something to do with them.

Liz Carroll; Eileen Ivers; Karan Casey; Solas; Michael Black; Mary Black; the trio of McCusker, McGoldrick and Doyle; and now Usher's Island (Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Mike McGoldrick, Paddy Glackin and John Doyle) - a veritable who's who of the greatest names in Irish music. These are just a very few of the stellar artists for whom John Doyle's signature guitar sound, singing or songwriting is essential.   

Impossibly in demand in the studio and on the road, immensely talented and blessed with an acute ear, a wicked sense of rhythm and seemingly endless stream of magic in his playing, composing, performing and producing, John Doyle is solidly establishing himself as one of the most versatile, creative and prolific voices in folk and traditional Irish music.

Sylvia and Sandy have been performing as a duo since 2006, the year that saw Sylvia crowned "Scots Singer of the Year" at the Scots Trad Music Awards; however their association goes back to the heady days of the '70s, when both were founder members of the influential Glasgow band Kentigern.  Sylvia went on from there to become one of the elite group of female vocalists to sing with Battlefield Band, before moving to England with husband Jim in the 1980s, where they continued to work as a duo as well as fronting various bands, becoming firm favourites with folk club and festival audiences throughout the country and abroad and releasing a number of well-received recordings.

Sandy had previously been a member of another noted Glasgow band, Molendinar. After Kentigern he continued to work as a soloist and with numerous singers and musicians, as well as appearing on a number of recordings, before releasing two solo albums, Crossing the Line and The De'il…& Other Cronies, to much critical acclaim.  He also spent four years on the teaching staff of the RSAMD (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

Their first project as a twosome was the recording and release in 2007 of Sylvia's first solo album, The Colour of Amber, for Greentrax Records, which Sandy produced and played a major musical role on.  This has been followed in 2013 by a duo album, Tickets to the Void, and there are plans to release further recordings in 2016.

In recent years Sylvia and Sandy have appeared at clubs, festivals and workshops across the length and breadth of the UK, as well as in Italy, France and Germany, performing a wide range of material from traditional Scots ballads and the songs of Robert Burns, to the very best of contemporary songwriting.  Their performances are a showcase of passion, humour and commitment to the songs and music, with their obvious vocal and instrumental virtuosity never getting in the way of the essence of the material.

Stuart Forester is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and mountain dulcimer player of the highest calibre based in rural Aberdeenshire.  His songs employ traditional folk stylings to tell tales from his own experiences of love and loss, travel and travail.  Stuart will be joined by Jonny Hardie of the Old Blind Dogs.  Jonny is a Scottish fiddle player extraordinaire and needs little introduction to folkies north of the border.  Together they create a formidable musical force.

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Ella Munro is a young folk singer hailing from the Isle of Skye. After studying for five years at the prestigious national centre of excellence in traditional music in Plockton she then went on to gain a place studying Scots song at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the outstanding tutoring of Fiona Hunter. During her time in Glasgow she has supported well known acts such as the Paul McKenna Band, Archie Fisher, Tannara and many more. Ella has also performed at many high profile venues such as Eden Court, Holyrood, Westminster, WOMAD festival, Edinburgh folk club, the Star folk club and others. She also frequently performs at local folk clubs in and around Glasgow. Ella’s passion for both traditional and contemporary music can be seen in her varied repertoire of scots songs by the likes of Dick Gaughan and Adam MacNaughton, (to name but a few) to her self-penned songs. In 2017 Ella will be undertaking 2 tours around Scotland in April and July and also releasing an EP of well-loved Scots songs.She is also a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year.