Our Wee Gig Artists, past & present......

Born in France in the early 60’s, Claude Bourbon grew up in Switzerland, where he was classically trained. This finger picking guitarist has performed and studied all over the world; he has crafted an unbelievable fusion of classical and jazz, with ethereal Eastern influences, Spanish and Latin elements with strains of Western folk. A formidable performer, with his roots in the blues but inspired by music and song from all around the world, he takes these sounds and weaves them into a performance of blues, rock, jazz, all delivered with a gravely voice.

Claude’s inimitable style incorporates all five digits on each hand dancing independently but in unison, plucking, picking and strumming at such speed and precision that his fingers often seem to melt into a blur.

Now based in the UK, some of this guitarists’ influences allow us a fascinating insight into this remarkable musician; Paco De Lucia: Deep Purple’s Richie Blackmore; Joaquin Rodrigo; JJ Cale, Monty Python; JS Bach and Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks….

One reviewer even noted that although “Claude’s roots were in blues, that is like saying Leonardo da Vinci was a painter”. Intrigued?

Daniel Duke is an award winning singer/songwriter and musician, from Northern Ireland. His debut offering Brother was an ode to family, friends and heartbreak, and was described as “Hoarse, soulful and soaring” and compared to “Ray LaMontagne at his earthy and world-weary finest” and “David Gray at his most bittersweet and emotive.” He’s received songwriting accolades from the International Songwriting Competition, Unsigned Only, and was named ’Best Unsigned Male’ in the 2016 Unsigned Music Awards. Through his work with music publishers Heavey Hitters Music and Puresync Daniel’s songs have appeared in hit shows on template-ABC and CBS, as well as smaller networks and films. Daniel’s second album ’Good Love’ is slated for release in early 2019 and is set to be both a departure from the previous album and truly its spiritual successor.

Named on the Chicago Tribune's list of the "50 Most Significant Songwriters in the Last 50 Years," Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter Danny Schmidt has amassed a cult following for his poetic, poignant lyrics. With a craftsmanship and emotional depth drawing comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt, and with fantastical narratives reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie, Schmidt is considered a preeminent writer. Sing Out Magazine proclaimed that: "Schmidt is a force of nature: a blue moon, a hundred-year flood, an avalanche of a singer-songwriter. His songs are a flood of poetry, mythology, folk wisdom, and surprise. He is perhaps the best new songwriter we've heard in the last 15 years."

As defined in the title of his remarkable 2015 solo debut VIP: Very Interesting Persons (No.2 in the Daily Telegraph’s top dozen folk albums that year), Scottish singer-songwriter Findlay Napier categorically commands musical VIP status. He now turns those same supreme songwriting and storytelling gifts, allied with magpie-minded imagination and truly magnificent vocals, to his adoptive home town, on VIP’s hotly anticipated follow-up, Glasgow. It is with great excitement and anticipation that we look forward to his Wee Gig debut this March.

After 600 concerts in 11 countries since coming together in 2014, including 'Celtic Connections', Gordie Tentrees & Jaxon Haldane return to the UK debuting songs from their new album 'Grit'. Together with 10 instruments - banjo, dobro, cigar box guitars, musical saw, acoustic guitar, porch board bass, harmonica, snare tam & mandolin, brotherly harmonies and masterful storytelling, a Tentrees-Haldane gig is always truly unique and entertaining experience.

One of Scottish Folk scene's most respected artists, Ivan has been performing and recording for over forty years, both as a member of some of the country's top groups, Wolfstone probably being the most well known, and as a successful solo artist. Even though now based in Norway, Ivan continues to tour all over his native country, and Europe on a regular basis.

Jack Henderson is a singer and a songwriter for a new generation. He reinvents the genre on THIS DARING LIGHT, a groundbreaking album that unites a British star in the making with sharp, sophisticated New York production and spits out a cool new Americana.

Henderson has the travelled air of a Jack Kerouac: born in Scotland, brought up in Portsmouth and London before heading west. As well as performing his own material during his years in the States Henderson toured and recorded extensively with Americana band Over The Rhine, rootsy Canadian outfit Cowboy Junkies and shared stages with the likes of Buddy Miller, Sarah Mclachlan and Ron Sexsmith.

As a member of Friends Again and Love and Money, James helped to establish Glasgow, Scotland, as a wellspring for brainy, soulful pop in the '80s. In 1982, he joined Friends Again a punchy new wave outfit who crossed Aztec Camera's jangly riffs with David Bowie's stabs at funk.  Friends Again released one LP, Trapped and Unwrapped, in 1984 before Grant left the group to exhibit his own talent for songwriting. In 1985, he formed Love and Money, a band who initially clung to a jazzy, more rock-oriented sound. Love and Money recorded their first album, All You Need Is, in 1986; however, the LP did not fulfill the commercial expectations caused by the success of the single "Candybar Express." Love and Money's second album, Strange Kind of Love, sold 250,000 copies, but Grant's creative vision became increasingly incompatible with the corporate needs of the group's label, Phonogram. He battled with Phonogram over the artistic direction of Love and Money's third album, Dogs in the Traffic, in 1991. The LP sold only 25,000 copies, and when the label saw no sales potential in 1994's Littledeath, they dropped the band. The group split up soon thereafter. On Love and Money's later work, He began venturing into country, a genre that he continued to explore in his solo career. In 2000, he released Sawdust in My Veins to widespread critical acclaim, followed by three more albums, Holy Love, My Thrawn Glory, and Strange Flowers.

Love and Money reformed in 2011 for a 'one-off' Celtic Connections show and released their fifth album The Devil's Debt in 2012.

James Grant has performed or toured with artists as diverse as U2, Nanci Griffiths, Tina Turner, and BB King and appeared on TV shows such as Top of the Pops, The Tube, The Transatlantic Sessions and even Wogan! He continues to live in Glasgow, support Celtic, write and perform.

Jess Morgan is a songwriter’s songwriter. She writes gutsy modern folk songs which are full of sadness and bite; singing with a unique measure of British swagger and sensitivity. Her melodies will ring in your ears for days and her stories will play on your heart long after.

Jimmy Livingstone is a British singer/songwriter, who, following the critical success of his first album, 'One Eye Open, One Eye Closed' in 2013, toured with Lucinda Williams as her support act. Since then, he has been developing a loyal UK following, touring on his own.

His new album, 'Airplane Mode', was recorded in London and is a more British affair. The band included Evan Jenkins on drums (Neil Cowley Trio, Van Morrison), Matt Round on bass (James Morrison, Billy Bragg), Doggen Foster (Spiritualised) and Matt White (Pete Docherty, Temperance Movement) on guitars. It was recorded and mixed by Cameron Craig, Grammy winner for Adele's 25.

We are delighted to announce that Jimmy has included the 'Wee Gig' on his launch tour this Spring, and we eagerly look forward to what should be another great evening of quality live music.

John Goldie started playing guitar around six years of age, gradually progressing to playing in rock and blues bands at around twelve years old.

John was spotted by the musical director of a visiting Motown act from the States and asked to be guitarist on their next UK tour. This was to be the start of many tours and work as a session player on CDs, radio and TV shows. During one of these tours, a chance meeting with jazz guitarist Martin Taylor and a subsequent invitation to perform together, led to a dramatic change in direction.

Not only did this collaboration lead John and Martin to form the award winning group Spirit of D’Jango, who released several CDs and toured to packed houses, but it was also the spark which ignited the solo career John now enjoys.

His live performances have won him the admiration of many of his contemporaries, including Tommy Emmanuel, Thomas Leeb and Jon Gomm. World renowned jazz guitarist Martin Taylor called John “the finest acoustic guitarist in the world”.

Kent DuChaine is one of the greatest living practitioners of authentic Mississippi Delta Blues. A fan since childhood of delta legend Robert Johnson (who only recorded eleven tracks before his death in 1938, but whose legacy still lives today), he learnt his craft playing alongside Johnny Shines, a guitarist who fifty years earlier had himself been a pupil of Johnson’s. As well as Johnson material, Kent’s shows feature songs by Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Lightening Hopkins, and other masters, all played with a ferociously wild slide technique on DuChaine’s authentic 1934 National Steel guitar. A Kent DuChaine gig is as close as you will ever come to an A-Z of the Blues.

Luke is a  Singer/Songwriter from Canterbury, Kent, who in 2013 was nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for both the Horizon Award for Best Emerging Talent and The Young Folk Category.  With a bold, distinctive voice and a sweet, percussive guitar style, Luke is a confident and captivating live performer. He was also winner of Fatea’s “Male Artist of the Year 2014” and again in 2016.

Mànran are one of the best-known and best-loved Scottish bands on the scene today. The 2011 launch of their debut single, “Latha Math” heralded a meteoric rise to the top of the Scottish music world that quickly saw them playing many of the most prestigious festivals in Europe despite having only been in existence a few short months. From then, a multi-award-winning debut album followed as the band set about living up to the hype surrounding their early release while establishing their characteristic sound and distinctive approach to musical arrangement.

Martyn Joseph is a completely unique and mind blowing artist. Take everything you think you know about singer songwriters….and rip it up. For one man and a guitar he creates a performance with a huge far-reaching sound that is energetic, compelling and passionate. Be it to two hundred people or twenty thousand, he blows the crowd away night after night.

He is gifted with the rare ability to speak to the soul with his expressive and poignant lyrics and has a career spanning 30 years, 32 albums, over a half a million record sales and thousands of live performances.

Compared to Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer, Bruce Cockburn and Dave Matthews, he has created his own style and reputation as a mesmerising live performer and stands in his own right, built on a reputation for giving what thousands have described as the best live music experience of their lives. A unique talent driven by passion, social awareness and love for his trade, he’s a jaw dropping guitar player who has developed a unique percussive style, teamed up with a powerful show stopping voice, and has been called “The Welsh Springsteen”

A labour of love on multiple levels, My Darling Clementine – the sobriquet of spouses Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish – began as a homage to classic country duets á la George and Tammy. Over 400 shows, numerous awards and three acclaimed albums later, the pair have more than earned their own bona fides, with wry yet heart-on-sleeve song craft spotlighting the vagaries of romance and the human condition. A stunning live act, they always deliver and we are delighted to have them Make their Wee Gig debut this summer at the fantastic Corn Exchange in Biggar.

Nels Andrews has spent the last fifteen years wandering, gathering songs,  and singing them all over the  globe, sharing them around campfires, coffeeshops, clubs , festivals, and living room floors.  It is now five years since we last saw him perform at The Wee Gig, when he toured to promote his critically acclaimed third album, 'Scrimshaw'.  But the long wait will soon be over as Nels returns with a catalog of new songs from his soon to be launched fourth album.

Ten years ago Rebecca Loebe quit her job as a recording studio engineer to pursue a career as a full-time touring songwriter. Since then she has performed around 200 shows per year in 42 states of the US and a dozen countries (and counting!). Along the way, she has won prestigious songwriting awards including the Kerrville New Folk Award, represented the folk music community as a contestant on the first season of NBC’s “The Voice” and given creativity and performance workshops in the US, Europe and Japan.

It will have only been ten months since Rebecca made her Wee Gig debut when she joined Luke Jackson on his 2017 UK tour, but as far as we are concerned, it has been ten months too long. March just can't come soon enough.

Described by Roots Music Canada as “The Pink Floyd of Folk Music” the Red Dirt Skinners are the multi-award winning, multi-instrumentalist husband and wife team of Rob and Sarah Skinner. The first act in history to achieve accolades at both the British Blues and British Country Awards, the duo’s unique sound also won them folk/roots album of the year in several polls across the UK and North America and saw them nominated duo of the year at the International Acoustic Music Awards. With male and female harmonies blending together as one voice and Sarah’s trademark soprano saxophone solos, you will be swept along by the refreshingly different sound of the Red Dirt Skinners.

Sam Baker makes people happy. The characters in his songs face many challenges - alcoholism, car wrecks, racism, drug addiction, a mother's abandonment - but they persevere. Much like Sam himself.

A Sam Baker show is a celebration. Some songs tell of everyday people who survive life's daily challenges; others are stories of growing up in a small Texas prairie town. All his shows are an acknowledgement and appreciation of the pure joy that comes with people gathering to listen to live music. Sam's fans travel to see him, often driving hours to experience the powerful performance. After the show, they tell Sam their stories. At the end of the day, we all go in peace.

StatusNo is a fine tribute to Status Quo who specialise in getting the music right and capturing that authentic boogie sound much loved by Quo-heads everywhere, including bluesy harmonicas and old style piano just like the originals. StatusNo points to those little visual clues that leaves you in no doubt what the show is all about while avoiding the tired clichés of wigs and character impersonation.

Sunjay’s style has that natural drift between folk and blues and both camps have recognised his obvious flair. There have been a clutch of award nominations, including winning the Wath Festival Young Performers Award. He also made the final selection for the BBC’s Young Folk Award in 2012, had three nominations at the Exposure Music Awards 2014 and was also recognised by the 2014 British Blues Awards.

Internationally-acclaimed songwriters Mandy Fer & Dave McGraw (from San Juan Island, Washington State, US), now joined by long-time friend and bassist Thom Lord, are back at it with a new sound, new album and new name - Sway Wild! Their exceptional harmonies coupled with Fer's pioneering electric guitar work have become a vehicle to carry them around the world, sharing the stage with such acts as Iron & Wine, Glen Hansard, Lake Street Dive, Gregory Alan Isakov and many others. Winning over audiences from Alaska to Amsterdam, Sway Wild performs a heartfelt and dynamic blend of innovative folk-rock, pop, and funk. The trio’s debut self-titled Sway Wild album includes special guests Birds of Chicago, Sean Hayes, Anna Tivel and others and will be released worldwide in Summer 2019.

The ability to write songs that are both modern and ancient is a rare thing. The product of an arcane art of weaving in traditional influences so thoroughly that they become the warp and weft of fresh creations.

The Black Feathers, made up of Ray Hughes and Sian Chandler, are two such talents. They first became aware of the magic between them while collaborating on several musical projects, becoming The Black Feathers and life partners in 2012.

Americana, Folk, and Acoustic Indie Rock sensibilities coexist comfortably in their musical world, with Hughes’ guitar work buoying the kind of harmonies often only heard in family bands.

It's been an incredible couple of years for the The Black Feathers. Their debut album was met with critical acclaim and broke into the Top 10 in the iTunes Country chart and the Official UK Americana Chart. A live album recorded at The Convent in Stroud has also just been released and very well received.

Scottish duo The Jellyman's Daughter lands squarely in the middle of a strange crossroads between bluegrass, post-rock, folk and soul. Mixing their unique vocal harmonies with wild and visceral cello, driving guitar and sweet mandolin, Emily and Graham write their songs together with a focus on doing something new.

The Jellyman's Daughter have played extensively in the UK and have toured across Europe and Canada, while also showcasing the past two years at Folk Alliance in Kansas City. 2018 will see them release their second album with launch dates across the UK, Europe, USA and Canada, sustaining the momentum that has earned them exceptional praise so far.

Edinburgh's Wynntown Marshals are one of the freshest and stylistically most authentic alt.country bands on the scene right now. The Marshals have acquired an excellent reputation as a live band, having toured the UK as headliners in their own right, as well as opening for Chuck Prophet, and sharing the stage with the likes of Marty Stuart, Tift Merritt, Richmond Fontaine, John Murry, The Quireboys, Sturgill Simpson and Jason & The Scorchers.

Willy Porter is a seasoned solo performer who honed his songs traveling across America and Europe playing to captive audiences everywhere. His songs are equal parts muscle and intimacy, and reveal a rarely achieved relationship between an artist and his craft. Hailing from the swamps of Milwaukee, Willy has forged a connection to his fans from his earliest performing experiences that would continue to reverberate even when opening for the audiences of artists like Tori Amos and Paul Simon. On one legendary night in Nashville, in front of a room full of some of the world's best guitarists, Porter, with just his voice and an acoustic guitar, earned a standing ovation from an audience primed to see electric guitar-hero Jeff Beck.