Montrose Folk Club

Fiddler, Ryan Young, won the award of “Up and Coming Artist of the Year” at the Scottish Trad Music Awards in December 2016.  Ryan Young is the leading member of a new wave of young players who are bringing fresh and inventive ideas to Scottish music.  His fiddle playing is brimming with fresh melodies, an uplifting rhythmic drive and a great depth of dynamics and precision.

The music produced by Ryan Young entrances audiences wherever he plays.  In August 2017, Ryan released his first solo CD which was produced by the triple Grammy Award winning producer, Jesse Lewis, from Boston, USA.  The album was, in fact under consideration for inclusion in the Shortlist for a 2018 Grammy Award – an amazing accolade for such a young performer.  The CD was also nominated for Album of the Year at the Scottish Trad Music Awards in December 2017, whilst in 2018, Ryan is one of the nominees for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Ryan Young will be playing at Montrose Folk Club as a duo with Guitarist and Singer, Owen Sinclair of Talisk and Imar.

Support will be provided by Singer Songwriter Emma Martin, originally from Dundee but now living in Glasgow.  She performs Folk and Americana songs and is currently writing a Collection of Songs based upon the history of the Dundee Jute Mills.  Her song entitled “Kettle Bilers” won the Hands up for Trad Songwriting Competition in 2017.

Stray Local from North Carolina, USA, play a very inventive brand of Americana and Roots music.  They will be appearing at Montrose Folk Club as part of their first UK tour.

The duo are Hannah Lomas on guitar and Jamie Rowen on guitar.  Both are fine singers.

After graduating with degrees in classical music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jamie and Hannah became immersed in Roots and traditional old time string band music.  In 2013, they formed Stray Local to celebrate the musical culture of North Carolina, whilst mixing in their own unique musical backgrounds and writing original songs and music as an eclectic duo.  They have since released several albums and played hundreds of shows annually.  In 2017, Stray Local toured throughout France and Germany, appearing at the Festival International de Musique Universitaire in Belfort, France.

The sound of Stray Local is rooted in traditional Appalachian string music, but expands to a more contemporary style infusing Indie and Pop elements.  Stray Local is a musical celebration, a reminder of why the Southern States of the USA are known for music that makes you feel at home and want to dance.

The Outside Track are one of the leading bands playing Celtic Music.  The band are previous winners of the Best Group category in both the Live Ireland and Tradition in Review Awards and also won the German Radio Critics’ Prize for their album “Flash Company”.

The band was originally formed in 2005 by graduates of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick.  The current line up of the band is drawn from Scotland, Ireland and Canada.  The repertoire of the band draws not only from Scotland, Ireland and Cape Breton but also features Scandinavian influences in addition to the best of contemporary song writing.

The band are Ailie Robertson, on harp, Fiona Black, on accordion, Teresa Horgan, from County Cork, on flute and vocals, Cilian O’Dalaigh, on guitar, together with Mairi Rankin, of the celebrated Rankin Family dynasty of Nova Scotia, on fiddle and vocals.

This will be a glorious conclusion to the first half of the 2018 season at Folk Club.

After a brief summer break, Montrose Folk Club resumes with an outstanding Double Bill.  Glasgow based Duo, The Doghouse Roses, are touring together with the outstanding American Singer Songwriter, Joseph Parsons.

The Doghouse Roses are a Glasgow based duo consisting of guitarist, Paul Tasker and singer, Iona MacDonald.  Paul Tasker is an exceptional guitarist whose fretwork has been compared to that Bert Jansch and Richard Thompson.

Iona MacDonald has a powerful and memorable bluesy-toned voice and is also the principal songwriter for the Duo, who most recently supported Television on a UK tour.

Joseph Parsons, originally from Philadelphia, USA, but now based in Germany, is a Songwriter, whose music is located somewhere between Folk and Rock.  He has now released 19 albums, both Solo and Band, in Germany, where he also performs as part of the rock band, US Rails, and in a duo with Todd Thibaud.  Joseph Parsons has a distinctive voice and as a solo artist his live shows are dynamic and deeply moving performances.