Album Information

My intention was to produce a CD with a full band sound, for this I had to find other musicians who might be interested in joining me for the recording. Inverness is fortunate to have a number of Scottish Dance Bands and very talented musicians.

Most of them frequent the Highland Club which made the task of finding musicians that bit easier. To get the project moving I initially looked for a fiddle player. In this instance an acquaintance from the past came to mind, although this musician does not frequent the Club due to other musical commitments.

May I introduce the fiddle player on the CD:

Duncan Dyker

Duncan is a very talented fiddle player and I’m fortunate that he agreed to meet up and have a tune to see if our playing styles would match. After a few sessions it was clear that we got along and our playing skills could be honed to match each other. Duncan is a very busy musician and is the current leader of the Inverness Fiddlers, but he found time and helped with the selection of some sets which was very much appreciated. Duncan enjoys his music and gave of his time and knowledge freely which certainly helped me greatly.

With a fiddle player onboard the next requirement was a keyboard player. The Highland Club is very fortunate to have a very talented keyboard player who provides backing for many local artists. 

May I introduce the keyboard player on the CD:

Jacqui MacDonald

Jacqui is a stalwart of the Highland Club and is extremely able to back any of the local musicians during Club nights. During my early sessions at the Club Jacqui would join me on stage and I soon became used to her style, and on asking her the question about joining me on a CD  she agreed to having a few practice sessions to establish whether we could get along musically. I feel very fortunate to have Jacqui in the line-up as she has excellent arranging skills and has been extremely supportive and pleasant to work with. Jacqui is also a very busy keyboard player with another local Dance Band.

May I introduce the second box player on the CD:

Colin Donaldson

Colin is a familiar player at the Highland Club, although during 2011 he has not been able to attend on a regular basis since he became a full time accordionist. My knowledge of Colin came from his early playing days as one half of the “Donaldson Brothers”. I felt rather intimidated asking such an experienced player to join me on a CD, but he was prepared to take it on although he admitted that time for rehearsal was difficult due to his own playing commitments. I was prepared to take the gamble on him because of his ability to add so much to the musical content. Colin and Jacqui worked extremely well together with arrangements. Colin is  a very busy musician with a considerable amount of solo work along with his own Broadcasting Band.

You may well be ahead of me regarding the drummer but, 

May I introduce the drummer on the CD:

Heather Donaldson

Heather also goes along to the Club when time permits, and I have enjoyed her backing at the Club so when I asked her to join me on the CD I was very pleased that she was willing to give it a go. Heather is also very busy at work, and is the full time drummer in Colin’s Band. It was difficult to have her at the rehearsal sessions but her ability shone through in the end and I’m pleased that she was able to join me.

 

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