John Carnie - Flatpicking Scottish Guitar

Traditional Scottish Music on Acoustic Guitar. New CD "Far From Home" OUT NOW released April 2008.

Hello and welcome to my guitar website. My new album of  Scottish traditional tunes played on the acoustic flatpicking guitar has just been released (April 2008).

The CD  - "Far From Home" - features  12 tracks and 29 individual tunes that come from the treasure trove of reels, jigs, pipe and harp tunes that form the backbone of the Scottish musical heritage. ( Please go to "downloads" to hear tracks & "store" to buy).

 

STOP PRESS NEWS! - The album has been played several times in the past couple of weeks on Radio Scotland's Iain Anderson Show.

"A box of delights"...."A splendid album"...."Lovely and soothing" - Ian Anderson, BBC Radio Scotland

 "Very tasty guitar playing and wonderfull music" - Maria Hall, Nessmp3.com

The track "Rory Gallagher's Jig" is going down very well  in certain quarters - more later!

The cd is to be distributed through Highlander Music who are Scotland's leading folk music distributors. This will mean that it is readily available in record stores and in many on- line stores. Please see "store" panel for more details.  

An article on the History of Flatpicking Guitar will be published in the May/ June Edition of "The Living Tradition" magazine and available from all good bookstores.  

The album features the jazzy double bass playing of Brian Shiels and some bluesy twists of long time cohorts, Dave Moir & Spider Mackenzie. It is the first album of its type ever to feature an entirely Scottish selection of tunes flatpicked on the acoustic guitar and one of the very few with Scottish only tracks. Recorded at Castlesound Studios near Edinburgh, it covers the entire spectrum of Scottish  traditional  from Shetland reels through to Borders jigs and from West Highland harp tunes to swingy East Coast hornpipes. There are new tunes such as Rory Gallagher's Jig and also tunes that are hundreds of years old.

Although I sing and play the blues as well, I have always loved flatpicking guitar and consider it a great instrument for playing jigs and reels - Scottish and Irish tunes on.

The acoustic guitar adds many colours to traditional music but, with a few notable exceptions, is not played that much as a melody instrument in Scottish or Irish music. I have long played and taught guitar and been a fan of some of the great Scottish, Irish and American flatpickers. With this album we have tried to capture something a bit different and also hope to help raise the profile of the guitar in Scottish music. We hope you enjoy the music !