Would you say you have a musical family?

I would say that I have. There was always music going in our house when I was a kid, lots of different music. Both my mother and father are songwriters and guitar players and so often they would be playing away, working on a song or singing together. My grandfather is a keen mouthie (harmonica) and box player.

My grandparents live near to my family and often when we would visit he’d tell me about a tune he’d heard on the radio and would play it back to me on the mouthie or the box. One of my younger brothers is a keen piper, so you would often hear him practicing the chater (used to learn the pipes) in his room or the pipes in the garden.

My family’s record collection is quite comprehensive, anything from soft country swing, west coast ceilidh bands, prog rock, folk heroes, jazz records etc. When I was a kid a typical summer holiday soundtrack would include The Bothy Band, The Saw Doctors, Jackson Browne, Billy Bragg, Capercaille, Stan Getz, Iron Horse, The Corries, Runrig etc.

Can you point out some recordings you've featured on before your debut?

Last year I played on Fred Morrison’s Outlands album. The album features original music written by Fred fussing Hebridean music with Bluegrass music. It is a great record, lovely playing from Fred, Martin O’Neill (Julie Fowlis), Tim O’Brien (Hot Rize) and Ron Block (Allison Krauss and Union Station). I have also been involved in recording projects with composer Anna Wendy Stevenson and piper Dr. Angus MacDonald as well as a number of recordings as a youngster for Feis Rois (Community Arts group promoting Traditional Gaelic Arts).

How long has a debut been planned?

I decided in December 2009 to make the recording and it was finished by the end of March. It was very quick indeed. I had often thought about making an album but you know it was just a case of waiting for the right time and collection of material to emerge. I only decided last year that I was completely committed to a career as a professional musician, up until then I had been niggled by the temptations of a university education but I was kidding myself. I am very glad I made that decision and with that I felt that I should make my first move on the recording front. It took about 2 months to plan, recorded it in seven days in Berneray and then mixed it in three days.

How long have you been composing? Has that felt like a natural process?

I started writing tunes very early on. A lot of my tutors and heroes wrote and continue to write music. To me it certainly is a natural progression and process. Articulating expression through somebody else’s music, through traditional tunes is a brilliant practice and a great way to get to know your own playing and music. But there certainly comes a point where you can feel that you want to write your own melodic narrative, so that the melody and your expression both come directly from you and are elementally one.

Why did you head to the island of Berneray to record?

During 2006/2007 I lived in South Uist out on the Western Isles. It is my favourite place anywhere in the world and when I decided against going to a studio to record my album my first thought was to head out there; why not record an album in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I looked at venues in the Uists and Benbecula but couldn’t find anywhere and so looked a wee bit further North and settled on the Community Hall in Berneray where the local community were very supportive and welcoming.

Which instrument would you like to develop more?

I have a lot of new instruments coming over the next 6 months, I am always looking to develop something new. I recently had a 5-string fiddle made by Barry Dudley in America. He is a great bluegrass fiddle maker and I am very keen to get playing that more and more. I have also decided that my new years resolution is going to be to learn to play bottleneck. That will be fun. I am a big fan of Bob Brozman, Tampa Red, Robert Johnson and Jonny Dickinson so I will have their albums on and try to play along, it will take me some time for me to get anywhere with it, but I’ll certainly be giving it a good go. Claw hammer style playing is also on the list.

Where should someone head for a musical night out in Glasgow?

There is loads of brilliant music to be found in Glasgow; a real great mixture of music, roots/folk and more. There are a lot of pub sessions in the city, The Ben Nevis, Waxy O’Conners, The Ivory and The Park Bar. There a lot of nice roots gigs in bar Brel in the west end. Also great venues like the ABC, The 02 Academy etc and they put on great music. I love the diversity of the city. Last year Dick Gaughan, Chick Corea and AC/DC were all playing in the city on the same day. It’s a great city for music.

Any more projects in the pipeline? Solo or otherwise.

I have always got things on the go. Coming up I will be working with Zakir Hussain, Ewan MacPherson’s new Rough Coast Audio project, Corrina Hewwit, Inge Thompson, Andy Mellon and Sam Carter as part of the British Council’s Singing Sands and I’ll be recording with Manchester fiddle player Emma Sweeney and Mike McGoldrick. It’s a real pleasure to be able to do new things and work with new people; I’m very lucky indeed.

When were you first aware of Taran guitars?

I found Taran Guitars on the web a number of years ago. I had a few nice guitars at that point but none of them really cut the mustard and I wanted to find someone that I could work closely with to develop an instrument perfect for me. I went down to visit Rory Dowling at his workshop in Edinburgh and we clicked straight away. Rory is a brilliant luthier with a keen eye on playability, response and design. Taran guitars is his company name. He works on his own in his workshop and puts his all into each instrument. I really respect his work ethic and it shows in the fine quality of his instruments.

Can you explain which model(s) you have and what individual characteristics they have?

Rory and I spent three years working on my signature model, which is called the Dana model. Dana is Scottish Gaelic for bold and strong. Many lutheirs choose to concentrate on making great instruments for finger-style players and develop new techniques and approaches geared towards improving a fingerstyle instrument. I am both a fingerstyle and plectrum player so we wanted to make the perfect all-round instrument. My model features a gentle fan fret and a modified bracing structure to make the instrument highly responsive, resonant and whilst balanced. Another feature of the instrument is a modified bridge with an inset saddle. I only ever break strings at the bridge. This is due to my wrist rubbing the bridge as I strum. This new bridge design makes it impossible to rub down the strings. It is available in African Blackwood and Brazillian Rosewood and comes with a Wenge neck and Italian Spruce top. For me this is the perfect instrument for the all-round player.

Do you think one guitar could ever satisfy your playing needs?

I think that it definitely can. Those folk who have a huge collection of touring guitars and travel with them are indeed in the luxurious position of being able to select the exact sound of guitar that they would like song by song, tune by tune. Jackson Browne seems to really be into that; rows of guitar behind him on stage. That said a lot of guitar players have one guitar that they either only use or use as their main guitar. Dick Gaughan has his Martin and Martin Simpson has his Sobell. I am definitely in that category. My Taran “Dana” does everything that I’d like a guitar to do. The tone is strong; it’s responsive, resonant and articulate and satisfies all my playing needs.

Your debut studio album has a fabulous sound to the guitar. How was that recorded?

Thanks very much! I’m sure we recorded it using a stereo pair of Beyer dynamic MC930s (a less bright KM184) at the 12 fret, a Neumann U87 at my ear and then we had a couple of ambient mics set up in the room at different distances, think they were an AEA Ribbon mic a bit closer and a AKG 414 further away. We blended them together and also took a buzz (sample) of the room to use as a reverb during post-production.

Which brand of pick-up does your stage guitar have? And how has it been performing?

I am a massive supporter and fan of Headway pick-ups and I use them in all my instruments. I use the HE2/G.FEQ in my guitar and use their bridge pick-ups for my fiddle, banjo, mandolin etc. John Litler is a fantastic problem solver and has a brilliant ear for detail. They provide a strong clear signal and unlike many of the products on the market they actually sound like your guitar and not like the specific brand of pick-up. Mine has never let me down and I look forward to trying out some of the new products that Headway will be releasing in the near future. I sometimes use them in collaboration with Shure Beta 98 to give a softer sound. Also, I always use their EDB1 preamps, I have three and they are brilliant; very road worthy, adaptable and strong.