Mick West - Sark O' Snaw

(November 2009) 11 tracks: The Gairdner Chiel * Matt Highland * Chylde Owlett * Kelvin's Purling Stream * Kringsatt Av Fiender (Face The Foe) * My Last Farewell To Stirling * The Well Below The Valley * Tail Toddle * When A Man's In Love * Bloody Waterloo * The Rambling Sailor.

One of Scotland's finest traditional-style singers, who deserves to be more widely recognised - this album should certainly enhance Mick's reputation.

A regular act at festivals, concerts and folk clubs in Scotland, Mick West has performed in many other countries including England, Ireland, France, Germany, Russia, Estonia, Italy and Japan. Mick is particularly in demand in his home town of Glasgow, where he has been a key figure in putting - and keeping - folk music on the map.

A lover of song since he was a child, when he sang in the church choir and around Scout campfires, it was after a move from Glasgow to Boscastle in Cornwall as a teenager that Mick's love of folk music was kindled - there he listened to local farmers singing their traditional songs.

On return to Glasgow as a lad of nineteen, Mick's interest in Scottish folk song led to him forming his first band, Molindinar. He was responsible for starting the Partick Folk Club in Glasgow's West End in 2002, has been the man behind the annual Partick Folk Festival, and has also been traditional song tutor at The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music (Plockton).

Mick is equally at home singing traditional Irish songs, and has a great fondness for these.



Mick West (vocals, guitar) with The Mick West Band: Fraser Fifield (whistle, saxophone, percussion), Frank MacLaughlin (guitar), Ali Hutton (pipes, whistle, bodhran, guitar) and Stevie Lawrence (bouzouki). Other featured musicians on the album include Graeme Stephen (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Kerry Fettes (vocals), Mario Caribe (double bass), Torlhild Ostad (vocals) and Lillebjorn Nilsen (Hardanger fiddle). Produced by Fraser Fifield.