About Alex
Alex was born and bred in Ayrshire, Scotland (Robert Burns country) and grew up surrounded by classical and Celtic music. His first instrument was piano. He transitioned to guitar in his early teens for many reasons including the “cool” factor but never quite gave up piano.
He lived in Southern England for several years where he became immersed in the English Folk Music scene and had the privilege of listening to and watching the likes of Richard Thompson, Martin Simpson, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Nic Jones, Martin Carthy, Ralph McTell and so many others. Despite all that he was mostly known for ragtime, blues and Scottish music on the circuit.
Moving to the US in the mid-eighties like so many of us life and work took top priority but he never stopped playing, singing and writing with occasional small performances. During these years he became much more in tune with the work of American musicians like John Prine, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Lowell George, Chris Smithers and so many others. In recent years with the pressures of work diminishing he has been able to spend much more time at Coffee Houses, Open Mics, workshops and music camps (Frets and Refrains) and performing gigs again solo and with bands. He released an album “Far Horizon” in 2019 and is currently working on another.