Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 7:30 pm
“Quietly poetic ballads haunt like a shadowy specter.”- St. Paul Pioneer-Press
Listen to Archie Fisher
Master guitarist, singer and songwriter Archie Fisher is among Scotland’s foremost interpreters of traditional songs and is known throughout the country as the host of BBC Radio Scotland’s award-winning “Travelling Folk” show, which he has presented for over 25 years. For his contributions to Scottish folk music, he has been inducted into the Scots Traditional Music Hall of Fame and in 2007 was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth for services to traditional music.
Archie was born in Glasgow into a large singing family – his sisters Ray and Cilla also became professional singers. His father’s appreciation of many musical styles (opera, vaudeville, traditional ballads) and his mother’s Gaelic speaking family from the Outer Hebrides strongly influenced his musical development and the lyrical quality of his singing and songwriting. He first became interested in the folk revival during the Skiffle era of the late 1950’s and recordings of the Weavers later profoundly influenced approach to music and political outlook.
During the British TV folk boom of the 1960’s and 70’s he was part of an Edinburgh scene that also included Robin Williamson, Clive Palmer and Mike Heron, and the Incredible String Band and was an early guitar colleague of Bert Jansch. Archie’s first self-titled album was recorded in 1968 with the now sadly departed pairing of fiddle and mandolin player John McKinnon and the renowned whistle and piccolo player John Doonan.
During the mid 1970’s he formed a long-term partnership with Dundee musician Allan Barty worked as a backing musician and arranger/producer for Tommy Makem, Liam Clancy, and the dynamic Scottish band Silly Wizard. During the 1980’s he turned his attention to freelance radio work and originated several series of documentary programs with his local station Radio Tweed. He then returned to the recording studio during what he describes as one of his most creative songwriting periods and toured North America with Canadian songwriter Garnet Rogers, English guitarist John Renbourn, and Bert Jansch. Windward Away, his latest release, has already achieved widespread acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
This project is supported by the