biography

Early Days Having graduated from the school of paper-and-comb, after mastering the “blow-suck” notation of “moothie-playing” (as taught by his father) and having given up shredding his fingers on the “square-fretted” Skylark Ukulele – mandolin george came of age when he purchased his first mandolin (a gift from his mother -see suzuki mandolin page)
Edinburgh He began playing mainly scottish and irish music on the mandolin in “Homebrew” with his school friends Johnny Cunningham and Billy Cranston (now sadly no longer with us). Their most famous gigs were, on St Clements Wells Farm – especially when the power failed, the Churchill Theatre and on the roof of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (don’t ask!). Homebrew was greatly supported by their parents at the time – which was greatly appreciated. When Johnny joined Silly Wizard, he formed a duo with Billy Cranston called Broadside who played around Edinburgh eg Craigmillar Festival with Hamish Imlach. Billy went on to join “Norfolk” and mandolin-george sold his bass guitar and boarded a train to Glasgow.
Glasgow At Glasgow University he formed the first folk club under the auspices of the Cecilian Society and was proud and delighted to have singer/songwriter Adam “Jeelie -Piece” McNaughton turn up for support on the first night. Returning to Edinburgh during this period gave him the pleasure and chance to play with his talented brother Allan for hours on end at parties with friends and neighbours. When he finally moved to Glasgow, he formed another duo with Brian Thomson in Glasgow called “FRAGILE”. Many of the tunes and songs he still plays today come from this period – in Edinburgh and Glasgow
England Surprisingly, in the early days, the availability and interest in acoustic music was not easily found south of the border. However, during this period, foreign travellling allowed mandolin-george to absorb music from other cultures in Europe – especially Greek, Spanish and Italian. In fact, his first record purchased “Music of the Greek Isles” was influential as were his frequent trips to Italy. A repertoire of european tunes encompassing eastern, latin and gypsy genres was developed on appropriate instruments. Attendance at the Cambridge Folk Festival fuelled his burgeoning love for world music and during this time, exposure to local music festivals, the developing acoustic roots scene and coffee houses venues in Cambridge allowed him to play live on stage and improvise with travelling artists from the UK, Europe and America
The World He has come a long way since the early days in Edinburgh and nowadays he collects and plays many world instruments – usually double stringed – and plays in many musical genres  from across the globe. From 1 September 2011, you will be able to hear the mandolin and other instruments in sound clips playing jazz, blues, folk, andean, east european and middle eastern music in a variety of geographical settings – posted on this site. Future collaboration with family members and people in the UK, USA, Europe and Middle East are envisaged – more news will be posted here as these plans come to fruition. Beyond this, South America and the Far East remain the final frontiers. (unless others are found along the way)