Born and brought up in Perth, Scotland, I started playing guitar at about 16 years of age. My sister, Norma, came home from Teacher Training College sporting a new guitar and Elastoplasts on her fingertips. I had to have a go.
I had always been very interested in music and this seemed to be a great way to become further involved and soon had bought my first guitar. I learned many folk and pop standards over a relatively short period of time. The three-chord-wonder had arrived.
Then I discovered “The Beatles Song Book”…
When I started work as an apprentice printer, two of my workmates, Bob Henderson and Jimmy Jolly, played in a band and I became more and more interested in learning how to play properly. I have to say that I learned more from Bob about playing the guitar in six months than at almost* (*see The Guitar) any other time in my life, something I will be eternally grateful for. I started as a roadie for them, picking up tips on playing, driving the van and learning about (and carrying around) sound equipment. Eventually an opportunity to join the band as a guitarist presented itself and I was delighted that I was now ‘in the band’. I later moved on to playing bass guitar (an in-at-the-deep-end situation) when the bass player left suddenly. A move to Rugby in Warwickshire to a new job meant the end of my days with ‘Front Page News’ as we had become.
I played with several bands over the next few years and, after returning to Scotland and a brief reconnection to my folk roots, drifted away from playing live music.
Although I remained interested in music and kept playing my guitar, I never really felt the urge to get out and play in front of an audience.
I had long promised myself a ‘really good’ acoustic guitar but had reasoned that there would be no real point in having a good guitar and only my four walls hearing it. A visit to the Taybank Hotel in Dunkeld changed all that.
Most Friday nights in the Music Room above the bar there is a live music session. It’s an open house: just turn up and do your thing, whatever it is. I turned up one Friday in December 2002 just to check it out.
This was the perfect excuse.
I declined an invitation to play, an invitation that is extended to everyone who crosses the threshold, mumbling something about “just wanting to listen just now thanks”.
This was the first visit, one of many made since then, and something stirred… Indeed, this was to become quite habit-forming. I eventually arrived one Friday with a new guitar, ready to take on the world of live performance again. If I recall correctly, my first ever song at the Taybank was Steve Earle’s “Steve’s last ramble”. I don’t think I made a very good job of it that night. People were very kind however.
These evenings led to good friendships developing with the regulars, particularly Nick Allmark who, both as a performer and promoter of concerts, has a great enthusiasm for music.