IAN MELROSE 

www.MelroseAcousticGuitar.com

From Scottish Roots to New Acoustic Guitar

Ian Melrose was born in Middlesbrough, England. As a youth he moved back to Ayr in Scotland with his Scottish parents and younger brother. Ian’s father was a member of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, so traditional music was always there somewhere. His early influences were the famous figures from the “British school of guitar-playing” i.e. Davey Graham, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and John Martyn.

Now based in Berlin, he has made a name for himself on the German acoustic scene not only as a soloist but also as a founder member of the German folk-pop band Talking Water, plays in the Scandinavian-Celtic duo Kelpie , the Norland Wind Trio and the Scottish multi-media show The Island Tapes 

. He has done extensive tours of Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway and Canada and has done studio jobs for many well-known artists as well as writing film music.

A tour through Germany in 1996 brought the contact to Noel & Padraig Duggan of Clannad, who promptly offered him the job of lead guitarist with Clannad for their “World Tour”, which went all around the globe. You can hear Ian playing on the grammy-winning Clannad album “Landmarks”(1998) and on the “Clannad: live!”(2006) album. In January 2004 he was in Dublin playing on-, arranging and producing a CD for the Duggan brothers, “Rubicon” (MDM Records). In 2006 he was in NY producing “Up Close and Personal” for the sensational guitar/songwriting talent Vicki Genfan. He has just recorded an album (Vis á Vis) with world-jazz accordion virtuoso Manfred Leuchter, which will be released January 2009..

Fingerstyle: Celtic-jazzy-bluesy …..

In his solo concerts Ian plays pieces from his critically acclaimed albums “Wolves”, “Between the Sighs”, “A Scottish Legacy” and his current album „A Shot in the Dark“ (Acoustic Music Records) It is not only the “breathtaking fingerwork”(Berliner Morgenpost) which impresses his audiences, but also his “warm and expressive voice”(Berliner Zeitung). His guitar compositions show a strong leaning towards his “Celtic roots“, where elements of Irish & Scottish dance tunes and ballads mix easily with South-American rhythms and jazz harmonies

ARTISTS THAT IAN HAS PERFORMED AND/OR RECORDED WITH:

Clannad, Kelpie, Talking Water, The Island Tapes, The Duggan brothers,  Manfred Leuchter, Norland Wind, Vicki Genfan, John Renborn, Alex de Grassi, Peter Finger, Duck Baker, Tim Sparks, Thomas Loefke, Franco Morone, Woody Mann, Sandor Szabo, Muriel Anderson, Claus Boesser-Ferrari, Detlef Bunk, Brian Gore, Allan Taylor, David Munyon, Chris Jones, Reinhard Mey, Sara K., Be Mine or Run, Twilight, Tina McLoughlin, Finbar Furey ......