Stevie Lawrence

Stevie Lawrence: Was initially involved in rock bands from schooldays and was active in the Glasgow pub rock scene before turning to acoustic and roots music in the early eighties. Influenced by a mixture of glam and prog rock, his early idols were musicians such as Zal Cleminson from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Ron and Russell Mael from Sparks, Mick Ronson from The Spiders from Mars, as well as multi instrumentalists such as Steve Howe. While working in the recording studio of the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow, Stevie met up with then folk musician Gerry Sullivan, who presented a monthly programme with live studio guests. While working on this, he was introduced to many Scottish acts of the time such as Ossian, Tonight at Noon and The Ideal Band. Stevie started playing the odd gig with Gerry’s band “Cheap Labour” and then joined long time Scottish folk favourites Cruachan in 1986, replacing Ross Kennedy who had left to join the Tannahill Weavers Meeting Ross Kennedy was another significant step in his career as over the years, they became involved in many live and recorded projects. Working with Cruachan for 6 years playing Festivals and Folk Clubs all over Scotland, he then joined the ranks of The Iron Horse, once again replacing Ross. He recorded 3 albums with the band during a 3 year stint as well as touring all over the UK and Europe as well as Poland and Egypt. After leaving Iron Horse, Stevie carved a career as session musician and producer and has worked with a diverse range of artists including Canterach, Gaelic Singer and piper Anna Murray, Tannas, Mick West, John Wright, Carol Kidd, Lena Martell, Donnie Munro, Pete Seeger, Laura McGhee, Josh White Jr, Angus Lyon, Shane MacGowan, Maddy Prior, Dascha(German Pop Idol Finalist), Raintown, Sydney Devine, Tom Andrews, Keith Jack, Stuart Cassells, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Graeme Clark (Wet, Wet, Wet), Katee Kross and currently serves out his rock fantasies with the progressive rock of Abel Ganz and Glen Brielle. He rejoined Iron Horse in 2003 with Ross Kennedy, releasing “The Wind Shall Blow For Evermore”. He is also currently involved in multimedia and specially commissioned projects. 2007 Stevie joined The Red Hot Chilli Pipers handling Bass, Percussion and Bouzouki duties and featuring on their triple platinum CD/DVD "Blast", their self titled debut release ,“Music for the Kilted Generation” and "Breathe". 2011 was a busy and successful year with production and playing credits on piper Kyle Warren's debut release "Wanted", the critically acclaimed duo album, "A Cruel Kindness" with fiddler Fiona Cuthill and a compilation of his work with the KRL label. Stevie recieved a nomination for Producer of the Year in the Scottish New Music Industry Awards 2012 was succesful year, especially for the duo with Fiona. 3 album of the year nominations and stunning reviews for the debut album "A Cruel Kindness" . Stevie was also voted Producer of the Year in the Scottish New Music Awards. Stevie was Artistic Director of the Mugdock Music Festival 2011 - 2013 and the festival was nominated in the category of Best Small Festival at the 2013 Scottish Events Awards. 2014 saw Stevie continuing to work with Raintown (recently crowned Best New Band at the Scottish Variety Awards and also Artist of the Year at UK Country Radio.com awards) ,a new album in preparation with Fiona Cuthill and the critically acclaimed new album with prog rockers Abel Ganz. A new venture as part of the house band for The Dominic Graham School of Irish Dance was an exciting project for this year. Stevie presented a weekly programme , "Celtic Tapestry" , on Ontario based internet radio station Blues and Roots Radio.com from 2014 - 2022 His compositions have been finalists in the UK Songwriting Contest in the instrumental category 2015, 2016 and 2018. Stevie was awarded best song of the month in the category of Ambient / Instrumental for November and December 2019 by the Akademia Music Awards. In April 2020 he was the recipient of The Akademia 2020 Artist Vision Award at their annual Akademia Music Awards Ceremony. Stevie currently tours and records as a duo with fiddler Fiona Cuthill , the new country sounds of Raintown, Celtic roots band Rallion, Cellist and Scots vocalist Wendy Weatherby and Wet, Wet, Wet bass player, Graeme Clark.

Glasgow, UK