4 stars

Maeve Mackinnon, a Glasgow based singer of both Gaelic and Scots song entertained a very warm and appreciative audience this week at The Leith Folk Club, in Edinburgh in the small and charming venue, The Village pub.

Her beautiful variety of songs were stirringly accompanied by the evidently talented Duncan Lyall (Bass) and Innes Watson (Guitar) with arrangements which were sensitive, tasteful and never intrusive.

Mackinnon performed a variety of songs primarily from her debut album “Don’t Sing Love Songs” and demonstrated her capability to perform equally meaningfully in both Gaelic and English with a repertoire of songs full of bloodthirsty battles and painful love stories.

Mackinnon cites Dolly Parton, and Flora MacNeil amongst her biggest influences and this dynamic range comes through in her hugely appealing and modern take on predominantly traditional material.

Maeve Mackinnon

Maeve “Glasgow” Mackinnon was described in a recent 5 star review for the Herald as possessing "a truly stunning voice". Nominated for Gaelic Singer of the year at the 2008 Trad Music Awards, she was voted “Up and Coming Artist of the year” at 2007's Trad Music Awards and finalist in 2005's BBC Radio Scotland “Young Traditional Musician of the year” award. She is also, confusingly, one of two Gaelic singers who share the same name!

A learner of Gaelic since the age of 17, Maeve Mackinnon studied Gaelic song at the RSAMD, graduating with Honours in 2004. She attended the pioneering Gaelic college "Sabhal Mor Ostaig" from 2005- 2006 and released her debut solo album "Don't Sing Lovesongs" in 2007 which was produced by multi-instrumentalists Duncan Lyall and Ali Hutton and interweaves Gaelic songs with English songs from Scotland, Ireland and North America.

Duncan Lyall

Duncan is a bass guitarist and double bassist based in Glasgow who is much sought after in the music industry as a performing and recording artist, producer and sound recordist. He is currently a member of Box Club and The Treacherous Orchestra and plays regularly with Jenna Reid, Emily Smith, Sarah-Jane Summers and The Fortunate Sons. Duncan is a graduate of Strathclyde University where he studied for a BA in Applied Music. Have a listen to more of Duncan’s work on his myspace site.

Innes Watson

Innes is a professional guitarist, fiddler, composer and arranger and graduate of the RSAMD, Glasgow where he studied for a BA in Scottish Music. He is currently a member of the Lori Watson Trio and the Treacherous Orchestra and plays regularly with some of Scotland’s best traditional music artists including Maeve Mackinnon. Read more about Innes and listen to his music on his own myspace site.