NEWS UPDATE

Just in case you thought we had disappeared, we are in fact taking a break from touring this year!

The last few years have been absolutely wonderful and we have had an amazing time touring in USA, Europe and in Scotland.   A wealth of wonderful experiences and music shared.

Two CD’s released which have received great reviews and continue to do so, plus so many wonderful people we have had the privilege to play for and meet along the way.

This year we have been focussing on other projects musical and otherwise, recharging, and planning for the future.

Please keep in touch with us and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Linsey & Ken

SHORE TO SHORE CD LAUNCH CONCERT

SATURDAY 7TH JULY 2018

MILLENNIUM HALL GARTOCHARN, LOCH LOMOND

‘SHORE TO SHORE’ CD LAUNCH CONCERT

~~~

We are now home after a great 4th Tour in California.

On Saturday 7th July we were joined by over 110 of our friends for an evening of music and friendship, to celebrate the launch of our new Album ‘Shore to Shore’.

We were joined on Stage by the guest musicians who played on the CD with us.

Jim Lightbody [bass & piano]

Alasdair Robertson [accordion]

Stevie Lawrence [percussion]

and our granddaughter Ada Chau [piano]

~~~~

The concert was a great success, and we would like to thank everyone.

The new CD has been very well received, and subsequent to the Launch Concert we have been doing a number of live radio broadcasts and interviews round Scotland by request.

Photographs of the Launch Concert are now on the ‘Gallery’ page here.

~~~~

BOXFULL OF TREASURES FESTIVAL, ITALY

Next up we are delighted to be playing in Italy on 8th September at this wonderful festivalat Forli on the Adriatic coast.

~~~

NEW CD - SHORE TO SHORE

‘Shore to Shore’

BMCD007

13 tracks of original songs and music to be released 7th July 2018.

We have just finished recording a new CD at Watercolour Music in the Scottish Highlands. www.watercolourmusic.co.uk and will have advance copies with us for our US West Coast tour April/May 2018.

This is our second CD as a duo, with a mixture of new songs and instrumentals, many focusing on our Scottish connections around the world, each with a story, and most of all about people and histories of the past and present.

Scotland is a small nation, but its people have a big heart, and reach out beyond themselves worldwide.

Advance orders of CD’s/downloads with a complimentary free track at time of order are available from us now on our website, and at iTunes, Amazon UK, US and Digital, Spotify, www.birnamcd.com. Fortunately, people seem to really like what we do, and ask what kind of music we perform. The answer is not one genre or another, but a blending of everyone and everything we have met along the way.

A coming together of both our musical journeys, combined into one together, with elements of our respective musical backgrounds in Celtic, Classical, Traditional, Contemporary Music and all else. But most of all our music is about people, and all those who have influenced us and inspired us along the way.

On this new CD we are joined by the very best musical companions and friends. We also especially owe sincere thanks to Nick Turner, Mary Ann Kennedy, and Rycote at the wonderful Watercolour Music for their enthusiasm, musical and technical skills, and most of all for their encouragement and support yet again in the creation of this CD album.

And of course equally we want to thank all the wonderful people around the world who have supported us and our music along the way.”

We hope you enjoy them, take them, sing, play and share them yourselves.

Linsey & Ken

Loch Lomond Scotland, May 2018

USA WEST COAST TOUR 2018, NEW CD, AND THEN CANADA.

We are delighted to be returning by request for our fourth West Coast tour in Northern California in April and May 2018.

A series of 11 concerts including many venues we have played at before, who have asked us to return, and also a number of additional new ones.

You will find  a full list on the “Gigs” page here on our website, together with all the contact details for tickets and where to find us.

2017 was difficult year for many of our friends in Northern California who lost so much in wildfires.  We are deeply moved by the resilience and spirit of so many good friends we have made there in the course of our previous tours, and it will be an honour to play for you all again.

In addition we have some new venues including the famous Auburn House Concert Series which we have heard so much about, the highly regarded Back Room concert venue in Berkeley, a wonderful invitation to play at San Jose, and the amazing Casa Serrano Museum in Monterey, and others.

If you wish further information about any of this then please contact us at  music@linskenscotland.scot

Currently we are recording a new 13 track CD for release shortly.  We have returned to the amazing Watercolour Music Studios at Ardgour  www.watercolourmusic.co.uk  where we are working with Mary Ann Kennedy and Nick Turner to produce what he believe could be our best CD to date.  We are supported on that production by our great friends and musical companions of many years, Stevie Lawrence & Fiona Cuthill, Alasdair Robertson from the original Ideal Band, and bass/piano man Jim Lightbody from Loch Lomond.

Very excited about this one, and again distribution and all else will be managed for us by Mame Hadden and his team at Birnam CD  www.birnamcd.com

In June last year we welcomed and played a short concert here for Harpist Sunita Staneslow, Fred Schlomka, and their party of international musicians and guests touring Scotland.  From that has sprung an invitation for us to play a concert early next year at Pender Harbour Music Society on the Sunshine Coast Canada.  A great honour and heralds our first tour in Canada which we are organising right now.

UP AND COMING EUROPEAN TOUR AND MORE

Hello again from our wonderful base here at Loch Lomond in Scotland !

We are about to leave for another European tour, the highlight of which will be playing two festivals in Italy.

Then back to Tuscany yet again to spend time playing more music, and enjoying the company of so many good friends in and around Barga.

Then we return to Scotland and head again for Ardgour in the highlands and the wonderful Watercolour Music run by our good friends Nick Turner and Mary Ann Kennedy to record our second CD over the winter.  Over the last 18 months we have been writing, arranging, and playing in live a whole new body of songs and instrumentals.

A completely eclectic mix of new songs with stories about people, instrumentals dedicated to wonderful people we have met along the way on tour, and this time bringing in more Northumbrian pipes, ukulele, harmonium, and loads of harmony and chorus songs, including by request ‘The Bonny Ship Balclutha’ which we wrote for that wonderful square rigger steel hulled ship, built on the River Clyde here in Scotland, and now moored in San Francisco bay where we played a wonderful concert on board as part of our third USA tour.

At the moment we are also organising our fourth USA tour to the West Coast again in May 2018.  Every venue we played at last tour has asked us back and new exciting venues are being added in.  11 concerts confirmed to date and a good number of other under discussion.  We are truly blessed with all these wonderful people who keep coming to see us over there and asking us back. It is amazing.. some people even coming to more than one of our concerts.  That is not an ego statement, we have none, and are truly honoured.

Lastly we looking at possibly setting up a series on mini concerts here at Loch Lomond in Scotland, an informal setting similar to some of the US house concerts we have played, where everyone gets close to the musicians.  So many people here and overseas have asked if we would do this, so you can’t have a better place to do it then this wonderful hidden gem of a place at Loch Lomond Scotland.

That’s a brief update for now, please get in touch with us, and we hope to meet you all along the way over the next few months.

Linsey & Ken

SCOTTISH HARPS & FAIRIE TALES

We look forward to welcoming Harpist Sunita Staneslow, Fred Schlomka, and their party of international musicians and guests for an informal house concert with us here on the banks of Loch Lomond Scotland on 5th June.

We are delighted to be part of this annual 12 day tour of Scotland from Edinburgh to the Western Isles, Highlands and Shetland.

http://www.sunitaharp.com/…/roots-of-harp-scottish-journey-…

Linsey & Ken

NEWS UPDATE

Greetings again from Loch Lomond Scotland….. we have been asked for an update of what we have been doing since Celtic Connections festival in January… so here you go !

Our California tour in May this year was a great success.  Our sincere thanks to everyone who came to see us and share our music, and also to all the fabulous venues and hosts who asked us to perform, and also of course the hospitality offered by so many old friends and new ones as well.

Ten wonderful concerts and six standing ovations, an invitation to return to every venue plus additional ones further south towards L.A., and also to extend our next tour into Arizona and further afield.  

We also met some superb US musicians and it is hoped that we will be able to perform with them in the future both sides of the Atlantic.
We traveled as far south this time as Monterey, John Steinbeck country, visiting their world famous aquarium, and returned once again to Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond at Felton CA…. a home from home for sure !  

Three weeks after our return we celebrated the wedding of Ken’s son Ronan and his wonderful bride Kim, at our HQ here on the banks of Loch Lomond Scotland… a fabulous day, a great party, and the sun shone!  

Next off to Italy for four weeks playing and sharing the Italian culture with our many friends and wonderful musicians over there, including Hamish Moore Scottish piper and pal, plus a chance to start putting together a musical body of work for our next CD.  

Now back home in Scotland we are looking forward to a visit from our  musical amigo Howard Booster and his wife from the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers.  

In October we are delighted to be performing at the Braw Festival again here at Loch Lomond, and then at the Braemar Creative Arts festival on Royal Deeside just down the road from Balmoral Castle.

Yet again our sincere thanks to all of you everywhere who have supported us and our music.  It has been a great year for us so far, from Celtic Connections sell out concert in January, right through to the next two Festivals in October.  We thanks you all, and look forward to seeing you again soon along the way.

Linsey & Ken

~ ‘ONE PEOPLE ONE WORLD’ ~ CALIFORNIA TOUR MAY 2016

We are delighted to be returning in May to the USA West Coast for our third tour.

Ten concerts including a return by invitation to great venues we have played before, and some new exciting ones as well.

A chance to meet old friends who have supported us, and new audiences, new friends, and make some wonderful music together.

A return to Lucy and Archie’s ‘Camellia Inn’ Healdsburg, and ‘Don Quixote’s’ in Felton, being two of California’s top venues for world touring artists.Then our third visit to Gregg Moore’s fantastic ‘Relevant Music’ in Arcata,one of the best house concerts ever hosted by fiddler Howard Booster and his wife Merritt in Santa Rosa,and a return to Peter and Nadia Robbins amazing ‘Bohemian Art Loft’  in Redding.

In addition we are invited to perform at one Bill Wagman’s famous House Concerts in Davis, and then on to ‘Willits Community Theatre’ in Willlits where we are preceded by Scotland’s mighty ‘Old Blind Dogs’.

Then south for our first visit to Monterey Bay at the invitation of Elizabeth Todd, with two additional concerts currently being finalised, and several live radio broadcasts along the way by invitation.

We will also be meeting up with the fabulous ‘San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers’–our guests last tour at ‘Freight and Salvage’ in Berkeley, plus a return visit to the mighty ‘Balclutha’ steel hulled full rigged ship built on the Clyde in Scotland in 1886, where we played a concert last tour.

Our friends at ‘Ifshin Violins’ have again agreed to provide Linsey with a beautiful ‘cello for the tour.

Our sincere thanks to good friends Jan And Michael Graham, San Francisco Bay’s No 1 Dragon Boat racer, expat Scottish musician Doug McPherson and wife Martie, multi instrumentalist Seabury Gould, and ‘San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers’,Rob Godfrey, Amy Luper, and Jane and Dave Marx all of whom have done so much to help us with these tours.

Doug McPherson and the crew at San Francisco Maritime Museum have also done us the supreme honor of learning and performing songs from our CD ‘Kith & Kin’. Full details of each concert venue and ticket contacts are here on the Gigs page, and also in summary below.

Sincere thanks again to all of you who have been so supportive to us and our music,

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, joy and laughter along the way.

Please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

Linsey & Ken

Loch Lomond Scotland

April 2016

Itinerary   Linsey Aitken & Ken Campbell   West Coast USA   May 2016

May 7th 2016

Bill Wagman  House Concert

1350 Monarch Ln, Davis, CA 95618

May 8th 2016

Willits Community Theatre

37 W Van Ln, Willits, CA 95448

May 10th 2016

Camellia Inn

211 North St, Healdsburg, CA 95448

May 11th 2016

Relevant Music

1251 9th St. Suite A, Arcata, CA 95521

May 13th 2016

The Bohemian Art Loft

3304B Bechelli Lane, Redding, CA 96002

May 14th 2016

House Concert

3500 Rolling Oaks Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404

May 16th and 18th   

Two more concerts, details being finally confirmed.

May 20th 2016

Elizabeth Todd Concerts

913 W Franklin St, Monterey, CA 93940

May 22nd 2016

Don Quixote’s International Music Hall

6275 Hwy 9 Felton, California

Presented by –

Celtic Society of Monterey Bay

‘CELTIC CONNECTIONS’ CONCERT SOLD OUT ! ……….. WE’RE OFf TO THE USA AGAIN ………. AND MORE

We are delighted to report that our concert at Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland on 22nd January was sold out and oversubscribed !

What a wonderful evening, and our sincere thanks to all who attended and supported us, Donald Shaw and his team at CC, and for the great media reviews as well.

This year Celtic Connections had 2,000 musicians and 300 shows, so we are honoured that so many people came along to share the evening with us.

Thank you all.

Then we were invited to play a live set of three songs for Scottish Television which was broadcast nationally on 27th January, another great experience.

In May we are returning to California for our third tour..returning by invitation to many wonderful venues we have played before, and also to a number of  new and exciting venues as well.  We will list them all here on the ‘Gigs’ page shortly.

Later, in the summer we have been invited to play at the wonderful Boxfull of Treasures Festival in Italy near the Adriatic coast, which will be  great thrill.  A festival we have heard so much about and are looking forward to.  There will be other concerts round that tour as well, and of course a return to the very wonderful Barga in Tuscany..’The most Scottish Town in Italy’.

We are also working on organizing another major event later in the year with a multi cultural line up in Scotland, along the lines of the St Mungo Festival we organised in 2010, and with an all star cast, all in aid of Scotland’s support for International Refugees, a cause which we totally support.

Meanwhile Linsey’s World Famous Loch Lomond Ukulele Orchestra goes from strength to strength and we are also looking forward to celebrating Kim and Ronan’s family wedding here at Loch Lomond in the Spring.

Our sincere thanks to everyone yet again who have supported us, all the new friends we have made in recent months, and we hope to see you all again soon along the way.

Linsey and Ken
February 2016

CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2016

~    Greetings again from Loch Lomond Scotland    ~

We are delighted to announce …..

Linsey Aitken & Ken Campbell

in concert at

Celtic Connections 

The largest annual winter music festival of its kind

and the UK’s premier celebration of Celtic music.

~~~~

7.30 pm    Friday 22nd January 2016 

The Glasgow Art Club   185 Bath St  Glasgow G2 4HU   Scotland 

Tickets now on sale :

Online   www.celticconnections.com 

By telephone 0141 353 8000

In person Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

2 Sauchiehall Street  Glasgow, G2 3NY

~~~~

 We hope you can join us at Celtic Connections Festival in January 2016 

Our sincere thanks to all of you everywhere who has been with us on this wonderful musical journey.

Please get in touch with us, we would love to hear from you.

 Linsey & Ken  

SONG LYRICS AND CHORDS

We have been asked to mention that all song lyrics, music, notation, and chords for every track on ‘Time & Tide’ CD can be found here on the website.

Please click on the link ‘LYRICS’ at the bottom of the page.

We hope you take them and enjoy !

Linsey & Ken

REVIEWS OF ‘KITH & KIN’ CD AND LIVE CONCERTS USA

“Authentic and assured, warm and inspiring, Kith And Kin beautifully blends traditional and contemporary influences in a marvellous example of all that is best about Scots music and song, integrating myriad strands to produce memorable and well-crafted songs.  Two highly accomplished and polished musicians, with many years of experience, combine flawlessly, each seamlessly complimenting the others skills with beautiful harmonies provided by the other.  The melodic and sensual tones of the cello weave hypnotically throughout the album… an ideal fit for the songs”  ~  Living Tradition

“What an unexpected wonderful concert!   By the third song I couldn’t fathom how I might ever again listen to Guitar without Cello leading.  Linsey Aitken is a treasure in her use of the Cello, and the ‘melding’ they accomplish with their new compositions as well as traditional tunes.  Their show is filled with Scots culture, how it rubs off in their travels as a people, and the culture brought home from abroad. The information about the songs and tunes before each performance made this more like, old friends invited to a party in my living room.  These  performers show that Scots Celtic Music is still alive, not just a repeat of old tunes we’ve heard our life over. Live the new music, while living within the old traditions. Thank you for the preservation, as well as fresh new creations in your musical culture.”     ~  Don Quixote’s California USA

“Warm hearted and sufficed with a sense of people and place.  Seasoned vocals accompanied by brisk cello.. in contrast wistful, atmospheric, and straight from the heart.”  ~ Scotsman

 “A large number of original songs well worth getting to know, richly detailed instrumental backdrops, and some truly excellent musicianship to savour.   Good honest craftsmanship characterises Ken’s writing.  Linsey’s the star for me; not only is her singing exceptional and her cello playing superbly charismatic, but she’s also responsible for penning four contrasted instrumental compositions.  Gorgeous, atmosphere-laden, and there’ll ne’er be a dry eye in the house after that, I’m sure.”   ~ Fatea Magazine

“This pairing is rightly termed “contemporary Scots acoustic music at its best.” More lyrical than torrential, this beautifully measured album is centred around the duo’s native Scotland and each cut tells its own tale.”   ~  Folk North West

“Together they deliver an album of passion and honesty. Descriptive and meaningful songs and music – sit back, listen and enjoy.”  ~  Scottish Memories

“Wonderful authentic Scottish music which takes you on a beautiful journey, haunting harmonies and lyrics. Fantastic CD, can’t stop listening to it!”  ~  Amazon USA

CELTIC MUSIC RADIO ALBUM OF THE WEEK, AND LIVE INTEVIEW.

The new CD has now been launched and a great success.

Radio play UK wide and three live Radio interviews with us so far.

On Celtic Music Radio ‘Kith and Kin’ has been made album of the week this week, with one track being played very hour.

We also were privileged to be invited into the studio for a one hour chat and interview about our music and the making of the album.

Here is a link if you would like to hear the interview and program.

http://podcast.canstream.co.uk/celticmusic/index.php?id=13598

Reviews to date on Amazon have been very positive indeed :-

‘This album manages to be as soulful as traditional folk and yet contemporary! Timeless! A truly enchanting album and one to treasure always
What a beautifully refreshing album, wonderful melodies and uplifting songs – could not recommend more.
We will definitely be hearing more from these two in the future. If you haven’t already listened to this – what are you waiting for?!
Stunning music…. heart warming and vibrant…’

WELCOME TO OUR NEW WEBSITE & NEW CD RELEASE !

New Web Site :

Welcome to our new web site, we hope you enjoy, have a look around and let us know what you think!  

CD purchase and Downloads of individual tracks are now available.

New CD:

We are also delighted to confirm the release of our new 14 track CD   ‘Kith & Kin’  later this month.

Recorded at the wonderful ‘Watercolour Music‘ in the Scottish Highlands, with Nick Turner and Mary Ann Kennedy, with additional fiddle parts recorded at Mesa Studios in San Francisco USA, it has been an epic journey and we are absolutely delighted with the result.

We are also joined on the album by stunning musicians and great friends – Stevie Lawrence on bouzouki and percussion, Frank Lee on melodeon, Andy Shanks on guitar and backing vocals, Nick Turner on backing vocals, and by outstanding fiddler from California Howard Booster of the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers.

USA West Coast Tour

We are also delighted to confirm that we will be doing a three week tour of concerts later this year on the US West Coast.  A series of great concerts and venues !

As part of that tour we have been booked to play a concert on the Balclutha square rigger in San Francisco Bay.  The Balclutha is a three mast square rigger originally built in Connels shipyard on the river Clyde in Scotland in 1886, so a great thrill for us.  

The fabulous Freight and Salvage in San Francisco have also agreed a date with us for a concert there, and we have invited a contingent from the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers to join us for that evening which will be great.

In addition we have a series of additional concert bookings, together with a number of house concerts, and other dates in different venues including a double header concert with singer/songwriter ex-pat Scot Peter Daldry originally from Clydebank in Scotland.  

We have also discovered a little town south of San Francisco called Ben Lomond next to a recreational area named Loch Lomond, near to where we will be playing – a home from home for sure !

More information and news to be added shortly, and we hope to meet you somewhere along the way over the coming months.  You will find all our contact details on the ‘Contact’ page here and we would really like to hear from you.

Linsey & Ken 

NEW RECORDINGS

Since last October we have completed a number of great gigs in and around Scotland and the UK.

Over the winter we have been recording our new CD at Watercolour Music studios at Ardgour in the Scottish Highlands.

www.watercolourmusic.co.uk

A truly sensational location and fantastic studio. Produced by Nick Turner and Mary Ann Kennedy, with additional fiddle parts recorded in San Francisco by the truly wonderful fiddler Howard Booster.

Other guest musicians are the amazing Melodeonist Frank Lee from Brampton in England, the inimitable Stevie Lawrence with percussion and bouzouki, and our musical amigo singer/songwriter Andy Shanks from St Cyrus in the North east of Scotland.

All sounding just great, and due for release late spring this year.

In the meantime we have a number of private and other gigs round Scotland, whilst organising our touring schedule for later in the year, including a three weeks tour of Northern California.

All in all, great music, great people, old and new friends.

We hope to meet up with you along the way this year.

BUSY TIMES AHEAD

August 2013

fter a few months of gigs in Scotland and overseas, and writing new songs and instrumentals, we are now looking forward to a busy few months ahead.

We have just returned from four weeks in Italy, including the wonderful town of Barga, ‘the most Scottish town in Italy’ www.barganews.com

Kilmartin house Museum, Kilmartin, Mid Argyll, Scotland 14th September www.kilmartin.org

Dunfermline Folk Club, Fife, Scotland 4th December www.dunfermlinefolkclub.co.uk

We hope you can join us along the way !