Fiona Driver profile picture

Fiona Driver

Fiona Driver - stunning Orkney fiddler & composer

About Me

Fiona Driver is a young and talented fiddler from Orkney. Brought up on these beautiful and remote islands she was home educated and discovered music at 14. Fiddling soon became an obsession and she quickly became a very good player, winning many competitions for playing and composing including Orkney Young Musician of the Year aged 16. Since then she has recorded a solo album,The Orkney Fiddler, and produced a book of her own tunes, Fiona Driver's Orkney Tune Book. Her new CD is being recorded at the moment and will be out in a few weeks, but not in time for the folk festival. It's going to be a mix of Fiona's tunes and a couple of surprises, and after a long wait this overdue CD should be a cracker! Recording is well underway and it won't be long. Fiona has composed well over 150 tunes and they have been played and recorded by a few different folk and have appeared in several tune books. Fiona has a successful career playing and teaching in Orkney and has played at high profile gigs like WOMAD, and supported Hayseed Dixie, Donnie Munroe, and Albert Lee among others. Fiona is also a very keen gardener and loves hiking and camping in the Highlands. For bookings (performances as a fiddle/guitar duo or with the Lone Star Swing Band) tune commissions or other enquiries please contact Fiona either through this site or her website at www.fionadriver.co.ukIF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY A BOOK OR CD PLEASE SEND FIONA A MESSAGE and she will get back to you. Her email is [email protected]..
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/28/2008
Band Website: fionadriver.co.uk
Band Members: Fiona plays with her other half accompanist Graham Simpson on guitar and drums. They are also members of The Lone Star Swing Band with Duncan McLean, Dick Levens and Iain Tait. Check out their myspace, www.myspace.com/lonestarswing Fiona and Graham playing Fire & Water, by Fiona Driver
.. Fiona Driver plays her own tunes Toast-a-mouse and Tiny & Flo

Influences: Fiona’s influences are quite varied, but they definitely include fiddlers like Bryan Gear, Trevor Hunter, Aly Bain and Willie Hunter (Shetland) Manus McGuire, Zoe Conway, and Sean McGuire (Ireland) Mark O’Connor, Liz Carroll, Stuart Duncan, Graham Townsend, and Rodney Miller (USA/Canada) Paul Anderson and Hector MacAndrew, (Scotland) and Douglas Montgomery (Orkney). Apart from traditional music, she has been inspired by many classical violinists too, such as Maxim Vengerov and Nigel Kennedy, and also Buddy Ray and Cliff Bruner from the world of Texas Swing. J.S.Skinner was a big inspiration when Fiona was a teenager and it has long been her aim to compose as many tunes as he did - she’s more than 25% there!
Sounds Like: A right good fiddler with style, and a bit extra of something else thrown in. Very funky new compositions, inspired by many funny events and situations encountered in the Orkney Islands!
Record Label: Newtonhill Records/FDF Productions (Fiona’s label)
Type of Label: None

My Blog

BUY MY BOOK AND CD

My website where I normally sell books and CDs is offline just now while I update it, so meantime would anyone wishing to buy a copy of my Orkney Tune Book or The Orkney Fiddler CD please email me at ...
Posted by Fiona Driver on Thu, 29 May 2008 12:47:00 PST

my CD isn’t out for the Folk Festival!!

Hi Folks, just to say that the new CD is NOT out and won't be for a couple of months or so. I decided to make it really good rather than rush it to try and get it out for the festival. I will be playi...
Posted by Fiona Driver on Sun, 18 May 2008 06:04:00 PST

Preview track from my new CD!!!

Up now on my profile is a track from my forthcoming CD!!! It’s not mixed yet and there’s other stuff to go on but waddaya think??? Do let me ken!!...
Posted by Fiona Driver on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:56:00 PST

The joys of recording

I don’t really enjoy recording. I get to the studio, sit down, put the headphones on and Owen says " Ready? off you go!" and my fingers turn to jelly. I have this notion that I can never play as...
Posted by Fiona Driver on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:32:00 PST

Gig diary

Just a note about my gig diary - I'm listing all of my gigs as well as Lone Star Swing gigs, and Orkney Orchestra and Orkney Camerata concerts too, as I'm in all of them. I'm working towards a nice p...
Posted by Fiona Driver on Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:05:00 PST

Hi there folks, hope you enjoy my Myspace page!

Hi there. This is the first time I've done this, and it's just to say to all the people I've invited and anyone who finds it by themselves that I'd appreciate any comments or feedback and hope you'll ...
Posted by Fiona Driver on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:18:00 PST