Jamie Smith

I began playing the violin at the tender age of 8, having played the piano since I was 6. I remember having fantastic teachers at the beginning who really inspired me. It was classical music all the way in the early years. When I moved to Scotland from London in 1990 I soon joined the Hillhead Strings orchestra. We played around Scotland in the youth orchestra competitions and once a year were lucky enough to travel for a week to Castle Toward, near Dunoon. Anyone who has played music at Toward will know how awe-inspiring a place it is, for youngsters and adults alike. We were conducted each year by the inimitable and much-loved composer John Maxwell Geddes.
I took to folk music when I was 15, and found the social life attached to it irresistible. I played around Scotland in the late 1990s with the Inishowen Ceili Band before me and some mates formed the Broken Peg Ceilidh Band. In 2001 I formed Beneche with Padraig O'Neill and Sean O'Donnell. Our first album came out at Celtic Connections in January 2003 winning us a Danny Kyle Open Stage Award. The next two years saw us tour a lot in Scotland and England with a memorable excursion to Lorient in summer 2004.
I hold two all-Britain fleadh titles in senior fiddle and in 2002 reached the finals of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year. I spent 2005 recording my first solo album which was released at Celtic Connections in January 2006. It's available from www.footstompin.com and www.tradmusic.com. I now play in The Long Notes with the fabulous Colette O'Leary and Brian Kelly. Our new CD was released at the start of 2008 and the summer looks sizzling hot with tours to all corners of Scotland. You can buy The Long Notes by visiting my sister myspace page: www.myspace.com/thelongnotes.