John McCusker is one of Scotland's foremost traditional musicians. A professional since the age of seventeen, he was a vital member of the renowned Battlefield Band for 11 years. John now tours with his own band – The John McCusker Band and has released three solo albums Goodnight Ginger , Yella Hoose and John Mccusker . John is also an acclaimed respected record producer and composer of exquisite melodies and film scores. He is an amazing performer, a guest much sought after by major live and recording artists having guested on over 150 albums. John was awarded the Spirit of Scotland Award for Music in 2000 and is BBC Radio 2 Musician of the Year 2003.
A regular in local youth orchestras and ceilidh bands, he formed the band Parcel O'Rogues with some schoolmates at 14 and a couple of years later he gave up a place at Glasgow's Royal Academy to go on the road with the legendary Battlefield Band. He ended up being a Battlefield Bandit for 11 years - toured all over the world and has the anecdotes to prove it - and by the time he left he was one of the top traditional musicians in the land, also composing a rich fund of original tunes (borrowed by the likes of Sharon Shannon, Solas, The Poozies and Natalie McMaster). John also guested on over 150 albums working with an amazing range of musicians including Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits, Danny Thompson, Eddi Reader, The Silencers, Tim O'Brien, Linda Thompson to name but a few. By then he'd already hit it off with a young singer from Barnsley called Kate Rusby. He joined her band, became her producer and is now also her husband. John's already formidable reputation was enhanced with his highly acclaimed solo album Yella Hoose in 2000, with its strong array of guest musicians, -"Superlatives can barely do his playing - or writing - justice" - Hot Press; but feels he's gone one better with his new one Goodnight Ginger, recorded at his home studio. The cream of the folk scene queued up to help him with Ian Carr, Andy Cutting, John Doyle, Michael McGoldrick, Ewen Vernal, Simon Thoumire, James Mackintosh, Iain MacDonald and Phil Cunningham among the guests - while Kate Rusby delivers the one vocal track, a show-stopping ballad, The Bold Privateer."I just saw it as a chance to get all my pals round, have a bit of fun and play a few tunes," he says. "I write tunes as I go along so it all came together very spontaneously. I never have a big plan about anything. We just play around with ideas in the house and then go out in the studio and record them, it's great!" |
|