Lori Watson is a fiddle player and folk singer who performs traditional and contemporary folk music. She is the first doctor of Artistic Research in Scottish Music.

Biography

Watson grew up in the Scottish Borders where she was a founder member of The Small Hall Band and played in the Clarty Cloot Ceilidh Band. She studied Scottish music at the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

in Glasgow and graduated in 2003. She completed a PhD in Contemporary Innovation and Traditional Music in Scotland. She performs traditional, contemporary and original folk music and sings in Scots and English. Watson is from a musical Scots/Irish family. Her great grandfather Peter Augustus Meechan was a popular fiddle player in Glasgow, her grandfather Alexander Watson played accordion and everyone in the family sang. Today, her father sings and plays guitar, bouzouki and mandolin, and her mother sings and plays bodhran. Their small, independent record label, ISLE Music Scotland, owned and run by the family, issued the ''Borders Young'' Fiddles CD, a landmark in Scottish / Borders fiddle music, and Watson's debut in 2006, '':Three.'' Watson's brother Innes Watson, graduated from the RSAMD in 2006 and is building a career as a full-time musician.

Awards

* Borders Young Musician Award 1999 *

BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition has run annually since 2001. It exists to encourage young musicians to keep their tradition alive and to provide performance opportunities, tools and advice to help contestants make ...

2002 finalist *

2003 finalist *

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of tra ...

Danny Kyle Award 2005 * Eiserner Eversteiner nominee 2007 * Burnsong Winner 2007 * MG ALBA

Scots Trad Music Awards The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media and ...

Scots Singer of the Year 2016

Bands

* Lori Watson and Rule of Three ** Lori Watson – vocals and fiddle ** Innes Watson – guitars, harmony vocals ** John Somerville – piano accordion ** Donald Hay – percussion ** Duncan Lyall – double bass * Boreas ** Lori Watson – vocals (Scots) and fiddles **

Britt Pernille Frøholm Britt may refer to: Places * Britt, Iowa, United States * Britt, Minnesota, United States * Britt, Ontario, Canada * Britt Peak, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica * Britt Township, Hancock County, Iowa, United States Other uses * Britt (actress), Swedis ...

– hardanger and fiddles **

Rachel Newton Rachel Newton is a Scottish singer and harpist. As well as playing both acoustic and electric harp she also plays viola, fiddle, piano and harmonium. She performs solo as well as in the bands The Shee, The Furrow Collective and Boreas and wa ...

– harp and vocals (Gaelic) ** Irene Tillung – chromatic accordion * Watson/Black ** Lori Watson – fiddles and vocals (Scots/English) ** Fiona Black – accordion * Fireside Music Company ** Lori Watson – fiddle, song, scripted speech ** Margaret Bennett – storytelling and song * Border Fiddles ** Lori Watson – fiddle **

Shona Mooney Shona Mooney (born c. 1984) is a Scottish fiddle player and composer. Career Shona Mooney was the winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition in 2006. She has appeared at international festivals such as the Tønder ...

– fiddle ** Innes Watson – fiddle ** Rachel Cross – fiddle ** Carly Blain – fiddle **

Sandy Watson Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

– guitar and bouzouki

Discography

* ''Borders Young Fiddles'', by Borders Young Fiddles, Borders Traditional Series Vol. 3, ISLE Music Scotland, 2004 * '':Three'', by Lori Watson with Fiona Young, Innes Watson & Barry (Spad) Reid, ISLE Music Scotland, 2006 * ''No.1 Scottish'', Traditional Music from the RSAMD,

RSAMD The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

, 2002,

Greentrax Greentrax Recordings are a Scottish record label that specialises in Scottish traditional music. History The label was founded in 1986 by former police inspector Ian Green, who played the bagpipes and was responsible for arranging folk music ...

, 2007 * ''Pleasure's Coin'', by Lori Watson and Rule of Three, ISLE Music Scotland, 2009 * ''Borders Tunesmiths'', by Borders Tunesmiths, Borders Traditions Series Vol. 6, 2009 * ''The Songs of Sandy Wright'', by Various,

Navigator Records Navigator Records is a small independent record label in the United Kingdom, specialising in folk and roots music. It is wholly owned by Proper Music Distribution and was launched in 2008. Musicians who have recorded on Navigator Records inclu ...

, 2010 * ''The Rough Guide To Scottish Music'', by Various,

The Rough Guide Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

, 2010

Projects

Contemporary innovation and traditional music in Scotland

Lori Watson completed doctoral studies at the

RCS RCS may refer to: Organisations *Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace * Radio Corporation of Singapore *Radcliffe Choral Society * Rawmarsh Community School *Red Crescent Society *Red Cross Society * Representation of Czechs and Slovaks, a football t ...

in Glasgow and

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

in 2013. She investigated innovation and beyond-tune composition by traditional musicians in Scotland including a substantial folio of new and experimental musical works. Her supervisors were Dr.

Stephen Broad Stephen Broad (born 10 June 1980) is an English footballer, who played as a defender in the Football League for Southend United. He has also played for non-League clubs, Hayes, Kingstonian, Corinthian-Casuals and Sutton United. Football care ...

, Dr.

Liz Doherty Liz Doherty is an Irish fiddler based in County Donegal who also recorded and toured with both '' Nomos'' and '' The Bumblebees'' as well as alone. Biography Liz Doherty was born in Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland in 1970, the oldest daughte ...

, Dr. Stuart Eydmann and Prof.

Raymond MacDonald Raymond MacDonald is a saxophonist, composer and psychologist with an extensive career in music, cross-disciplinary arts and academia. Much of his work explores the boundaries and ambiguities between what is conventionally seen as improvisation and ...

James Hogg, a Life in Music

This concert featuring the work and life of

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...

in music, song, poetry and monologue was co-written with Innes Watson and John Nicol, and was performed and recorded live at Both Sides of the Tweed music festival in Selkirk, 2005.

MAELSTRØM - Legends of the Underworld

Watson wrote the music for this devised theatrical production at the Aberdeen International Arts Festival in 2016. The project was produced by

Youth Music Theatre UK British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT), formerly Youth Music Theatre UK, is a UK-based national performing arts organisation founded in December 2003. BYMT provides music theatre training to young people aged 11–21 and a stepping stone to drama ...

. Blending Scottish and Norwegian musical influences following the journey of 'Hag' to the heart of the Corryvreckan maelstrom, a powerful place where the essences of Scotland and Norway meet.

Teaching

Watson was a lecturer and examiner at the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

(RCS) including Contemporary Studies, Honours Projects, Scots Song and Principal Study Song Group. She leads the Tolbooth Traditional Music Project for young people and teaches workshops at folk festivals like the now-defunct Border Gaitherin and the Scots Fiddle Festival. She was a Senior Tutor at Glasgow Fiddle Workshop for 10 years and taught fiddle on the Folk and Traditional Music degree at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

for six years. She is currently a lecturer in Scottish Ethnology at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Articles

* Broad, Stephen (2006). 'Practice-based Research at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama' in Konstnarlig forskning: Artiklar, Prjektrapporter & Reportage ed. Torbjorn Lind (Stockholm: Swedish Research Council, 2005), pp. 17–25.