Due to popular demand, I have made tuition gift vouchers available to purchase. Music tuition can be an excellent gift for those who are tricky to buy for and there are a wide range of instruments and topics they can choose from.

I teach at home in Perth, Scotland and can provide tuition in fiddle, classical violin, viola, cello, piano, composition, arranging, orchestration and music theory. For those living further afield, I am happy to teach via Skype or FaceTime.

For the aspiring techies, we also have a recording studio in-house, so if anyone is interested in learning about recording, production and generally making music on computers, then we can offer that too!

A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle

I’m very happy to have made a new album, A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle and this one is for all the fiddle lovers out there! Featuring the wonderful Alistair Iain Paterson on piano, the album is a compilation of tunes that I have played for years and others that I literally found a couple of hours before going into the studio! Some are well kent and others may be new to you, with a handful of contemporary compositions in there by the likes of Donald Shaw, Phil Cunningham, Gráinne Brady and the late Angus R. Grant.

Pre-orders are available exclusively through this website from 1st – 20th December.

 Well I have a nice piece of news to share! I decided the other week to record an album of beautiful and some-lesser-played Scottish fiddle tunes. I then made it, thanks to the very talented team of Alistair Iain Paterson, Jamie Pryke, Stuart Hamilton, James Morrison & Birnam CD, and it’s going to be arriving next week!

And you know what that means….it will be available exclusively at the Scots Fiddle Festival in Edinburgh next weekend (18th Nov & 19th Nov). It’s called ‘A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle’.

Here is the track info for all you tune guzzlers….

Hello there! Just a quick note to let you know some of what I’m getting up to this summer!

Cambridge Folk Festival & Festival Interceltique de Lorient

I’m so happy to be returning to the Cambridge Folk Festival after quite a few years. I’ll be playing with two very talented musicians and friends, Rachel Newton and Kate Young. The gigs are two days apart so I’m delighted to have the Saturday in-between to take in the music and catch up with everybody. Come and see us! Rachel’s 5-piece band show is on the main stage on Friday and Kate’s string trio will be on Stage 2 on Sunday. I’m sure the times will be published a wee bit nearer the time.

If you haven’t bought tickets and fancy it, have a look at the amazing lineup and booking info.

The following weekend will take me to Brittany to play at the fantastic Festival Interceltique de Lorient. I’m particularly looking forward to this as we will be bringing Donald Shaw’s beautiful scores from the BBC Hebrides and Highlands TV series’ to life in Scotland’s Wild Heart, having never performed them live before. If you can’t make it to France, read on….

Scotland’s Wild Heart | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This will be a mesmerising gig at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh this summer. In fact there are 3 shows to choose from on 22nd and 23rd August. Watch the promo video below and get tickets!

Scotland’s Wild Heart – ‘In concert’ promo from Vertical Records on Vimeo.

Folk traditions meet orchestral grandeur in this audio-visual spectacular. A world-class ensemble led by award-winning composer/pianist Donald Shaw (Capercaillie) features the cream of Scotland’s musicians, including Patsy Reid (fiddle), Michael McGoldrick (flute and pipes), Sorren MacLean (guitars), James MacKintosh (percussion) and a handpicked string section led by Grit orchestrator Greg Lawson (fiddle). They will perform Shaw’s stunning soundtrack live to specially edited HD clips of the sublime Maramedia/BBC nature film Scotland’s Wild Heart, immersing you in the landscape and seasons of Scotland. Part of www.madeinscotlandshowcase.com. ‘One of the most beautiful films I have ever seen’ (Ewan McGregor).

I’ve been a bit quiet of late, working away on my next album of songs and tunes. We’re making it in-house; slow and steady, and I’ve been so lucky to have a fabulous array of musicians join me so far, including Ben Nichols on Double Bass, Marit Fält on Lötmandola, Alistair Iain Paterson on Harmonium & Keys, Mhairi Hall on Piano, Signy Jakobsdóttir on Percussion & Drums and Ewan MacPherson on Mandolin & Guitars.

There are no deadlines and I’m really enjoying taking my time to get it right! Check back soon for updates on a release!

I’m very happy to tell you about my first solo appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!

I’ll be joined by a wonderful band of Signy Jakobsdóttir (percussion), Ewan MacPherson (guitar & mandolin) and Alistair Iain Paterson (piano & harmonium).

We’re delighted to be playing in the fab Acoustic Music Centre and our slot is at 8pm on Wednesday 26th August.

It’d be really great to see lots of you there! To book and find out more, visit https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/patsy-reid

I’m delighted to have been asked to be involved in what promises to be a hugely interesting and fulfilling collaboration later in the year.

As the UK marks a year rich in constitutional anniversaries, including 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta and 750 years since the Simon de Montfort parliament, four folk songwriters are invited to celebrate our pursuit of democracy.

BBC Folk Singer of the Year Nancy Kerr, Martyn Joseph, Sam Carter, and Maz O’Connor will compose new music in response to the rights and liberties that people have fought to achieve and protect over the past eight centuries.

They will consider milestone moments that mark the passage of key pieces of legislation, and also review moments when the aspiration for rights or liberties were articulated. To support the creative process, the artists will have access to the Parliamentary Archives and historians, together with folk material from the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

The four songwriters will be joined by musicians Patsy Reid and Nick Cooke for the culmination of the project – a UK tour in November 2015. The group will also perform at the Folk by the Oak festival in Hatfield in July 2016.

The project has been commissioned by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) and Folk by the Oak in partnership with the Houses of Parliament’s 2015 anniversaries programme, Parliament in the Making. It is partly funded by the PRS for Music Foundation.

Tour Dates

Tues 24th November – Cambridge Junction

Wed 25th November – Colston Hall, Bristol

Thu 26th November – The Met, Bury

Fri 27th November – St David’s Hall, Cardiff

Sat 28th November – Cecil Sharp House, London

Sun 29th November – Sage, Gateshead

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that I’ve been nominated in the Musician of the Year category of the Spiral Earth Awards 2015. And it’s up to the public vote so from tomorrow (6th March 2015), you can vote for your favourites in the various categories.

Here’s a link to find out more and vote!

I’m so excited to announce that I’m going to be joining Zakir Hussain and a host of fantastic musicians for lots of dates this Spring, under the banner, Pulse of the World. First off, we are heading to Dubai to perform in the World Trade Centre on 30th January, which will be followed by a concert in Mumbai, India on 3rd February! Yes – it’s my 5th trip to India in 2 years and I have most definitely fallen in love with the country!

Then it’s off to USA for lots of gigs in March/April, including a performance at the Carnegie Hall in New York! Check my schedule page for dates and locations.

Joining me from team Europe are Fraser Fifield (SCO), Tony Byrne (IRE), John Joe Kelly (ENG) Jean-Michel Veillon (FRA) and Charlie McKerron (SCO).

17th January 2015 – Mackintosh Church

GANESH KUMARESH WITH TRIO AAB/PATSY REID

I had a really lovely night in the beautiful Mackintosh Church as part of Celtic Connections 2015! Opening for Ganesh Kumaresh with Trio AAB, I was joined by a wonderful band of Signy Jakobsdóttir, Alistair Iain Paterson, Anna Massie and Ben Nicholls and we played all of the tunes from The Brightest Path as well as some brand new material.

Here are a couple of great reviews of the whole concert…

The Scotsman

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“As their drummer Tom Bancroft put it, Scotland’s Trio AAB came to Celtic Connections “from a faraway country called Jazz”. They’ve always represented that genre’s least chin-stroking territory, however, and this reprise of a previous collaboration with Indian violinists Ganesh and Kumaresh Rajagopolan, plus percussionist Acanthi R. Krishnan, in fact embodied the very model of a Celtic Connections show – especially twinned with Scottish fiddler Patsy Reid’s sparkling first-half set, and taking place in the world’s only church designed by that internationalist visionary, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The Indian duo first took the stage by themselves, delivering an astonishingly virtuosic  and electrifying display of carnatic artistry. The sounds rooted in these traditions can seem dauntingly foreign to Celtic-attuned ears, but here, although the bow-wielding brothers explored a whole other range of tonal and textural expression, the sheer intensity, drama and variety of their playing was nothing short of thrilling. Trio AAB joined the Indians for a set of specially-written boldly exploratory material, richly redolent of all the musicians’ relish in bringing together two great improvising traditions, from the dreamily gorgeous Flower Child to the exhilarating hustle and bustle – and phenomenal soloing  – of Chala Glasgow. A year after launching her third solo album, The Brightest Path, right here at the festival, Reid and her four-piece band displayed all the benefits of 12 months’ playing-in for it’s blend of tunes and songs, with a performance that was drumtight and sweetly subtle in all the right places.” Sue Wilson

The Herald

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“There was something for every palate on Saturday night as Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Queen’s Cross Church opened it’s doors for a cultural coming together that proved to be something of a genre-buster. Perthshire based fiddler Patsy Reid opened proceedings with a fine set of tunes from a tightly knit band that produced a sound with a retro-progressive feel, including a Donald Shaw composition, A Precious Place, with a mesmerizing interplay between drummer Signy Jakobsdóttir and bassist Ben Nicholls. Parallels can be drawn between the venue’s architecture and the Carnatic music of Ganesh and Kumaresh Rajagopalan, two virtuoso violin-weilding brothers from India. For all its seeming complexity, it’s really quite simply constructed. As they helpfully pointed out, they use the same seven chords as musicians elsewhere in the world; just differently. The breathtaking scope of their filmic sound, rhythmically precise and with a healthy dose of improvisation, was astonishing. The thunderous percussion of Acanthi R. Krishnan had the effect of a stick of dynamite in a fireworks factory, giving their set of sometimes extended extemporisations an explosive edge. There was a sibling synergy going on when, 40 minutes into the set, the brothers were joined by Trio AAB; those giants of Scottish jazz: Phil and Tom Bancroft and Kevin Mackenzie. When the two trios combined, we heard something sextet-tabulously new; as a wholly innovative musical language was created in five new pieces of music. What we heard, and you might too, if recording plans come to fruition, was a seamless melding of cross-continental music where violins met saxophone in harmonic unity and ambient textures and vocals became one. This was a triumphant concert for Celtic Connections and underlines its influence in the development of new music where boundaries cease to exist.” Keith Moore

Photograph by Alasdair Cassidy