Scotland's Foremost Troubadour in Concert
ARCHIE FISHER
master guitarist, singer and songwriter
WHEN: Friday, February 17, at 8:00 PM
WHERE: Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown.
ADMISSION: Admission is $7 per person at the door.
For further information, call 973.335.9489, or visit www.folkproject.org.
Opening for Archie will be 18-year-old high school student Mree.
The performance is part of The Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series, sponsored by the Folk Project each Friday evening at the Fellowship.
Archie Fisher was born in Glasgow, Scotland, into a large singing family. His father's appreciation of many musical styles (opera, vaudeville, traditional ballads) exposed him to a wide range of music. His mother was a traditional Gaelic speaker from the Outer Hebrides and heavily influenced the lyrical quality of his songwriting and singing. Archie first became interested in folk music through the Skiffle era of the late 1950s. Later, the recording of The Weavers at Carnegie Hall deeply affected both his approach to music and his political outlook.
During the British TV folk boom of the 1960s and 70s, he appeared regularly on the BBC Hootenanny series. Based in Edinburgh, he collaborated with the folk stars of the day, and produced his first self-titled album in 1968, pairing with fiddle and mandolin player John McKinnon, as well as piccolo player John Doonan.
In the mid-1970s, Archie joined Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy as a back-up musician and produced a number of albums. While still maintaining his performance schedule, he also became interested in radio in the 1980s, originating several documentaries on his local station Radio Tweed. He joined BBC Radio Scotland to host the “Travelling Folk” show, which has continued for over 25 years, winning many awards. He has toured extensively with Garnet Rogers, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, producing along the way many important albums. His latest, Windward Away, on Red House Records, was ten years in the making, and was hailed by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which said, “Fisher’s quietly poetic ballads … haunt like a shadowy specter.” Sing Out! Magazine called Archie “one of Britain's finest song interpreters.”
For his contributions to Scottish folk music, Archie Fisher was inducted into the Scots Traditional Music Hall of Fame and in 2006 was awarded an MBE (Distinguished Member of the British Empire), bestowed by Queen Elizabeth for service to traditional music. His most recent recognition came from the Goderich Roots Festival in 2008, when he was granted the Tradition Bearers Award. This is Archie Fisher's second appearance at the Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series. His previous concert was in January 2010.
Opening for Archie will be a new voice, 18-year-old high school student Mree, who appeared last November as part of The Young Project concert.
The Folk Project is a non-profit 501(c) Corporation whose mission is to present high caliber folk music performances and instructional workshops for the public and members; to encourage development of musicianship and performance skills in the northern New Jersey area; and to provide interesting social and learning activities relating to traditional and participatory folk music and dance.
