Biography
Over the years Ben has played Rock, Blues, Jazz, Classical, Contemporary as well as Scottish and Irish Folk music, in bands and solo, taking him from Scotland to Europe, the USA and Australia. Now focusing on Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar, Spindrift is Ben's first solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar album. He tours the UK, Europe and Canada, performing at venues such as concert halls, churches, historic castles, clubs, restaurants, village halls and festivals. Private functions and corporate events also take up much of his time.
Ben's musical influences include Maninas DePlata, Andre Segovia, Wes Montgomery, Johnny Lee Hooker, even Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and Ben has been described as 'a mix of Hendrix and Segovia in a kilt!'. He says, I've been lucky over the last several years to meet up with some great guitarists of today John Renbourn, Tony McManus and Pierre Bensusan who I particularly admire for his depth, sincerity and soaring musical eloquence.
In 2001 Ben was invited to play at the Ullapool Guitar Festival in concerts alongside John Renbourn, Clive Carroll, Adrian Byron Burns, Robbie McIntosh and the late Isaac Guillory. The enthusiastic response from the audiences, guitarists and festival organisers led Ben to recording his solo album 'Spindrift'.
Past achievements have included concerts at the Woodford International Folk Festival, Australia and the Australian National Celtic Festival, where Ben released 'A Crofter's Heart' CD with the band Celtic Soul. Ben has played the millenium at the Linn Gu Linn Festival, The Royal National Mod and appeared on BBC TV. He was invited to appear on 'The Complete Songs of Robert Burns' CD Series with Dr Fred Freeman and musicians such as Marc Duff (ex Capercaillie), John Moran and John Nicols. The series is now released on Linn Records. Ben worked with on Anne Lorne Gillies on her 'St Kilda Boat' album, with harpist Debra Carey who you can hear guesting on Spindrift and in a guitar duo with traditional Scots singer and guitarist Ross Kennedy (see MP3s).