When I was about 15, I started listening to classical music, having discovered my old man's record collection (he had been a keen amateur classical guitarist before pressure of work forced him to give it up). I began to build a collection of my own – I still remember my dad taking me into town on a Saturday morning, where I would spend hours browsing through the classical record section of the big shops like Biggars and Cuthbertsons, trying to decide what I would spend this week's pocket money on to add to my collection. I used to buy purely on instinct a lot of the time, since I had little knowledge of who was who, and that's how I first discovered Bach and, more importantly, Bach on the guitar.

I soon realised that if I wanted to play this music, I would have to learn how to read it, write it down, and understand the theory and history behind it. And that's what I spent the next 2 years of my life doing. I used to come home from school most nights, have my tea and bury myself in the front room with the radiogram (remember them?), my books and my guitar. That 2 years cost me a lot in terms of my social life – I didn't have much time for going out to the pictures, playing football or having girlfriends at a time when most of my friends were doing just those things. But the work I put in has stood me in good stead and is still the basis of my knowledge and ability to this day.

When I reached my last year at school, I had some spare periods and asked if I could join the music 'O'-level class, really because I thought I might as well fill the time with something enjoyable rather than because I had any real ambitions in that respect. After a few lessons it became apparent that I could benefit from something more challenging and I was transferred to the Higher-grade class. That last year was the happiest of my school life, with lost of concerts, lots of learning and lots of contact with people who could broaden my horizons, culminating in me getting an 'A' pass for my exam and being presented with the school music prize at the annual prize-giving, which was my very last day at school and, as part of which, I gave a brief solo recital.

Strange then that, given all that activity and success, I seemed to lose my way musically for the next couple of years and did practically no practice, no learning and no performing. Finally however, I got involved with the local Music Club in East Kilbride, which was very much classical music-based but run on similar lines to a folk club, with guest nights, floor spots and singers nights, though they didn't talk about them in those terms. There I met and started playing with a guy called Steven McCann, who played the recorder and tin whistle. Although a classically-trained musician, he had an interest in folk music. He also worked at the Centre One Tax Office, which had a weekly folk club as part of its social club and he eventually talked me into going along one night to do a spot. Looking back, I suppose that night was one of the turning points in my life, though it didn't seem like it at the time!

Centre One, being as it was part of a big social club, was probably quite cash-rich and attracted a number of big names of the day, like The McCalmans, John Watt and Davie Stewart, The Laggan (Arthur Johnstone's band, who were quite big at the time), and the Battlefield Band. It was also where I first met and heard Jim and Sylvia Barnes. I soon got involved in doing floor spots with various people and eventually got to hear about another folk club in East Kilbride, at the Forum Bar. Centre One gradually faded and disappeared over the space of a year or so but The Forum went from strength to strength, giving some now very well-known people their first Scottish gigs. I became very much part of the "crowd" and this led to my being invited by one of the other regulars, Allan McFadyen, to join a band which was being put together in Glasgow and which eventually became Molendinar, with Mick West and Stuart Eydmann. Molendinar played mostly around Glasgow and the West of Scotland for a couple of years and I got quite heavily involved in the Glasgow session scene, which centred on the Victoria Bar down by the riverside. Through this, I got very friendly with Jim and Sylvia and was asked to join them in a new band with John Gahagan, Jimmy McGuire and Iain McDonald. The band started as Tinkler Maidgie but changed to Kentigern when Iain bowed out and Dougie Pincock took his place. Their only album was released by Topic in 1979 and the band carried on until 1982 when Jim and Sylvia moved south.

After that I pretty much took a break for a couple of years: my daughter Gemma had just been born and that took up a lot of time and energy. By 1985 however, I was beginning to feel the itch again and one night I took myself along to Paisley Folk Club – I can't remember why because Paisley wasn't somewhere I would normally go; I didn’t know anyone who went there and I can't even remember who was playing! But I must have enjoyed it because I went back the next time (I think it was fortnightly) and did a floor spot. And who was sitting in the front row but Ian Bruce whom I had known vaguely from schooldays, but better from The Forum where he was also a regular. Some time not too long after that he asked me to help him work on some songs he had been writing and wanted to start performing, so we worked as a duo for a while. One day he came to me raving about an American singer he had seen at the Star Club in Glasgow the night before, whose name was Marilyn Middleton Pollock. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing he persuaded her to join us and Scotland Yard was born. After a couple of very intensive rehearsals, we made our debut at Edinburgh Folk Club (this would be early 1986, I think) and went on to play just about everywhere over the next couple of years. We also made an album which sadly never saw the light of day since, by the time it got to the final stages, egos and personality clashes had all but put an end to the band. The most notable thing about that time from my point of view was that it was the only time I made any serious attempt at songwriting, both with Ian and on my own. He's the only songwriter I've worked with for any length of time and it had the effect of galvanising me into action too. As soon as I stopped working with him, the writing stopped too!

Although Scotland Yard was finished, the various members kept in contact and did some work together. I continued to do some work with Marilyn and in 1988 she was contracted to record an album for Fellside Records, "Nobody Knows You". While recording this, I met up again with Alan Jones who, like Ian, I had known vaguely at school, but more so at both East Kilbride and Paisley folk clubs.

Marilyn's album was launched at a special concert at Girvan Festival and Alan and I decided to do a few things as a duo to open the night. Thus 3's a CrowD was born. After about a year of playing together, we decided to do some recording and roped in Stevie Lawrence, whom Alan already knew, to do some additional instrumentation. By the time that first recording ("On Safari") was finished, Stevie was a full-time member of the band and so it continued, including the release of another cassette ("Douce Ambience") and being the backing band on Marilyn's second Fellside album, "Doll's House". The band folded about the time I moved to Fife in 1995, 3's a CrowD's last gig being, ironically, as a 2-piece again, at Crail in May of that year. During this period, I was also invited to be an occasional member of jazz singer Carol Kidd's backing band, standing in for regular guitarist Nigel Clarke.

In late 1995, I was introduced to Fiona Forbes, with whom it had been suggested (by Jim Malcolm) that it would be worth getting together. We made our debut at Kirkcaldy Folk Club in May 1996, and 4 years later are still performing as a duo.

In all this time, I had performed solo but always as "token" items in the middle of band gigs. It wasn't until July 1999 that the idea of doing any real solo playing was seriously mooted and this began with support to the John Wright Band that month. A number of such spots have followed and, in December 1999, I started to record my first solo album, "Crossing the Line", which is scheduled for release in October 2000. My enjoyment of this and the positive reaction of audiences to it has regenerated my enthusiasm for performing and the intention is to pursue this in the future as the main thrust of my musical activity.