April 2004 Band Profile: Anna Massie Band

The Facts:
Anna Massie is a multi-instrumentalist from Fortrose, and was the winner of the Young Scottish Traditional Musician 2003. She formed this trio on a regular basis after winning the award, and issued their debut CD, Glad Company, on Foot Stompin’ Records (CDFSR1722) late last year.

The players are:
Anna Massie (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, tenor guitar, tenor banjo)
Jenn Butterworth (guitar, vocals)
Mairearad Green (accordion, bagpipes)

ANNA MASSIE had built something of a reputation in the Inverness area as both a fiddler and guitarist of real promise even before her triumph in the 2003 final of the Young Scots Traditional Musician Award. The award brought with it the opportunity to record her debut CD for Simon Thoumire’s Foot Stompin’ Records, and she quickly realised that she would need a regular band.

Anna Massie

“After the award I knew the recording session would be coming up later in the year," she recalled, "and I had to think hard about putting a band together, and where I wanted to go with that. Offers of gigs also started coming in pretty much right away after the competition – the first couple were from Cambridge and Arran folk festivals, I remember.

“I liked the idea of an all-girl band, and I wanted to keep it small but versatile, and it happened that two of the most versatile musicians I knew were also girls! Jenn sings and plays guitar, and Mairearad has two instruments as well. Jenn actually plays fiddle too, although not yet in the band, so that's another possibility. I liked the fact that we could switch around quite a bit.”

She chose Jack Evans, familiar from bands like The Easy Club and Jock Tamson's Bairns, as her producer for the recording, partly because she had liked his work on the disc made by her predecessor, 2002 winner Emily Smith.

"I had liked that album," she explained, "and also was drawn to the fact that Jack came from a guitar background. As a guitarist, I felt I'd like to work with a producer who understood the instrument as well as he did, and in the end we made the record quite quickly.

“Having the CD out has made a big difference to my profile, and because the award is sponsored by BBC Scotland they are very supportive with airplay and broadcasts, and more and more people are visiting my web site and the Foot Stompin' web site. It all adds to the awareness, not just for me, but for folk music in general.”

Anna comes from a musical family in Fortrose (her father, Bob Massie, is a well-known local musician). She began playing guitar at seven and fiddle at eight, and would accompany dad on gigs with his ceilidh bands.

“I don't think I would have started playing if it hadn't been for mum and dad. They were both very supportive about my music, and really wanted me to be interested. I would go out with them and just listen, picking up the sets that way. Then I started sitting in occasionally, and when I was 13 I started playing in a band with my dad and a couple of other people.”

She moved to Glasgow to study for a BA in Applied Music at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, majoring on fiddle. The award had brought an accelerated pace to her career development.

“It was a wonderful opportunity. You have to grab it and make full use of the potential of the award, and that's what I tried to do. I am so busy now that I can't imagine what it might have been like if I hadn't won it. It has been a massive benefit in terms of contacts and getting gigs, and the great thing is that it's not just a year in the limelight and then it's over. It keeps rolling along.

“This year is looking very busy already, and I believe that is the momentum that has built up from my year as Young Musician, and especially from having the CD out. We're going to festivals in Shetland and we hope Orkney as well, we're doing the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway, and I'm off to Canada in June and again in August. The work keeps coming in, and it has definitely been gathering pace since the competition.”