I would describe myself as a contemporary singer songwriter and poet from Edinburgh. I’ve been writing songs for longer than I care to remember although I’ve only really been performing for the last few years. I originally decided to record my first CD, birthmarked, as a way of documenting my songs and I’ve now produced another solo CD, The Journeyman. My music also features on three collaborative works; Companions, War On War and The Harbour At Symi as well as Speaking In Tongues with The Travelling Waverlies, a group of singer-songwriters and poets. I'm currently at the initial stages of starting another CD with the working title As Eden Lay In Darkness, which I hope will turn out to be a Tom Fairnie and The Snakes CD. 

If you wish to purchase a CD then please go to my music page and you'll find the store there. If you'd like to contact me then please email info@tomfairnie.com. If you'd like to leave me a comment or message then there's a guestbook just below the "News" section on this page. I look forward to hearing from you!

Updated 22nd January 2008

So begins 2008 and what an exciting year is in store for me and the Snakes. I'm laying down some guide tracks at the moment ahead of recording in March. The idea is to send them out to musician friends to see what can be added by way of arrangement. Some of the new songs are sounding really promising and I can't wait to hear them given the full Snakes treatment.

Look out for Foakies on 5th Feb in the Royal Oak, the great Dave Gibb is the featured artist, not to be missed!!


We're planning a tour of Germany in September so if anyone knows of any good venues with a listening audience (preferably not pubs) in the Hanover, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Koln, Bonn, Essen areas then please give us a shout.

In December we played a wonderful gig held under the banner of a Winter Wassail Weekend down at the Youth Hostel in Coldingham. It was a bit scary in that we were performing to a roomful of singers, and the other act of the evening were Stairheid Gossip, an amazing a cappella group of singers. It was a wonderful atmosphere and we seemed to go down really well.



 The Foakies on Tuesday the 6th November featured a Perthshire extravaganza of songwriting with the incredibly talented Perthshire based singer-songwriters Nick Allmark, Donald Buick and Michelle Hughes. Poetry was provided by Edinburgh poet, Mel O'Riordan. 

The Snakes and I had a very successful evening on 15th September in Glasgow at the annual Glasgow Festival of Songwriting competition at the Buchanan Hotel. Unfortunately Karen Dietz couldn't make it and we really missed her rich harmonies but even with that setback we managed to win through to the Final on 3rd November. Our nominated song for the competition was a new song called "Blue Part of My Heart" which I co-wrote with Bob Shields and is still to be recorded. The competition from the other songwriters was very strong with excellent songs from Mark Barnett, Kenny Vass, Nick Allmark, Stephen O'Brien, Rachel Dawick and Michelle Hughes. The judge was the highly respected Scottish singer-songwriter Alistair Hulett, and he narrowed his choice down to three songs, Rachel's, Michelle's and mine. I was dead chuffed when he announced my song as the winner and nominated it to go through to the final. 

The Final took place on 3rd November and although we didn't win we received some amazing audience feedback and felt our performance went really well. It was an honour to share the stage with local singer songwriters Vivien Scotson, Lindsey Dolan and Christine Bovill whose beautiful song "The Lighthouse Keeper" won the event. Also performing was one of my very favourite singer songwriters, Tom Clelland. 

The Snakes played Glenfarg Folk Club back in October and came across an amazing performer, Ciaran Dorris who is set to become a firm favourite. Look out for his music, you won't be disappointed! We also spent an afternoon at Jewel and Esk Valley College recording a track for a Snakes CD, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We look forward to hearing what the students come up with in the way of a mix. 

I was delighted to hear that Iain Anderson played "The Journeyman" the other evening, and I discovered quite by chance that "My Little Radio" was played on CBC Radio in Canada. It seems that word is spreading!

The Snakes also had a fabulous outing to the acclaimed annual Taybank Songwriters Festival in Dunkeld on Saturday 1st September 07 which was another huge success thanks to the efforts of Nick Allmark. The Snakes headlined and received a wonderful reception from a responsive and appreciative audience, we love playing this Festival and will be back next year! Worthy of a mention is a singer-songwriter new to us but well known on the Edinburgh scene known simply as Inge. If you get a chance to see her then please do, you won't be disapponted, her voice will simply melt you!  You can find her on  http://www.myspace.com/ingemusic

The Snakes also recently played a couple of gigs at The Village in Leith at the Southbound Sessions run by another fantastic songwriter, Simon Kempston who appeared at the September Foakies.


 
I was away recently on holiday up North with Jane, Bob Shields and his partner Maureen. Bob and I managed to write a couple of new songs and I performed one of these "Prada Heels" at the Edinburgh Folk Club's Annual Songwriting Competition on Wednesday 13th June 2007 at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar in Edinburgh. The event was won by Chris Rogers and the audience vote went to Lee Paterson with a superb song, "Mary Queen of Scotch"

Anyone who knows me will be aware that Jane and I just returned from a holiday on Symi, a beautiful Greek island in the Dodeconese. We co-wrote a song a couple of years back called "The Harbour At Symi" (available to download and to buy on this site) and this has now been noticed by a great website dedicated to Symi www.symigreece.com The site is well worth a visit to find out more about this amazing island, and if plans come to fruition there may well be a video based on our song in the near future, with many thanks to Will from Symi. 

Tom Fairnie and the Snakes have been asked to perform at Southbound Sessions at The Village in Leith on 29th July at 8.00pm 




 I recently played as a guest of the Lanarkshire Songwriters Tom Clelland, Dave Gibb and Billy Stewart at The Canon's Gait in Edinburgh. The gig, which was part of the Ceilidh Culture programme of events, was tremendous and I can't thank the guys enough for inviting me to participate.  

Driving home from a Snakes rehearsal a few weeks back we were listening to The Iain Anderson Show on Radio Scotland and he played When It Gets This Late In the Evening. I was just so thrilled. Iain is continuing to give me airplay which is so encouraging and it has really given me a boost in terms of confidence and as an incentive to get that Snakes cd recorded. He presents one of the best shows out there for contemporary songwriting. He has played people like Tom Clelland and others alongside Neil Young and Emmylou Harris and he always seems to me to go by the strength of the writing rather than reputations. Tom alerted me to the fact that I had been played when he wrote to tell me that he'd been listening to the radio on his way back from a gig and up came one of my songs and he thought "I recognise that". I could hardly be more proud.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/index.shtml



Tom Fairnie & The Snakes played at an event organised by Nick Allmark on Saturday the 24th of February. It was held in TheTaybank in Dunkeld and I think it was the best gig we've played. We felt that everyone who took part helped make it a great night. Nick did a great spot, Michelle Hughes showed tremendous promise and an increasing maturity in her songwriting and Karen Dietz demonstrated why we're so proud to have someone with her talent in The Snakes with a wonderful solo spot. it was good to hear such good songs and The Snakes got a great comment on this website (just scroll down the page).

I participated in an event at The Buchanan Hotel in Glasgow on Thursday the 1st of February. The evening was organised by Big Jim McKenna from the Glasgow Songwriters and featured songwriters from Glasgow and the Lanark Songwriters group. Rachel Dawick and I  represented Edinburgh. Tom Clelland won the competition with a really well written song, which I think was called Ladies Man, and he was suitably  'umble in his acceptance speech. Of course, all I hear now is "Why can't you write more like Tom Clelland?" 
http://glasgowfestivalofsongwriting.co.uk

 
The US based web radio station Folk Alley have included one of my songs, Wild Geese, in their January Alleycast. This is a considerable achievement as they only select four songs a month from their Open Mic section for the podcast and they have thousands to choose from. 
 You can find more of my songs on Folk Alley at
http://www.folkalley.com/openmic/artist.php?id=141
 
I've also been getting some airplay on a Dublin radio station. I met Dermot Rogers in The Jazz Bar in Chambers Street last year and we have kept in touch. Dermot hosts a great show and has already featured one of my songs sandwiched in between Paul Brady and Bob Dylan. It doesn't get much better does it. Try giving it a listen at
http://dublincityannaliviafm.com/

My myspace website at www.myspace.com/tomfairnie seems to be thriving, mainly due to the loving attention and hard work that Jane puts into it's promotion. To illustrate just how impressive a website it can be just consider that we recently had a myspace friend, Vinnie James, as a house guest. Vinnie has a great voice and is a charismatic performer. He and I spent hours discussing songwriting and it was a real thrill to meet him. Now he's a real friend as well as a virtual one. Check him out at...
http://vinniejames.com/

Likewise, it was through myspace that we met Simon Kempston who was outstanding the last time he played Foakies and we look forward to him returning for a main spot. He's at www.myspace.com/simonkempston

I also got a few CDs in the post this week from a songwriter called Ed Askew. I recalled buying his LP Ask The Unicorn round about 1969 and I think we lost it in a house fire about six years later. It was a rare ESP disc and I gave it up as lost so you can imagine how pleased I was to contact Ed direct via myspace and let him know that he was an influence on my music. He sent me a copy of the CD along with another two more recent recordings. It's certainly a strange world. Try a Google search for Ed Askew Ask The Unicorn and find out what a tiple is.

Having a myspace website is a tremendous boost, especially seeing the performers who have agreed to be friends. It's a good way to network so please give it a visit and take a look at http://www.myspace.com/tomfairnie
If you have a myspace site then please feel free to link up. It's strange to see your own name alongside people like Leonard Cohen and Neil Young but I admire these people so much. It can feel like being a trophy hunter (or an anorak) but what can I do? I really owe these performers and writers so much and I simply want to let people know that I wouldn't be the writer I am if it wasn't for having listened to their music or read their poetry.

In December I was the featured songwriter on The Garden Sessions a web based show created and run by Jack Foster and Tom Harland. Jack interviewed me and I recall talking my usual nonsense but it was still a very enjoyable experience. My one big apology to Jack is that I continue to call him Frank for some inexplicable reason. he seems to take it quite amicably but I just feel like a twit once I realise I've done it again. I know this isn't exactly a big deal but I thought it best to be frank :-)  http://www.gardensessions.co.uk/

Tom Fairnie and The Snakes headlined at Foakies on Tuesday the 5th of December. It was a small but appreciative audience. I think The Snakes performed really well considering it was only our third gig and the first one with all of The Snakes in attendance. I had a great time and I hope the audience did as well.

The other performers at December's Foakies were The Metrognomes aka Mark Rafferty and Andrea Tomlinson , Dutch poet Harry Zevenbergen and my fellow Foakies organiser, Mark Barnett.  They were all exceptional. I recognised a poem of Harry's that I only previously heard in Dutch, which I thought was impressive. Mark sang some songs from his upcoming CD and included my favourite song of his Jackie Winter, which is one of the best songs I've heard in a very long time. Mark and Andrea were wonderful. I love their songs and their sound. Andrea has a voice somewhere between Sandy Denny and Jaquie McShee, I praised them the last time they appeared at Foakies but I have to say, they have improved. They have youth on their side and if they don't make it huge there is something seriously wrong with the music industry. If you get a chance to see any of these performers don't miss it. You can check out The Metrognomes on myspace and Mark will be promoting that new CD very soon.

I've been asked by Ewan McVicker to become involved in The New Makars Trust and as soon as I can I'll be doing as much as possible to promote songwriting. Watch this space for news.

The idea has been to make my songs available for free in order to let people hear my music and raise my profile. I have about thirty new songs still to be recorded, from which will come the next CD. I just wanted to let anyone who may be interested know that, as soon as I can afford the resources, I'll be recording again and I'll be asking / begging for help from all my friends. I love the way the songs come alive through the arrangements and I can't imagine anything better than hearing them with contributions from people like Arthur, Kathy, Ken, Karen, Jane, Mark, Killian, Pamela, Peter, Kenny, Gill, Martin and all the rest. I'm proposing to make the next CD available for download only but re-record better versions of some of the older tracks like Drowned In Love and the song everyone knows as "Rockin' Rollin' Boy" etc and make them available for free on Folk Alley and myspace.  All I need is time, money and a bit of blood, sweat and tears. It would be nice to make something out of all of this in order that I could show all of the performers how grateful I am for their help and support but as everyone knows; if you want to make a million in folk music...start off with two!

I'm trying to find time to organise various music projects such as a tour and recording with The Snakes, promoting and selling songs on the web, recording a new CD and trying to do as many gigs and singarounds as possible. There are some pictures on this website from The Snakes EdRush gig at The Village. They're on The Snakes page under Snaps.

We recently went to Wanlockhead to participate in a marathon singaround organised by songwriter Dave Gibb. He is one of the finest guitar players in the land and he writes exceptional songs. I've been a fan of his since Martin Boland and I invited him to play in the Songwriters Showcase, which was the forerunner of Foakies. Dave is left handed and managed to play an upside down mandolin better than most folk can manage sober. The venue was the local pub and it was a bit raucous at times so some of my songs were lost in the ether between my seat and the bar but it was still enjoyable and we met some really nice folk.

Jane and I made our first appearance at Leith Folk Club back in June . We supported Nuala Kennedy and Friends it was a great night and we really enjoyed performing there. Leith Folk Club takes place at the Village, South Fort St, Leith.  www.leithfolkclub.com

Foakies in September featured the amazing Martin Stephenson. Martin is a songwriter, whose career I've followed for a long time; I've got cassettes of The Boy's Heart, Gladsome Homour and Blue and Boat to Bolivia so that should give you some idea. Martin has written the kind of songs that evoke lots of memories for me so his appearance at Foakies was very special. Mark and I were privileged to play the support spots for Martin and it was an absolutely thrilling experience all round. I can't imagine anyone went away dissappointed. Foakies has it's own site now on http://www.myspace.com/foakies/  

I appeared at the Taybank Songwriters Festival at Dunkeld in September and suffered a bit from having to mic my guitar. I noted that some of the songwriting talent on display had developed since last year and it's very encouraging to see plenty of young singer songwriters doing so well. Check out Nick Allmark's website for more information.  http://www.nickallmark.co.uk/

"The Aleph" was selected for the recent Open Mic competition in Folk Alley and I was really pleased  to come fourth as I was amongst some fine songwriters like Chad Elliott, Sam Hensley and Dale Marsh. You can hear all of the songs and more on http://openmic.folkalley.com/openmic/
I think you'll find that it's a very good site. I really appreciated the  support of those who voted and you can still visit the open mic page, rate my songs and leave a comment. It all helps to keep the profile up...it's cheaper than surgery.

I've already posted about twelve or thirteen songs on Folk Alley at
http://openmic.folkalley.com/ and at http://www.myspace.com/tomfairnie

You can also hear me on Pure Volume http://www.purevolume.com/tomfairnie 

Another good website for finding out about the local Edinburgh folk scene is
 http://www.eufolksoc.org.uk it's the site of the Edinburgh University Folk Society.

More news will be added here in due course.