Travelling North is the debut album from this Edinburgh-based folk trio. Curmudgeon is made up of Donald Gorman, Laurie Brett, Donald Gorman and Andrew Macintyre

Donald Gorman is a highly rated Edinburgh-based fiddle player specialising in traditional Scottish music. He also plays mandola and adds accompanying vocals on the album.

Laurie Brett, meanwhile, is the band’s lead singer and guitarist and although originally from Essex, he’s spent the last four decades based in Scotland.

The third member of the trio, Andrew Macintyre, is a familiar figure on the Edinburgh folk session scene and a teacher of small pipes and highland pipes. In the band he plays Scottish small pipes and various whistles as well as providing vocals.

The ten-track album features five songs interspersed with five tune-sets. The songs are drawn from the trad. arr. canon with a couple of contemporary folk-scene favourites thrown in, including a reworking of the Richard Thompson classic ‘Beeswing’. Meanwhile the tune-sets feature a charming array of traditional  jigs, airs, reels and hornpipes originating from Scotland and the north of England.

There’s a quiet, gentle dignity about the trio’s music but no shortage of creativity. The arrangements are built around the wonderful musical interplay between the three musicians. The warm, engaging vocals of  both Brett and Macintyre bring empathy and sincerity to the storytelling in each of the songs and informative liner-notes provide insightful background information on the origins of each of the compositions.

Regardless of the name, it’s clear the trio have been anything but curmudgeonly in the way they’ve approached the making of Travelling North. A lovely debut.  

Released: 1 June 2025 https://www.curmudgeonfolk.co.uk/