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When I started playing guitar in the 1990’s, I did so for one simple reason, to be able to open up a songbook of one of my favourite artists, and play, that was it.  I practised finger-style guitar from day one, although I can honestly say I have never had any guitar heroes, I just loved the sound of a finger-picked, 6 string acoustic.

Hero worship, for want of a better phrase, would eventually come in the form of wordsmiths: the writers who would paint vivid pictures of spectacular landscapes; writers bringing fictional characters within touching distance; writers who could put short stories to music and instantly take me to another place and time.

It was Nanci Griffiths who inspired me to start writing my own songs. I was really lucky to hear her for the first time. I remember trolling through my radio for something to listen to when I caught a brief sound of a voice that literally stopped me in my tracks. I had tuned in to a recording of one of Nanci’s concerts on BBC Radio Scotland, at the Glasgow Pavillion.  I had managed to catch the beginning of the show and sat awe-struck for an hour at her music.  Here was a writer who put snapshots of people’s lives into song, who wrote and sang about the unfortunate in love and life, who stood up for the outsider and delivered testimonials to lifelong friends, all wrapped up in gorgeous melodies and backed by beautiful guitar playing.

It was Nanci Griffiths who opened me up to a huge array of songwriters, such as Eric Taylor, Townes Van Zandt, Kate Wolf and a host of others, people who, for me, went against the grain when it came to songwriting.  It was like they took the attitude that if a new song turned out to be six minutes long so be it, despite some radio stations telling us that the attention span of listeners, couldn’t last for more than 180 seconds.

Catching that concert on the radio that night, all those years ago, gave me the motivation not only to write my own songs but to get out there and sing them.   So thank you Nanci!.