Ayrshire leads the way on TV

Hot gossip from the local music scene

Hello folks - I hope you are doing well!

I was so chuffed to see one of Ayrshire’s finest singers grace my TV screen as Craig Martin Ward popped up on The Voice.

He is one of the most charismatic and expressive singers I’ve ever heard from Ayrshire and it’s a huge positive to see that Craig has decided to go for it after I’d not heard anything in a few years.

I hope it’s going to be a big success story for him as he is someone who deserves acclaim and attention.

His songs In My Bones and All I Deserve are incredible compositions that I felt could become popular anthems but perhaps it’s art imitating life with his album released a few years ago entitled, Good Things Come to Those Who Wait. Good luck Craig, Ayrshire is rooting for you! Ayrshire songwriter Lawrie Martin is in the running to pen the official song for the United Kingdom’s entry in this year’s Eurovision Competition. This is seriously huge stuff.

Lawrie’s composition, Never Give Up On You, will be performed by Lucie Jones on BBC Two, Friday at 7: 30pm.

Lawrie, a hugely talented musician and songwriter has been in demand for years now across the industry, and his songwriting is now starting to feature in BBC Radio playlists with Zak Abel performing his material.

The winner of will be decided by a combination of viewer and jury votes and the public can vote for their favourite song via telephone or online.

I am so absolutely chuffed for Lawrie and seriously hope his song will be chosen to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision. All the very best to you Lawrie!

The Ayrshire Music Festival has released its programme which will take place in March at Ayr Town Hall. It features some of the best classical musicians from Ayrshire and beyond and with vocalists, string players and brass there is something for everyone.

The level of organisation and preparation is remarkable and if you want to see the stars of the future this is the place to be. There are a huge number of prizes and trophies awarded and previous winners have gone on to national orchestras and to tour internationally.

The very first Ayrshire Music Festival was held in 1912, was suspended during the First and Second World Wars and has ran every year since. Fascinating!

An Ayrshire songwriter has been invited to work on new compositions focusing on reducing the stigma attached to mental health. Killie lass Rebecca Herd has been working with See Me Scotland, an organisation dedicated to ending mental health discrimination.

Working with the See Me Ensemble, she will tonight ( Wednesday) perform at St Luke’s in Glasgow at the launch of a project which saw musicians work with people with experience of mental health issues.

It’s my own thinking that most of us are affected by mental health issues at some point and I’m always so pleased to see people tackling the stigma of the issue, which is a very common one and can affect us all.

It’s important to talk about our mental health, our feelings and our life experience and music is one way of connecting with people to do that. ‘ Til next week, @ littlefire