Calum Baird

Bio

Calum Baird is a young singer-songwriter from Edinburgh. With a long track record of playing venues from Aberdeen, to London across to Berlin and Lisbon receiving much praise, admiration and recognition along the way. He writes and sings his own particular style of folky-blues formed from tales of love and woe and heartfelt political commentaries and observations. In January 2014, he released his debut EP, Nothing to Lose, on Folk Rag Records and was described as ‘Dylan-esque’ by Music News Scotland. Since then, he has shared stages with Scottish Folk legend Arthur Johnstone, Maeve MacKinnon, Ewan McLennan, US singer/songwriter David Rovics, Nick Mercer Jr, Tom Hingley of the Inspiral Carpets, Kyle Falconer of The View and the legendary Scottish folk musician, Dick Gaughan. He also reached the finals of a Scotland-wide song writing competition. 2015 saw Calum featuring on the Edinburgh Open Mic ‘The Listening Room’s Best of album’. He released his own debut album, No Right Turn, in addition to playing over 170 gigs throughout Scotland. He rounded off the year by being named the Best Solo/Acoustic act at the Alternative Music in Falkirk awards and performing live on Scottish Television’s The Fountainbridge Show. 2016 has also been a busy year. January saw Calum play in Berlin, followed up with a Scotland wide tour which took him to Stirling, Edinburgh, Falkirk, West Lothian, the Scottish Borders, Glasgow and Fife. Calum also supported Kyle Falconer of the brilliant Scottish band, The View. In May, he made a cameo appearance at the Edinburgh May Day Festival. As if that wasn’t hectic enough, Calum performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the fourth year in a row with over thirty shows including two at the BBC Castle Tent. The Morning Star newspaper also featured Calum’s song The Ever Willing Soldier on their album to commemorate the papers 50th birthday. His debut album, No Right Turn, received nominations for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, putting it on the SAY scoreboard. In September he played four shows to much acclaim at the 40th anniversary edition of the legendary Festa do Avante, in Lisbon. In October he has gigs planned in Inverness and London. In addition to releasing his single, I Still Believe in an Alternative on November 8th 2016. Looking ahead to 2017, in February Calum will be appearing at festivals in Madrid and Berlin and in April he is booked to play a festival in Catalonia and also a return to Berlin. He will also to play his fifth consecutive Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August as well as performing at various venues and events around Scotland. "Like all good folk artists, Baird is both excellent lyrically and instrumentally." - The Pond. "...soulful vocals so smooth it could make the most bitter of pills easier to swallow." - NHC Music. "Calum Baird...has delivered an excellent debut album but live he is a revelation with a charisma and presence that gives his songs a whole new dimension." - The Morning Star.

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