I'm a fiddle player, songwriter and composer from Cullivoe, in the Northern parts of Shetland, which is where I spend my non-touring, non-sailing time.
I take a lot of my inspiration from language, and explore the possibilities these offer in my music, working in my native Shaetlan (confirmed as a language in November 2025), and the lost language of Shetland Norn as well as English.
I've produced two albums (so far) of my own music, with the help of some very talented friends - listen at https://bandzoogle.com/albums
I'm one half of 'Aespeniða', along with Marimbist Miriam Iorwerth; and I've been part of groups such as ‘The Cullivoe Fiddlers’, France-based Americana trio ‘Tildon Krautz’, Dundee punk-bluegrass explosion ‘Wire and Wool’, and Shetland line-up ‘Rack and Ruin’.
This year I've been working on a Shetland-Faroese revival of our oldest song, the Hildina ballad. More info to come very soon - who knows, I may even manage to update my blog shortly! https://bandzoogle.com/blog.
Current projects promise to be something of a journey, and the destination is as yet unwritten - so there's lots to reveal and discover together!
I also run the Sessions and Sail musical sailing voyages and we've covered far more miles than ever before in 2025.
So, do keep in touch! Give my music a follow on Bandcamp or on your streaming platform of choice. And I'm always happy to respond to an email or message.
~Barry~