Bill Adair
As well as being a fine guitar player Bill Adair is one of Scotland’s busiest and most respected singer/songwriters. Combining influences from folk and blues, Bill’s music addresses universal themes of love, work, loss and redemption and whose award winning songs have won plaudits from all round the world. He is equally at home singing a traditional Scottish ballad, playing blues from the Mississippi Delta or performing one of his own songs, and his performances are complemented by a natural story-telling style that is both thought-provoking and entertaining.
From his home near Glasgow, Bill is much in demand at festivals and folk clubs all over the UK and throughout Europe and New Zealand. He is widely recognised as a renowned interpreter of the poems and songs of Robert Burns.
In 2012 Bill was approached by The Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow to record some of the songs of Robert Burns for their ‘Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century’. These recordings are available initially as a digital download from www.gla.ac.uk/editingrobertburnsforthe21stcentury
Bill Lists his greatest musical influences as Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, Bill Broonzy, Hoagy Carmichael, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Stefan Grossman, Bob Dylan, Chris Smither, Doc Watson, Eric Clapton, Eric Bibb, Ralph McTell and Rory Block.
For those of you interested in what Bill has in his guitar case, on stage he plays a Martin 00028 and a Martin J18. He uses Elixir light gauge strings, capos up with a Shubb and plays with National thumbpicks.