Willie started his professional music career touring his native Scotland with the band "Legal Tender". Influenced by the best of the 70's melodic songwriting and tight harmonies that seems to have been shoved aside in the edgy grunge movement of the 90's. Willie's songs focus on recapturing the warmth and honesty of back-to-basics organic songs that move you.
Musical Style: Organic Retro Folk/Country with a contemporary Celtic/Scots edge.
Skills: Vocals (Lead/Harmony), Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Bass, Flute, Harmonica, Banjo, Mandolin
Similar Artists: If the Beach Boys sang of Scottish shores instead of surf and sun and Sean Connery had the vocal range of Rascal Flatts with John Mayer on mandolin and the Eagles on harmones, you might get an idea of Willies' unique brand of music.
Bio
Willie McCulloch, Singer/Songwriter (BMI)
Skills: Vocals (Lead/ Harmony), Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Bass, Flute, Harmonica, Banjo, Mandolin
Musical Style: Organic Retro Folk/Country with a contemporary Celtic/ Scot edge
Biography:
Willie started his professional music career touring his native Scotland with the band ?Legal Tender?. Influenced by the best of the 70s melodic songwriting and tight harmonies that seem to have been shoved aside in the edgy grunge movement of the 90s, Willie?s songs focus on recapturing the warmth of honesty of back-to-basics organic songs that move you.
Over the past 2 years Willie has been crafting his music more towards Film/TV composing and having his music placed in Independent film and with Film/TV music libraries.
Currently:
Music score completed for Indy film ?Dreams of an Angel?, Jagged Edge Films. Film in final editing.
Begining work on music for underwater documentary.
Recent Accomplishments:
2006- Composing the score for Indy film "Dreams of an Angel", Jagged Edge Films.
2006- ?Haul Awa` Lads? featured in Sing-Out magazine.
2006- 10 song original Celtic instrumental CD commissioned by Mediatone Music.
2006- ?Leviathan? licensed to Greenpeace International for video use.
2006- ?Johnny Fae Argyll? placed in Independent film ?The Wall?
2005- 2nd place in Unisong Competition, World Category (Outer Hebrides)
2003- Song ?The Buffalo Grass? co-written with A. Crimmins & Clay Canfield released on
Chris LeDoux?s HORSEPOWER CD on Capitol Label
2002- Winner in Great American Song Contest - World (?Sea Field Coal?)
GreenMan Review of Auld Tales
Review from "The Green Man Review"
http://www.greenmanreview.com/cd/cd_mcculloch_auldtales.html
Willie McCulloch, Auld Tales & New (Own release, 2005)
I get to listen to and review literally hundreds of albums each year. It would be easy to just gloss over albums from performers I have never heard of before or maybe am not familiar with, but every now and again you put one of these albums on to play, and it makes you sit up and take notice. This is one such album.
It's true what they say, "You can take the man out of Scotland, but ye'll never take the Scot out of the man". Willie McCulloch is one such man. Originally from Fife in Scotland, these days he lives in Bridgewater, Connecticut, U.S.A. This fact alone settled my curiosity over his accent and some of the words in his songs; life in Connecticut seems to have rubbed off on him. Nothing wrong with that, for his mid-Atlantic Scottish accent makes it all the easier to understand the lyrics.
To some extent, this is truly an amazing piece of recording, mainly because not only are the songs outstandingly good, they have all the sound and flavour of a recording originating in Scotland. Willie is a talented multi-instrumentalist, and he is a damn good singer as well. I was impressed by the album and by the quality of the vocal harmony, which put me in mind of The McCalmans, so I wondered why I had never heard of Willie and his band before. How could something this good get through the net without being noticed? It transpired that on top of all the instrumentation being played by Willie, he did all the vocals and harmonies as well. It seems that living in Connecticut he couldn't find any other like-minded musicians - so he did it all himself. Willie has written all but one of the songs on this album. The net result may be a little unorthodox, but it really is outstanding.
As you can imagine, Willie has taken the subject matter for his songs from life in Scotland and his visits to Ireland. So you can file this one firmly under Celtic song. I received a very early 'press copy' of the album, which is very sparse on information and song notes, but not to worry, because when I put the album on and hit play, my juices started to run straightaway. The instrumentation is kept to barest minimum and is very tastefully done to allow the melody of the tune and the words to carry the songs. Indeed, the album starts with a Capella song 'Kylenagranagh', which is augmented by harmonies. It sets the tone for the rest of the album nicely and is followed by 'Outer Hebrides', 'Wee Jimmy Lowrie', 'Haul Awa' Lads' and 'Fender Bay', all of which can be classed as sea songs. A change of tone is next with 'Seafield Coal', a song about the early days in a coalmine that stretches out beneath the sea.
To add even more variation, there is a cracking good song called 'The Story of Burke & Hare' about the infamous grave robbers in Edinburgh.
After 'Swing William Swing' about William Wallace and 'Deep Water', the album finishes with 'Broken Hearts in Ireland' another song touching on the Irish Troubles. It is hard to pick just one song as the best on the album, so my vote goes to 'Outer Hebrides', 'Wee Jimmy Lowrie' and 'Seafield Coal'. All the songs are contemporary, but if you are a traditional fan don't be put off, for they are sung and presented in a neo-traditional style.
Conclusion: this is an album brimming full of songs that are just begging to be sung, and should be popular with any professional folk singer or, for that matter, a band looking for new material. I've got my eye on one or two! So if you have a passion for excellent folk song with a taste of Scotland, this one's for you.
[Peter Massey]
The Green Man Review