Jamie McClennan

Bio

Arenowned fiddle player in his native country, New Zealand, Jamie moved to Scotland 20 years ago to pursue a career in music. With a great ability to back singers and improvise on songs, Jamie’s passion remains in the genres that bring the lyrics to life; Americana, Country, Folk and Singer-Songwriter. He’s performed with great American artists like Jerry Douglas and Aoife O’Donovan as well as a raft of UK artists – Emily Smith, Eddi Reader, John McCusker, Phil Cunningham and more.

Growing up in New Zealand, Jamie began his musical journey learning classical piano at age 7 and carrying on through all the grades and certificates. He started to learn violin as a 9 year old and complimented his classical training by playing fiddle with blues and roots musicians as well as performing in local bands. He mainly tours now with his wife, the multi-award winning Scottish singer, Emily Smith. They have released 9 studio albums under Emily’s name and released their first duo album ‘Small Town Stories’ under the name Smith and McClennan, in November 2019. The album has 8 McClennan originals and a couple of reworked traditional songs.

Living in Scotland for more than 20 years now, Jamie has toured with Emily throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Russia and Australasia. Performing at festivals, theatres and clubs as both a duo and with a full band. Jamie has performed live on BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris Show, The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe and Good Morning Sunday. TV credits include live sessions on BBC Songs of Praise, BBC Hogmanay Show and SkyArts. He also played fiddle and acted in Series 5 of the TV show OUTLANDER.

During lockdown in 2021 he started working with Dumfries singer Grant Dinwoodie and joined his new band, The Lucky Doves, as fiddle player.

As well as his live work, Jamie also has a recording studio where he regularly records remote sessions for musicians and bands requiring fiddle or string parts.

Jamie recently took on the job as strings teacher for the Dumfries and Galloway Council working in schools throughout the region.

He teaches both piano and fiddle privately and is a firefighter with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.