I have been recording since the mid 1960s and after several recording with different groups I went solo in the 70s. During that time I worked the Montreal clubs including The Irish Lancer, The Fyfe And Drum, Finnegans and The Saint James Pub. For a spell at the Irish Lancer and The Saint James Pub I teamed up with fellow Scot and friend Gordon Lee. Before that time with Gordon I recorded two LPs, the first "A Man With A Song In His Heart" then "Folksongs". Gordon can be heard on some cuts of the Folksongs album. The Montreal year was a great time in my life and it was so much fun to release these albums years later on a CD. They feature some of my old friends from those days, John Paul, Frank Taylor, Gilles Lossier, Liam Daly, Richard Duffy at studios in Halifax and Doug Trineer's studio in Montreal. Photos taken by Liz Barnett and fan and girlfriend support from Julia and Joy. I decided not to "embellish" them but just to leave them the way they were first recorded. Left the same liner notes from each album in the CD cover. Hope you enjoy. Carl was born and raised in Greenock, Scotland, on the banks of the River Clyde, where a great shipbuilding industry flourished for hundreds of years. In the 1800's, many Irish came to these lowland shipyards looking for work, joining the throngs of Scottish Highlanders who had been chased from their hills and glens. Seafaring men from other nations as well, joined the ranks in the Clyde Valley shipyards. One of these adventurers, a Swedish sailor, married a highland lass in Port Glasgow - they were Carl's great-grandparents. Thus, Carl was born four generations hence, a Nordic Scot, with Swedes on one side and Highlanders on the other; an ancestry sprinkled with surnames such as McLean, McBryde, Caithness, Duke, and somewhere an Irish McGuire. Over all these years Carl has released over 25 recordings, 1 video and published one book. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 Carl's CD Songs of the South with Bagpipes and Banjos won the Vintage Album of the Year award from The Southern Heritage Music Association. It was with the release of his highly acclaimed double CD, Scotland Remembers The Alamo and the follow up release of the companion book Now's The Day And Now's Hour that Carl has taken an interest in writing. The double CD and the book chronicle the strong influence of the Scots and Scotch-Irish at The Alamo and in early Texas history. Canada Carl came to Canada in the 1960’s where he started playing the guitar and eventually singing with two highly successful groups. The first was The Patmacs, from 1964-1965, a quartet of folk musicians singing songs of Scotland, Ireland, England and USA with a smattering of calypso thrown in. This group performed on, and produced, singer Johnnie Forrest's first two record albums for the Don Messer Jubilee show, one of Canada's top national TV shows. Carl was offered a spot on the show but declined for a chance at a different kind of music. At the beginning of the British invasion in 1965 Carl was talked into "going rock" by long time friend Ron McLachlan who had newly arrived from Scotland. They were joined by another Scot, Alan Cramsie, and two Canadians to form The King Beezz. This group would go on to set trends in Canada with 4 hit songs, tours across the country and performances on many of the top pop shows nationally. Although they were based in Canada they were considered part of the British Invasion. Following the break up of The King Beezz Carl turned his attention to folk once again, reforming The Patmacs this time with two lovely young ladies from Edmonton, an Irishman, an Englishman and another Scot. After a few short months of performing at live shows and TV appearances they were signed by Capitol Records of Canada and almost immediately embarked on a 2 year tour that took them clear across Canada with live performances and national TV shows. The group was also offered a permanent spot on another popular national TV show, All Around the Circle, from St. John's, Newfoundland but declined in favor of continued touring. For more information about these two groups visit patmacs.com and kingbeezz.com. After the breakup of the 2nd edition of The Patmacs Carl went solo and settled in Montreal where he released 2 solo LPs. While in Montreal he spent two very successful years with fellow Scot Gordon Lee. They regularly "packed them in" for months at The Irish Lancer and for two years at The St James Pub. Carl has recently cut his performing schedule to about two festivals a month from May until November so that he has time to concentrate on his 2nd book, tentatively titled Ewan Colin Coupar and a Touch of the Fae, although he hasn't put a deadline on the book's release (it looks like it might turn into more than one book). Apart from writing, Carl has been enjoying his days playing golf, sailing, kayaking, he tries to stay in shape jogging and orienteering. Meanwhile Carl's recordings continue selling worldwide as he works on new releases at his studio in Pennsylvania.