Colourblind launched May 2012

Duncan McCrone is a Glasgow-based singer-songwriter whose musical CV goes right back to the early seventies, when he joined Hot Toddy, with Billy Ross (of Ossian fame) and Cy Jack, who has been his songwriting partner and fellow musician in virtually every musical venture since.

Hot Toddy evolved into the five-piece folk-rock band Dapplegrim, which had considerable success until calling it a day in 1976 - Billy fronting the newly-formed Ossian, Cy joining jazz-blues outfit Ciacona and Duncan embarking on a ludicrous pop career under the name 'Duncan Aran' , signing to a Glasgow independent label, Pulsar Records and releasing a couple of singles, to widespread indifference...

In the true tradition of the failed pop idol, Duncan spent a couple of years playing bass guitar in covers bands before landing his (ahem) big break in 1982, when well-established folk band the Clydesiders, who had just amicably parted company with their guitarist Tommy Lyon, discovered that young McCrone more or less fitted his discarded stage outfit....

Duncan McCrone

Duncan stayed with the Clydesiders for eighteen years, until the band called it a day in 2000, however during this time he and Cy had been developing their songwriting, and branching into writing and recording music for film and TV with their production company Ranza Music. This seemed to be the way ahead for Duncan, however in 2001 he was contacted by Iain Hunter, of Glasgow label Downtown Records, who offered to put the money up for a live CD album, if Duncan wanted to put a band together......

.......and so was born the Tron Band (after the theatre used for the live recording). A philosophy of Duncan and Cy's is that they work only with friends - no unknown session players - so a few phone calls and a few more drinks later the line-up was confirmed as Duncan & Cy with fiddler Chris Stout, guitarist Jim Yule, multi-instrumentalist Stevie Lawrence and Lindisfarne stalwart Ray Laidlaw on drums. Former Dapplegrim band-mate Billy Ross travelled down from his home on Skye to play on a couple of tracks, and the finished album, 'Just a Glasgow Boy' was released in November 2001. This was followed in 2006 with a studio album 'All You Need to Know' on Edinburgh label The Music Kitchen, co-produced by former Bay City Roller stuart 'Woody' Wood.

The Duncan McCrone Band - which Duncan prefers to think of as the 'Duncan and Cy Band' is now well-established in the Scottish folk scene, usually as a trio of Duncan, Cy and Stevie Lawrence, although on special occasions when their friends' busy diaries allow it, they still put Tron Band concerts together with Chris Stout, Ray Laidlaw and acclaimed piper Finlay Macdonald.

Duncan's third album 'Colourblind', was recorded in Glasgow in autumn 2011, and is being released on Edinburgh indie label Circular Records in May 2012.

www.duncanmccrone.com/