Biography
Alasdair Fraser ranks among Scotland’s most pivotal fiddlers grounded in traditional styles. He relocated to California during the 1980s, captured the open division of the Scottish National Fiddle Championship on two occasions, and has devoted his professional life to exploring and broadening his country’s musical heritage via concerts, solo releases, and respected partnerships that include longtime pianist Paul Machlis together with the ensemble Skydance. Starting in the early 2000s, Fraser teamed with American cellist Natalie Haas to produce well-received recordings such as the 2004 Scots Trad Award winner Fire and Grace, Highlander's Farewell from 2011, and Ports of Call issued in 2017. Beyond establishing popular fiddle camps in both California and Scotland and logging numerous BBC radio and television appearances plus multiple guest spots on A Prairie Home Companion, he contributed to the soundtracks of Titanic, Braveheart, and The Last of the Mohicans.
Born in Clackmannan, Scotland, Fraser took up the fiddle at age eight, acquiring classical technique through school instruction while absorbing traditional repertoire at home on his grandfather’s instrument. During adolescence he performed with local dance bands and grew steadily drawn to Scottish fiddle music, launching a lifelong commitment to studying and safeguarding that heritage. In the early 1980s his role as a petrophysicist with British Petroleum transferred him to the United States, where he established residence in California. Remaining intensely engaged with music and attracted to certain American idioms he encountered, he left his position to pursue music full time, issuing his first album, Portrait of a Scottish Fiddler, in 1984. That year he also launched Valley of the Moon, a fiddle camp situated in the California Redwoods, which he would oversee for the following thirty years. Throughout the rest of the decade he continued recording, completing two projects alongside pianist Paul Machlis and another with multi-instrumentalist Jody Stecher while steadily enlarging his repertoire and solidifying his standing as a master performer.
Fraser’s 1996 release Dawn Dance marked his initial collection of entirely original material and earned a NAIRD award for best Celtic album. Its reception prompted him to assemble the band Skyedance, drawing on musicians who had appeared on the record, among them longtime associate Paul Machlis at the piano. Skyedance delivered its debut group album, Way Out to Hope Street, in 1997, featuring thirteen collectively written instrumentals alongside a revised medley of traditional dance tunes that Fraser and Machlis had first documented in 1986. In addition to his enduring work with Machlis, Fraser has maintained regular collaborations with guitarist Tony McManus and, from 2003 onward, has sustained a highly successful duo with cellist Natalie Haas that has produced multiple acclaimed recordings. Their opening album, Fire and Grace, secured Album of the Year honors at the Scots Trad Music Awards. Fraser has also performed with the Waterboys, the Chieftains, and Itzhak Perlman, among others. During this period he created a second California summer program, Sierra Fiddle Camp, and inaugurated an ongoing fiddle camp on the Isle of Skye in his native Scotland. His projects with Haas continued into the following decade, encompassing Highlander's Farewell in 2011, Abundance in 2014, and Ports of Call in 2017, all issued on his own Culburnie Records label.
Born in Clackmannan, Scotland, Fraser took up the fiddle at age eight, acquiring classical technique through school instruction while absorbing traditional repertoire at home on his grandfather’s instrument. During adolescence he performed with local dance bands and grew steadily drawn to Scottish fiddle music, launching a lifelong commitment to studying and safeguarding that heritage. In the early 1980s his role as a petrophysicist with British Petroleum transferred him to the United States, where he established residence in California. Remaining intensely engaged with music and attracted to certain American idioms he encountered, he left his position to pursue music full time, issuing his first album, Portrait of a Scottish Fiddler, in 1984. That year he also launched Valley of the Moon, a fiddle camp situated in the California Redwoods, which he would oversee for the following thirty years. Throughout the rest of the decade he continued recording, completing two projects alongside pianist Paul Machlis and another with multi-instrumentalist Jody Stecher while steadily enlarging his repertoire and solidifying his standing as a master performer.
Fraser’s 1996 release Dawn Dance marked his initial collection of entirely original material and earned a NAIRD award for best Celtic album. Its reception prompted him to assemble the band Skyedance, drawing on musicians who had appeared on the record, among them longtime associate Paul Machlis at the piano. Skyedance delivered its debut group album, Way Out to Hope Street, in 1997, featuring thirteen collectively written instrumentals alongside a revised medley of traditional dance tunes that Fraser and Machlis had first documented in 1986. In addition to his enduring work with Machlis, Fraser has maintained regular collaborations with guitarist Tony McManus and, from 2003 onward, has sustained a highly successful duo with cellist Natalie Haas that has produced multiple acclaimed recordings. Their opening album, Fire and Grace, secured Album of the Year honors at the Scots Trad Music Awards. Fraser has also performed with the Waterboys, the Chieftains, and Itzhak Perlman, among others. During this period he created a second California summer program, Sierra Fiddle Camp, and inaugurated an ongoing fiddle camp on the Isle of Skye in his native Scotland. His projects with Haas continued into the following decade, encompassing Highlander's Farewell in 2011, Abundance in 2014, and Ports of Call in 2017, all issued on his own Culburnie Records label.
Albums
