Luke Daniels

One of the UK’s top folk and acoustic performers, Luke Daniels emerged from the covid-19 pandemic with a HND in Computer Aided Draughting and Design, a reclaimed squash court laid as solid wood flooring across most of his home and two pedigree Savannah cats. Time though, to return though to what he does best.

A virtuoso musician and singer who performs his own versions of classic folk songs alongside traditional tunes on the melodeon. Luke has been touring since the mid 1990’s as a session musician with Riverdance, De Dannan and Cara Dillon but since 2012 has released eight critically acclaimed solo albums of his own songs and music. Revolve and Rotate in 2014 used a large Victorian music box called a polyphon that played his own unique accompaniments to classic folk songs such as Canadee-IO.

Originally from Oxfordshire, though now based in Glasgow Luke developed a passion for Irish traditional music as a child, learning to play the button box from Connemara man Paddy Coyne who ran the local Irish pub but also remembers being enthralled by the folk songs and tunes of his own Scottish and English parents who played wooden flute and concertina. His unique style of playing guitar flowered in histeens after discovering singers such as Nick Drake and John Martyn. He’s performed at many of the UK’s top festivals including Cambridge and Celtic Connections and appeared a guest on BBC Radio 2’s Folk Programme. His fourth and latest songs album “Old Friends and Exhausted Enemies” reworked lines, phrases and imagery from Chaucer, Jonson, Burns, Dryden, Browning and Auden into a collection of new songs which as a result, reference some of our most beautiful English verse.