Jim Malcolm (born James Douglas Malcolm) is a traditional

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

folk musician Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has bee ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, and recording artist. He was the lead singer of the

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band the

Old Blind Dogs Old Blind Dogs is a Scottish musical group which plays traditional Scottish folk music and Celtic music, with influences from rock, reggae, jazz, blues, and Middle Eastern music rhythms. Background The three founding members of the band (Ian ...

for eight years, before beginning a solo career.

Early life

Malcolm was born in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

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, in 1964 to parents Helen Grewar and Erick Malcolm. His mother, Helen, was involved in the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland. Jim learnt the guitar while at school. After moving to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

to live with his grandmother, he attended

Perth High School Perth High School is a six-year, non-denominational comprehensive secondary school in Perth, Scotland. Established in 1950 at Gowans Terrace in a post-war prefabricated structure of a type that had not previously been used for any large school i ...

. After secondary school he attended the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, initially studying Chemistry before switching to a General Arts degree. He started his career as a professional musician after graduating from the university.

Musical career

During his eight years as lead singer of the established folk-rock band the

, Malcolm toured various music festivals in

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and

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. As a solo musician, Malcolm blend
Scots vocals
with simultaneous acoustic guitar, and harmonica playing. His work is inspired by old Scots songs, poems, and tunes, and he writes new lyrics for old tunes. Malcolm also draws influence from Scotland's national poet,

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

. He also takes historical inspiration from Scots of the past, such as

William Soutar William Soutar (28 April 1898 – 15 October 1943) was a Scottish poet and diarist who wrote in English and in Braid Scots. He is known best for his epigrams. Life and works William Soutar was born on 28 April 1898 on South Inch Terrace in P ...

and

Tannahill Tannahill may refer to: * Jordan Tannahill (born 1988), Canadian playwright and filmmaker * Mary Tannahill (1863–1951), American artist * Reay Tannahill (1929–2007), British author and historian * Robert Tannahill (1774–1810), Scottish poe ...

. He has been greatly influenced by Scottish folk musician

Jim Reid James McLeish Reid (born 29 December 1961) is a Scottish singer/songwriter and the lead singer for the alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain, which he formed with his elder brother and guitarist William Reid (musician), William Reid ...

, a singer and guitarist who passed away in 2009. His solo performance style has been summarised as "Scots

troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

", with his music accompanied by stories, historical accounts, and comedy.

Highlights

* Malcolm was voted Songwriter of the Year at the 2004

Scots Trad Music Awards The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...

, and was nominated again in both 2005 and 2008. * In 2011, Malcolm was accompanied by the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

performing two of his songs: Lochanside and Battle of Waterloo, at the Royal Concert Hall in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Later life

In 1997, Malcolm married Scottish folk musician and journalist Susan Mary Jean Allan (1966–present). They live together in Perth, Scotland, and have two children: Elizabeth Andrea Malcolm (1997–present) and Alexander Andrew Malcolm (2001–present). In recent years, Malcolm has begun touring and recording with his wife Susie and occasionally with his daughter Beth. In 2022, his daughter Beth Malcolm was voted BBC MG ALBA Scots Singer of the Year.

Discography

As of February 2024, Malcolm has released 16 solo albums and one DVD.

References

British folk-pop singers Scottish folk musicians {{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Jim 1964 births Living people