We kick off on Monday the 6th of February at 8.30pm with a great line-up featuring Gifford Lind. It’s worth noting that Gifford was one of the performers who played in the original Foakies sixty three night gigathon that evolved into the Foakies we know and love today. During those early days we first learned to communicate in a rudimentary fashion that involved drums and grunts. That quickly developed into music, then song writing then a crude form of plagiarism. We nurtured that until it became something more original and it’s been running ever since…although I still find myself getting nostalgic whenever I hear a chorus being well grunted.

Back to Gifford… He is an inspirational figure in the Scottish folk scene and a respected singer, songwriter and interpreter of songs. He has a long-standing involvement with the Dunfermline Folk Club and has performed at events throughout Scotland, Ireland, Norway and Germany. He was instrumental in establishing The New Makars Trust, which supports the development and performance of songs about life in Scottish communities and his performances reflect the range and depth of his song writing. He’s a consummate performer and you can anticipate a great evening.

Supporting Gifford we have Stephen Harrison, who is an Edinburgh based singer-songwriter who has just released a CD called 'Today Tomorrow'. He writes strong, haunting melodies in harmony with lyrics that alternate between the personal and the universal. Definitely worth a listen.

The poetry spot features a long-standing Foakies favourite, Nancy Somerville; a wonderful writer who moves comfortably and eloquently through the language of poetry. Her first collection, Waiting for Zebras, shows that she has a keen eye and a dry wit…She can read poetry in colour as well as black and white by the way.

In case you have no idea who or what Foakies actually is; it’s co-organised by myself, Tom Fairnie, along with Mark Barnett and Simon Kempston. We are all singer songwriters and we always manage to perform a few songs along the way. This is the first Foakies that will give you all an opportunity to buy a copy of my new, long awaited, CDs As Eden Lay In Darkness and Banishment. Iain Anderson has played a few tracks on his show recently and it's currently the album of the week on Celtoc Music Radio. Visit my website at www.tomfairnie.com to find out more or just come along. It’s £5 entrance and we usually aim to finish at 11pm so that everyone can get the last tram home.