Colin Douglas is a Scot who has lived in New South Wales, Australia for many years.  He has, at various times, been a soldier, a salesman, a manager & an administrator but,  since 1976, he has been a full-time singer & entertainer.  He has been singing folk songs for almost all of his life, & was influenced during the 60s & 70s by such diverse artists as Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, The Clancy Brothers & Ewan McColl.   More recently Colin has concentrated on traditional songs & ballads from  Scotland as well as England, Ireland & Australia.  By developing his work in three different areas he has been able to work full-time as a folk musician/actor/script writer/entertainer for the last 30 odd years.

As a solo artist Colin works under the name “The Ceilidh Singer”.  Apart from the usual engagements undertaken by any  performing artist, Colin worked for many years as a minstrel & actor in a historic recreation park & also presented historical/musical shows in schools across Australia from 1981 until 1999.  Nowadays his solo work mainly consists of appearances at  festivals, Scottish celebrations, private functions, weddings, parties etcetera.

With fiddler Ralph Pride, Colin formed a duo called “The Journeymen” in 2003 with the purpose of performing historical/musical shows in schools.  This has been a very successful venture, with many hundreds of performances, over the length & breadth of New South Wales, completed so far & bookings already coming in for next year.  

 

Having worked with a number of different artists & bands between 1977 & 2001, including "The Flying Wombat Bush Band" & "Ceilidh-The Band", Colin formed "Jacaranda Ceilidh" in 2001.
 “Jacaranda Ceilidh”  has, again, been very successful.  The core of the band is Colin & Ralph, with various other musicians co-opted in to suit the requirements of the engagement.  Numbered amongst these other performers are Gillian Rees, who is one of Australia’s leading exponents of the hammered dulcimer, Peter McMahon who plays a variety of instruments, including bass guitar & the Appalachian dulcimer, & his wife Sue who plays both keyboard and concertina.   The band has been a regular feature at Celtic Festivals in New South Wales for many years, and also plays for  a variety of engagements at venues both large & small.

 

In 2008 Colin & Ralph Pride  started working with Douglas McFarland, well known piper & champion Highland Dancer, looking to combine their music with the sound of the bagpipes & to broaden their musical & performance base even further.

Even though he has a repertoire of folk songs & ballads numbering in the hundreds, (the lyrics of many of these can be found in the Songbook section),  Colin is still keen to expand his knowledge & continue working & interacting with other folkies so that the songs are passed on & not lost to future generations.  He has a number of CDs to his name & one songbook.  Details of these can be found under Discography.

 

If you want to contact Colin  to make a booking, to discuss a song or for any other reason, the e-mail address is colin@colindouglas.com.au or you can fax him on 02 4322 1539.