RICHARD LAIRD & SAM STARRETT

Richard Laird and Sam Starrett first played together in the early 1990s with Ulster Scots Folk band "Calgach" and they have been writing together since. Their first writing credits came on Calgach's debut album "Caledonian Heartbeat." In 1996, they teamed up with fiddle player Tracey McRory and performed much of their original material as "The Other Side." In 1997 they turned their hand to writing for the stage and provided the music for the battle of the Somme drama, "Home For Christmas" and for a full musical "Premonition". In 2000, they released "Calling An Angel Back Home" and album dedicated to An Crann/The Tree and to the healing of those affected and bereaved by the troubles of Ireland. That album had been inspired by a live show "Can't Keep It Hurting!" which was written for a special performance at the Belfast Queen's Festival of 1998 by "The Other Side". A song from the album "Don't look Down" [sung by Tracey McRory] was in the Highland Radio Top 20 Charts for the first six months of 2000 and stayed at number 1 for six weeks. The song also won the NI Millennium Music award in 2001."Weathertop Hill" another song for the album was used in the 2001 stage show "A Little Bit of Bread and No Cheese" and is still a popular request on local radio while Tracey McRory's haunting lament "Passchendaele" is now the welcoming music on the website of the Maple Leaf Agency honouring the Canadian war dead. In 2003, they won 3rd place in the UK Songwriting Contest with "Calling All The Angels" and in the same year, they received an award for their musical services to peace and reconciliation in Ireland for music they had written about the Great War and the sacrifice of all Irish soldiers. In 2005, they wrote the music for the album "Boys of the island" which included their most popular known song to date "John Condon." .Sam passed away on 5th March 2007 after a painful struggle with lung cancer and is still sadly missed;

Listen to "Don't Look Down"

Winner NI Millenium song award

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