by on

For more info visit Solo

My Solo Project!

I’m Murray Grainger and I’ve been a professional accordionist my entire career, living and breathing music for over 30 years now! In all that time I have been privileged to perform all over the world and record many albums, with some amazing musicians and groups:

Maartin Allcock, Phil Beer, Cormac Byrne, Piers Adams, Steve Knightley, Desi Donnelly, Steafan Hannigan, Miranda Sykes

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Liverpool Philharmonic, Warner Brothers, Scottish Ballet, Opera North

The Ciderhouse Rebellion. The Haar, Captain of the Lost Waves, Hérétique, Finality Jack, Monster Ceilidh Band

However it has always been as a member of a group or show and I have now reached a point in my life where I feel ready to step out on my own and record an album of solo accordion music, without the comfort and support of other musicians. It is finally time for me to fully explore and express my own voice.

Over  the last few years I’ve been lucky to work with some amazing musicians, in particular with the phenomenal violinist Adam Summerhayes. Improvising and creating music in the moment with Adam has allowed me to find and express my true voice, to really connect with the deep core of my musical self and experience the total freedom to play what is inside me, without any restriction or limitation.

It is this openness and abandon that I want to explore in this album. I will be expressing and capturing my innermost feelings, thoughts and emotions through music.

I am going to step into my beautiful, local church and just play from my heart. The 5 day recording experience will be captured in the music (CD and downloads), in photographs by Adam, and in an accompanying book, telling the story.

To my knowledge this will be the first ever, wholly improvised, solo accordion album.

Your support helping me achieve this life long ambition, is invaluable.

 

For more info visit Solo

by on

 

I am very excited to announce the release of my new book. If you would like a copy please visit my shop page.

Finally, an easy and comprehensive reference book of chords for the accordionist!

This indispensable book is an exhaustive source of reference for the accordionist looking to expand the range of chords available to them on their instrument.

For years accordionists have felt constrained by a minimal selection of just four simple chords, making them unable to realise songs fully, instead being forced to simplify the harmony. Here Murray shows us how, by combining chords, it is possible to create a vast array of different chords, increasing immensely the harmonic pallet available.

Organised by key, every chord you could possibly need is here, from the simple to the most complex. With over 500 chords, shown in both tablature and notation, you will at last be able to unlock the full potential of your accordion.

Designed for 120 bass accordions; some chords not suitable for smaller keyboards.

by on
Our brand new release, The Whitby Rose, is out today, available via theciderhouserebellion.bandcamp.com
The archive footage in the video was the original inspiration for this tune.
Adam’s Grandpa had two boats, the Whitby Rose and the Stakesby Rose. The boat being built in the film is the Stakesby Rose, but we see Adam’s young and radiant looking mother, a Whitby Rose if ever there was one, launching the boat and so the title became obvious.
This tune also features in our Tune Book: theciderhouserebellion.com/shop

by on

Here is the first video from last weeks filming shoot.

https://mgrainger.co.uk/videos/to-thenightingale/

A lament for the ecology we are losing.

The nightingale here stands for all the species losing their habitats.

Thank you to Sam Lee for inspiring the idea for this folk tone poem and music.

The improv folk duo The Ciderhouse Rebellion – master accordionist Murray Grainger and ‘Paganini of the folk world’ fiddle player Adam Summerhayes – join with Adam’s daughter Jessie Summerhayes to form a trio – Words of a Fiddler’s Daughter

https://fiddlersdaughter.com​

#TheNightingaleIsComing​

by on

Words of a Fiddler's DaughterDespite the weather turning surprisingly cold we had a very successful day recording three new videos and music tracks.

On location in Derbyshire tracks from both ‘Words of a Fiddler’s Daughter’ and ‘The Ciderhouse Rebellion’ were recorded in some of the most beautiful of locations.

The wind was quite strong so there were a couple of close calls from the drone as it zoomed over us but no-one was injured!

As you can see from the photo, Murray’s accordion was fitted with special wind reducing baffles and they worked most effectively at reducing the wind noise on the microphones.

All three videos will be released soon, obviously they will be shown here first. For other videos why not have a look at the video page here.

To make sure you don’t miss them, or any other news from Murray, why don’t you subscribe to our mailing list, look for the link below.

by on

As the weather has started to improve, this week we are taking advantage of the sunshine and are heading out into the countryside for some filming.

If everything runs to plan there will be new tracks from both the Ciderhouse Rebellion and Words of a Fiddler’s Daughter filmed in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside! Obviously we will be obeying all relevant social distancing procedures but it will still be great to be making music together.Watch this space to see the videos as soon as they are ready.

www.theciderhouserebellion.com

www.fiddlersdaughter.com