Transatlantic Sessions (Pelicula Films Ltd for BBC Scotland, BBC4 and RTE) brings together the best of Nashville, Ireland and Scotland in a format developed by director Mike Alexander that affords, in the words of one critic, “a unique insight into the sheer joy of making music”.
Star performers featured in previous series include Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Nancy Griffith, Iris Dement, Joan Osborne, James Taylor, Guy Clark, Ricky Skaggs, Paul Brady and John Martyn.
Beyond their UK and Irish television platforms, Transatlantic Sessions are released on DVD, in CD selections and via commercial download by Edinburgh-based Whirlie Records.
In recognition of the contribution Transatlantic Sessions has made over the years to the development and
appreciation of traditional music, Mike Alexander and producer Douglas Eadie received The Good Tradition trophy at the 2010 BBC Radio Two Folk Music Awards.
Aly Bain
Aly Bain is Scotland’s supreme traditional style fiddler. His playing is unique – driving, impassioned and pure – with vibrant, unmistakable tone that has earned him a following of ardent fans throughout the world. Born in Lerwick, Shetland 15th May 1946, Aly began playing the fiddle at the age of eleven. In his early twenties he headed to mainland Scotland to make Edinburgh his home and musical base. His dramatic playing, with superb tone and technical ability brought early recognition as the outstanding traditional musician of the folk music revival, and almost overnight, raised the level of expectation for music lovers throughout the country; Aly embarked on a life of intensive playing, recording and travel that continues to this day.
Mike Alexander
Series director Mike Alexander is a multi-award-winning veteran not just in the field of music films and series but also in documentary and drama, Glasgow-based Pelicula Films Ltd which he founded in 1972 being Scotland’s “oldest established” independent production company. Working in long close association with writer and producer Dougla Eadie, his music credits include Transatlantic Sessions, Down Home with Aly Bain in North America, Beyond The Maypole, Aly Meets The Cajuns, The Jazz Apple and Follow The Moonstone.
Outside of music, the Alexander/Eadie collaborations include: the Gaelic drama, As An Eilean (“From The Island”) winner of best feature film award at the 1993 Festival of the Americas in
Montevideo, Uruguay; Gramsci – Everything That Concerns People,
a dramatised portrait of the great Italian socialist writer; Haston – A Life In The Mountains, the life and times of the legendary Dougal Haston, enfant terrible of Scottish climbing; and Fishing For Poetry, with Billy Connolly, Aly Bain and Andrew Greig celebrating the centenary of the birth of the great Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, by trekking high into the hills of MacCaig’s beloved Assynt to find and fish his favourite trout loch.
Douglas Eadie
Series director Mike Alexander is a multi-award-winning veteran not just in the field of music films and series but also in documentary and drama, Glasgow-based Pelicula Films Ltd which he founded in 1972 being Scotland’s “oldest established” independent production company. Working in long close association with writer and producer Dougla Eadie, his music credits include Transatlantic Sessions, Down Home with Aly Bain in North America, Beyond The Maypole, Aly Meets The Cajuns, The Jazz Apple and Follow The Moonstone.Outside of music, the Alexander/Eadie collaborations include: the Gaelic drama, As An Eilean (“From The Island”) winner of best feature film award at the 1993 Festival of the Americas in Montevideo, Uruguay; Gramsci – Everything That Concerns People, a dramatised portrait of the great Italian socialist writer; Haston – A Life In The Mountains, the life and times of the legendary Dougal Haston, enfant terrible of Scottish climbing; and Fishing For Poetry, with Billy Connolly, Aly Bain and Andrew Greig celebrating the centenary of the birth of the great Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, by trekking high into the hills of MacCaig’s beloved Assynt to find and fish his favourite trout loch.