Moira Fraser
vocals, double bass
“As
a native of Bonnie Scotland, traditional music has always featured in Moira's life. Singing from an early age was
as natural as learning to walk and her enthusiasm for the vocal art just grew with her years. Studying music at school
and singing in choirs, classical festivals, occasional TV appearances, singing at weddings and parties and generally
performing at every opportunity, her love of all kinds of music should have lead her into a professional singing career.
But life was mapped out differently and after leaving Scotland she was largely out of touch with performance for many years.
It was not until later and after moving to Southern England that she rediscovered Folk Clubs and her love for singing.
Performing in her spare time in various line-ups, Moira worked around live venues in and around the Portsmouth area.
On relocating to the Midlands, she met and married Muddy John and immediately set about working up material to perform
as a duo with her newly found guitarist.
There were performances at many of the Midlands Folk Clubs, and Numerous Festival appearances including Warwick, Upton
on Severn, Bedworth, Towersey and several others The Bluegrass influence began to infiltrate Moira's repertoire after
a first visit to Slapton Bluegrass Festival in 1987 where she discovered the high lonesome sound of the Southern Mountains
of America and artists like Alison Krause. When Moira's partner formed Split Break, she just changed tack and went
“Bluegrass“, but without loosing the quality of her Scottish traditional background. In fact this turned out to be an
asset as her choice of material was rich in melody and gave the band a unique sound.
After the demise of the Bluegrass band in 2003, Moira took up the double bass and The Kitty Hawks is Moira's first role
as an instrumentalist in a band. How did she get there we asked her? “Well, when Muddy John volunteers for something,
it usually means I'm co-opted too! I just didn't think it would end up with me playing the Bass!!! Still, it's about
time I played my way and I love it!"