Blair wins Nairn festival song contest
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A Kilmarnock songwriter has won the the Nairn Book and Arts Festival songwriting competition, festival organisers announced today.
Blair McMillan (24) from Kilmarnock won the competition for his song Disneyland’s Not For Everyman – about his first experience of the US and the American dream.
He said: "The song is about falling in love with the places and people you think you should fall in love with, then ultimately realising all that stuff couldn't be further from what you want.”
McMillan, who is a freelance drummer, has written songs since he was 14, but, as he puts it, early attempts "stayed under the bed".
He has only recently begun to write with a view to performing the songs himself.
Blair commented "I was totally shocked to find out that I'd won - I don't think my parents even knew I'd entered.
"The last thing I won was a colouring competition when I was four! Winning this competition has given me the confidence boost I need to write more."
The under-18 category was won by Dingwall singer-songwriter Alice Bentley (17).
Her winning mnumber is Scottish Rain, a wistful song about lost love.
Alice will perform live at the Festival in a concert headlined by two of Scotland’s premier writer/ musicians, Findlay Napier and Gillian Frame.
Blair will be overseas, but his song will be performed by Findlay Napier.
Runner up in the over -18s category, Ed Muirhead, from Dundee, will also perform live.
Fiddle player and singer Gillian Frame was the inaugural winner of the Young Scottish Traditional Musician Award.
Findlay Napier is a respected song writer, known for the contemporary indie folk sound of the Bar Room Mountaineers, with whom both now perform.
The concert is on in Nairn Little Theatre on Wednesday, September 4.
