AN AWARD-WINNING Cardross fiddle player has started another summer of festivals – and is preparing to set out on tour to Europe.

Ryan Young, 27, will be performing with his friend Jen Butterworth in France, Belgium and Denmark in August and September, and they also have dates in Campbeltown, Edinburgh, Belfast and Mallaig as well as festivals in Sidmouth, Wickham and the Isle of Wight.

The pair recently performed at Folk at the Hall, a folk music festival in Wales.

Ryan, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), told the Advertiser: “It was good. It’s really nice down there.

“They [the organisers] emailed me back the day after and I have been booked back for next year, so it must have gone well.”

Speaking about the festival, Ryan explained that they both enjoyed playing, despite the small crowd.

“It wasn’t the biggest crowd. There was about 80 people or so, but it was quite nice to play at and later this year we are doing another festival and there will be about 1,000 people.

However, Ryan explained he cares more about the music and the performance than how many people are watching him.

“I always look forward to doing a gig,” he added.

“I don’t really mind how big it is. It’s just getting to do it that I enjoy.”

Ryan has recently been performing a lot with guitarist Jen Butterworth, including a gig in Ireland.

“I play with Jen quite a lot,” he explained.

“Jen was one of my tutors at the RCS. It was before my final recital, and I didn’t have anyone to accompany me, and she took those exams and she offered to play with me – and ever since then we have been playing together.

“I used to look up to her growing up, so it’s quite surreal playing with her now.”

The talented fiddler was recently crowned ‘best musician’ in the online Folking Awards, and was nominated for the Horizon award in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

He previously told the Advertiser: “I wasn’t expecting to win. I felt that I stuck out a bit in the list of nominees because everyone else has been going for a lot longer than me – in fact, some of them have been going for longer than I’ve been alive!”

The other nominees for ‘best musician’ at the Folking Awards were Seth Lakeman, Richard Thompson, Kevin Crawford and Karen Tweed.

However, Ryan is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and is now trying to secure funding to record a second live album to follow his first self-titled release.

Ryan runs one-to-one tutoring sessions and has recently been signed to Alan Bearman Music, one of the biggest agencies for folk musicians.

“I played at Celtic Connections this year and had a phone call from Alan Bearman Music afterwards,” he said.

“I expected when they phoned me that it was to give me some advice. I didn’t think it would be to sign me, so next year should be exciting.”

The signing means Ryan can expect more gigs and performances across the UK next year, but for now, once his summer on tour in Europe is out of the way, his next local performances will be at the Star Folk Club in Glasgow on Tuesday, September 18 and at the Scots Fiddle Festival, at The Pleasance in Edinburgh, on Friday, November 16.