Jeri Foreman and Paddy Montgomery set for Helensburgh stage

Fiddle player Jeri Foreman and guitarist and all-round “musical genius” Paddy Montgomery have been playing together for more than a decade in many different bands and genres and will perform songs from The Blue Album, released in 2017, for the first time in Scotland.

Jeri has been living in Glasgow for almost a year after moving from Adelaide, around 1,400km from Helensburgh’s namesake town in New South Wales.

Touring partner Paddy, who was mentored as a teenager by blues legend Chris Finnen, is now based in Melbourne having also grew up in Adelaide.

Jeri said: “Paddy is a very good friend and one of the most exceptional musicians in the world.

“The Blue Album is a collection of tunes mostly inspired by the gorgeous scenery of Encounter Bay, Ngarrindjeri country in South Australia, and partially inspired by my quarter life crisis.

“Paddy has played with everyone who is anyone in the Australian folk scene and is highly regarded as a player of traditional Celtic and Greek music and is also one of the best improvisers and most virtuosic bluegrass musicians in the country, despite regularly touring playing country and Americana music. It's actually incredible.”

As half of the Irish band Garida, Jeri and Paddy were the inaugural recipients of the Peter Daly Award at the National Folk Festival in Australia, for the best performance of Celtic music by Australians in 2009.

They were also consecutive winners of the Australian Bluegrass Scholarship in 2014 and 2016.

They have recorded two albums in the traditional Celtic style, drawing inspiration from Australian life.

With virtuosity and musical chemistry in abundance, their Helensburgh performance is promising to be an evening of world class acoustic music.

Tickets for the event, which runs from 7pm to 9.30pm on Monday, July 22 at the Mackintosh Club on Sinclair Street, cost £10 plus booking fee and can be purchased from

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