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 The actor is part of the Speyside Sessions group producing an album of Scottish folk music.

By Leanna MacLarty

20 March 2012 12:15 GMT

A Hollywood actor has teamed up with Scots musicians to record a charity album of  folk music.

Kevin McKidd, from Elgin, has joined forces with musicians in the north-east to form the Speyside Sessions collective.

What began as a casual folk music session with friends and family has become a major project to release an album which will raise funds for the Save the Children charity.

Gathering at Hogmanay, the musicians recorded the album in less than a week, with the help of producer Nick Lloyd-Webber - son of Andrew Lloyd-Webber - and sound engineer Bryan Tolland, known from Scots band Del Amitri.

A post on the Speyside Sessions Facebook page reads: "In less than a week 29 tracks were recorded with a huge variety and mix of performers, from local budding musicians, phenomenal singers who'd never before recorded their voice and even jaded folkies whom until this session, thought they'd hung up their mandolins for good.

"The joy, magic and spontaneity of this week has been captured forever on a soon-to-be released album for charity."

The album is expected to be released in June.

Douglas Hamilton, Save the Children’s head of Scotland, said: "We’re delighted that Kevin McKidd has chosen to raise funds for Save the Children through the sale of the upcoming Speyside Sessions album.

"Kevin has been a supporter of Save the Children for a number of years and we are extremely grateful for the work he does for us.

"We look forward to hearing the album when it is released in June."

McKidd was brought up in Elgin and was a member of the Moray Youth Theatre, before he went on to study engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

It was while at university, and after joining the student theatre company, Bedlam Theatre, that he decided to make the move into acting full-time.

He stars as Dr Owen Hunt in hit US series Grey's Anatomy and has added his voice to the upcoming Disney/Pixar animation Brave, set in the Scottish Highlands.

SpeysideSessions


Paul Anderson on Fiddle and Dave Martin on Bodhrán playing 'The Fairie Dance' at Speyside Sessions.

McKidd mulls song choices


Generous: Kevin McKidd is donating proceeds to charity

Kevin McKidd is donating everything he makes from a forthcoming album of traditional Scottish songs to the Save The Children charity.


The actor, who plays chief of surgery Dr Owen Hunt on TV drama Grey’s Anatomy, rented a house with friends, including music producer Nick Lloyd Webber, close to his birthplace in Elgin, Scotland, to record 29 numbers —  although he told me just 15 tracks made the final cut on the LP known as the Speyside Sessions.


McKidd  has lived in the valley district of Los Angeles with his wife and two children for five years while shooting the hit hospital drama, but he likes to return to his native land as often as he can.


When I saw him in downtown LA on Wednesday, he told me - in between signing autographs for teenage girls - that the songs on the album include Charlie Is My Darling, John Anderson, My Jo and Both Sides Of The Tweed.


But what about Mull  of Kintyre?


‘We only considered songs over 100 years old,’ McKidd said, laughing as he mildly dissed the song Paul McCartney and Denny Laine wrote in the late Seventies. It wasn’t ancient enough!’


The actor has been busy shooting new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, which is about to plunge him into a highly controversial storyline - but you won’t get any spoilers from me.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2105711/Oscars-2012-Nominee-Jessica-Chastain-says-Help-I-need-real-man.html#ixzz1nIu9EAH8
thanks to FIFI for the link

A brief clip of Kevin McKidd & Bryan Tolland jammin' when they first met - pre Speyside Sessions.
***Please note correction : the twitter account at the end of this video should read @speysidesession (and not @Speysidesessions)

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