User:Mric07/Lorraine McCauley

Lorraine McCauley (born 16 November 1979, in Letterkenny (County Donegal), Ireland) is an Irish musician.

Lorraine first sang on stage at the age of four and continued singing in Irish Feiseanna until her teens. After this time, her musical pursuits took a back seat and it wasn’t until years later that inspiration returned. Lorraine has travelled extensively, and was in Thailand when the 2004 tsunami hit. The experience had a profound effect on Lorraine, and ultimately was a catalyst to her producing and performing her own songs. Shortly after, while living in Japan, Lorraine picked up the guitar and started writing her own material. During this time she collaborated with many artists ranging in styles from folk rock to trip hop to electronica. Lorraine also wrote songs and performed with Japanese multi -instrumentalist artist Ritsuko under the name RiLo.

Upon leaving Japan she travelled throughout England working, farming and finding her own way of writing and singing. But it wasn’t until settling in Edinburgh that she perfected her own style, inspired by the vibrant Scottish folk scene. For the first two years in Scotland Lorraine performed as a solo singer in basement bars all over Edinburgh and Glasgow. However, it was a meeting with sound engineer and accordionist Jonee Duggan while performing in Glasgow that set in motion the formation of the band, Lorraine McCauley & The Borderlands. Lorraine and Jonee decided on a free trade swap. Jonee would record Lorraine’s songs in the studio and in return Lorraine would give Jonee singing lessons. So before work at 7am Lorraine and Jonee met in the studio to record her songs. With Jonee also accompanying with the accordion and backing vocals, the search began for a fiddle, viola, mandolin and cello to bring the songs into full bloom. Lorraine first played with fiddle, viola and mandolin player Nick Jenkins in a late night jamming session at Knockengorroch Festival. But when she saw him perform again at Creative Scotland she jumped at the chance to ask him to play on her EP and he agreed, so late at night after the studio closed Nick came in to record his pieces on the tracks. Cellist Billy Hamilton saw Lorraine play at Secret CD’s in Edinburgh and offered to play cello with her. Billy listened to the tracks and developed “Haunt Me”’s trademark cello accompaniment. Lorraine and The Borderlands are currently playing festivals and venues in Scotland, England and Ireland. They most recently played the Knockengorroch festival in Scotland – sharing the line up with Jesca Hoop, King Creosote, The Beat and Lunasa.