Nominees

John McCusker is a Scottish folk musician. He was born on May 15, 1973, near Glasgow, to an Irish mother who encouraged him to play the fiddle at the age of 7.

He became a regular in local youth orchestras and ceilidh bands and formed the band Parcel O' Rogues (named from Robert Burns' Rogues In A Nation) with some schoolmates when he was 14. A couple of years later he gave up a place at the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow to go on the road with the Battlefield Band.

He was in the Battlefield Band for 11 years and by the time he left he was one of the top traditional musicians in the land, also composing a rich fund of original tunes. McCusker also guested on albums with many musicians including Ocean Colour Scene, Paul Weller, Teenage Fanclub, Danny Thompson, Eddi Reader, Tim O'Brien and Linda Thompson.

McCusker is mainly known for his virtuoso fiddle playing, but is also a skilled player of other instruments including whistles, piano and cittern. In recognition of his contribution to Scottish Music he was presented with the Spirit of Scotland Award for Music in 2000.He also worked with Rusby on the music for the Miramax movie Heartlands, directed by Damien O'Donnell. It went on general release in 2003 distributed by Buena Vista.

As a producer he has been involved in some of the best-selling and most critically-acclaimed folk albums in recent years, including Kate Rusby's Mercury Music Prize-nominated Sleepless, plus releases by Eliza Carthy, Linda Thompson, Cathie Ryan and Blazin' Fiddles.

The 2006 debut solo album by Idlewild lead singer Roddy Woomble was also produced by John and featured Kate Rusby and Karine Polwart on vocals.

John toured with Mark Knopfler in 2008. In 2007, John was jointly commissioned by the Celtic Connections festival and Cambridge Folk Festival to compose Under One Sky, uniting Scottish and English musicians of different genres, from Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis to ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon. Under One Sky toured in the UK in November and December 2008, and an album will be released in February 2009.

Other recent and current activities include a new songwriting trio with Kris Drever and Roddy Woomble. The Drever/McCusker/Woomble album Before the Ruin was released in September 2008.