Andrew Waite is an accomplished accordion player and composer from the Scottish Borders. He plays with well-known folk bands Dallahan and Fourth Moon as well as performing alongside Siobhan Miller, Lucy Farrel, Grainne Brady and the Claire Hastings Band. In recent years he has been building on his solo career, releasing two solo albums and embarking on solo tours around the UK. 

His music is rooted in Scottish, Irish and English Trad music but he takes influences from many genres including Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, Musette and Classic. Andrew cofounded the band Tyde in 2008 and got to the finals of the BBC2 Young Folk Awards. Following their success, he secured a record deal when he was 15 years old and recorded two studio albums, performed at the royal Albert hall for the BBC Proms and played the English festival circuit multiple times, all before leaving high school. 

In 2011 Andrew was a finalist in the ‘BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year’ and was a Nominee for ‘Up and Coming Act of the Year’ at Na Trads 2015 and ‘Musician of the year’ 2022. In 2015 he joined the band Dallahan who were a ‘Folk Band of the Year’ nominee at Na Trads 2016 and released the album ‘Matter of Time’ which was also nominated for Album of the Year at Na Trads 2016. Andrew Joined Eliza Carthy and the Wayward band (Songlines ‘BEST BAND IN EUROPE’ award) in 2013. 

As well as playing with a range of different bands, Andrew has also appeared on stage with Sting, The Unusual Suspects, the RSNO and performed as a guest on many albums. Andrew released his debut solo album August 2018 which was played on various radio shows including multiple ‘BBC radio 2’ plays and ‘BBC Radio Scotland’. 

Andrew will soon be releasing his second solo album: ‘Self Portrait 2022’. 

Praise 

2022 ‘MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR’ nominee at BBC Scots Traditional Music Awards

2011 ‘BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year’ finalist 

2015 ‘Up and Coming Act of the Year’ nominee at BBC Scots Traditional Music Awards

 2008 ‘BBC 2 Young Folk Awards’ finalist