Allie Fellows
Allie has absolutely no idea how she has ended up playing accordion in a folk band!
Classically trained as a pianist; Allie learned to read music at the same time she learned to read the alphabet. Her formative years were spent having her wrists slapped with a ruler, practising scales and playing "bad" Beethoven.
Her twenties disappeared in a cloud of exhaust smoke when a passion for British motorbikes and the crippling performance anxiety, which fuelled her hatred of piano competitions lead to her giving up the piano almost completely. For most of the eighties her weekends were spent riding her Triumph Bonneville to bike rallies and dancing to R & B.
In her thirties Allie began playing the piano again and without the pressures of competitions and exams was soon able to overcome her performance anxiety. She formed a classical trio with two flautists - the name of which is too embarrassing to repeat * and discovered her forte in accompanying other musicians rather than as a solo performer. * OK it was Toot and Plink but don’t tell anyone.
One of the flautists was also a folk musician and it was through this connection that Allie discovered folk music for the first time. A crash course in folk and folk rock followed ranging from The Albion Band to Eliza Carthy via Afro Celt. Frustrated by the lack of portability of her instrument and having to play a succession of knackered pianos in drafty town halls, she bought an Irish button accordion on a whim with the intention of learning to play and joining in with local sessions because it looked like fun! Within weeks it became obvious that she would never fathom out what all the buttons did! So the button accordion was swapped for a piano accordion on which at least she knew what the right hand was supposed to do.
Allie has since played for local Ceili band Square Fish and regularly stands in with The Organ Grinders.
With no grounding whatsoever in any popular musical style, Allie describes herself as a musical jackdaw, collecting anything that attracts from a variety of musical sources and adding it to her ever-expanding eclectic style.
She still adores R & B and if plied with sufficient alcohol has been known to replicate the synthesiser solo from Won’t Get Fooled Again on her accordion through a Wah Wah pedal!