The Walnuts

The Walnuts are a bunch of middle-aged (and that’s being kind to at least one or two of them) guys who love playing all sorts of music and use the opportunity to play music to raise money for charity, principally Alzheimer’s Research UK.

The Walnuts are:

Davie McGirr: the founder of sevensongs.org  and owner of a guitar;

Matt Allwright: lap steel aficionado, journalist and TV presenter of Watchdog, One Show, Rogue Traders and other things;

Donald Stewart: Celtic Fiddle legend and shoe model;

Fergus Muirhead: Writer, broadcaster and bagpiper.

They have just returned from an eight gig tour of France and Spain and you can read more about their escapades here and here.

Mat summed up their recent tour like this.

“My proudest moment was getting the rig around the Dordogne single-handed without the aid of GPS or Vaseline (we were taking a giant white motorhome through places where Motorhomes aren’t supposed to go!).

So many great moments we had – partying with the Asturians, learning that there’s no such thing as bad cheese and that you should always look behind you in case you’re about to step on someone’s bagpipes.

I loved all of the places we visited, but La Liviniere vineyard was special because of the backdrop and the joy coming from the crowd. What a place. I also have a soft spot for a service station outside Le Mans.

Would I do it again? Hat. Drop. Heart. Beat.”

We’ll play pretty much anywhere you want us to play as long as we can plug in some guitars and collect some money for charity.