Luke Plumb

Branching away from his classical piano and violin training in 1997, Luke Plumb began teaching himself the mandolin and swiftly became one of Australia’s most sought after session musicians. His albums Isfahan and Senan’s Haggart were comprised of bold music from right across Europe and demonstrated his keen awareness of both tradition and the possibilities for experimentation within it.

This quality was recognised by acid croft pioneers Shooglenifty after a chance meeting during a tour of Australia, and in 2002 Luke Plumb was recruited to join the band in Scotland. For eleven years Luke’s compositions drove the band’s music into new territory which can be heard across three studio albums where his music dominates the repertoire.

With Shooglenifty, Luke toured Europe, the Americas, Asia and Russia, appearing at every major World Music Festival. During this time he also recorded and toured three albums with his own band the Funky String Band, spearheaded a Scottish Arts funded project examining the music collected by the Scottish National poet Robert Burns, released his innovative and critically acclaimed solo album “A Splendid Notion”, and travelled to southern Greece to record a suite of his own compositions, “Ten Titles”, for the pan European Eumelia Ensemble.

Back in Australia, he has also broadened his musical experience with a national tour of the theatre show Cafe Rebetika, and performances with the Australian Ballet's productions of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, and Bella Figura featuring the Vivaldi double Mandolin Concerto. He is based in Hobart, is a regular collaborator with Van Diemen’s Band and frequent performer at MONA. He produces and engineers award winning albums for independent artists and collaborates with such diverse artists as Andy Irvine, James Crabb, Khaled Arman and has a flourishing international solo career.