An Evening With: Clive Carroll

Born into a musical family at the height of the 1970s, Clive’s musical career really began at the age of two, when his father presented him with a homemade banjo. Apart from a tendency to topple over occasionally under the weight of his new prize, something must have stirred inside young master Carroll, because it wasn’t very long before he was playing regularly with the family band. True, his repertoire in those days was limited to playing the odd nursery rhyme dressed in a cowboy outfit but things were about to change when, at the age of nine, Clive switched to playing guitar.

Even at this early stage Clive was exposed to a variety of music – everything from traditional Irish to rock, pop and soul and it wasn’t long before he branched out on his own, playing in bands and even with the occasional orchestra. By the time he reached his teens, it was obvious that music was going to feature in Clive’s life in a very significant way, which led him to enrol in London’s prestigious Trinity College to study composition and guitar, graduating in 1998 with a first class honours degree. However, all the time he was playing the works of Bach, Dowland and Albeniz clutching a nylon string classical guitar, the lure of the steel string instrument was working its charm.

Soon after graduation, Clive was given the opportunity to play at a gig with UK guitar maestro John Renbourn, who, on hearing him play, immediately suggested that Clive record an album. So one year later, Clive was working away in the studio, recording his first album ‘Sixth Sense’, which was greeted by press and audiences alike as something of a breath of fresh air in acoustic guitar circles. The album’s 2000 release didn’t go unnoticed by mentor and friend John Renbourn, either, because the pair spent the next two years on tour together in Europe and the United States.

In the meantime, Clive would occasionally return to playing classical repertoire, recording the ever popular ‘Canon’ by Pachelbel for BMG/RCA Victor in 2002. His next solo album, ‘The Red Guitar’ appeared in 2004 and this time it was guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel’s turn to invite Clive to tour with him. After a jaunt across Australia together, the pair continued to perform all over the world. The collaborations with John Renbourn continued, meanwhile, and 2005 saw them work together on the Sony Picture Classics film ‘Driving Lessons’ which starred Julie Waters and Harry Potter star Rupert Grint.