This third album from Ross brings together a lot of his influences over the years playing in bands like Salsa Celtica and India Alba.
Ross has always been a fan of Mike Oldfield album ‘Tubular Bells’ and this album is based on the same idea and designed to be listened to like a journey.
Sanctuary is a term Ross likes to use when describing what music is for him, coming up to five years sober now Ross has been through some big changes and ways of coping with certain situations without alcohol.
“I’ve found that I’m spending a lot of time on my own these days, being a travelling musician a lot of the social time is centred around drinking so I found it hard to be around so I would retreat to my room a lot, at first it took some time to get used to my own company but as the years have gone on I’ve found it to be a very productive and creative space, if I’m having a particularly bad day music is always the thing that will pick me up so that’s why this album is called Sanctuary”.

‘Inner Sanctuary’ is a track heavily influenced by his travels to India, it features a debut performance on Bansuri from Ross. The musicians on this album were selected very carefully and are all very comfortable in many genres, this track shows Greg Lawson playing with an Indian style.

‘Home in Another Dimension’ features one of Ross’s favourite musicians in the world, the one and only Zakir Hussain on tabla and also British/Indian Sarod maestro Soumik Datta. This track demonstrates a different style in writing for Ross with a definite Eastern flavour.

‘Let the Wild Ones Roam’ is a straight ahead rocking set of reels with the guys in their natural habitat. Damien O’Kane adds some amazing banjo to this track.

All the music on the album is composed by Ross apart from Surroundings which was composed by Ross and Jamie Maclean.

SANCTUARY FEATURES

Ross Ainslie - Highland and C Small Pipes, Whistles, Bansuri, Cittern, Banjo (track 1)
Steven Byrnes - Acoustic Guitar
Hamish Napier - Piano and Keys
James Lindsay - Bass
Greg Lawson - Fiddle
Cormac Byrne - Drums and Percussion

GUESTS

Zakir Hussain - Tabla (Track 7 + 10)
Soumik Datta - Sarod (Track 7)
Damien O’Kane - Banjo (Track 2 + 11)
Jock Urquhart - Words (Track 12)

Produced by Ross Ainslie, Andrea Gobbi and Steven Byrnes
Engineered by Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm Studios
Mixed by Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm Studios and Carrier Waves
Mastered by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios
Design and Photos by Somhairle Macdonald