‘She was a distance runner for Kirklees Schools and played hockey for Kirklees and West Yorkshire’

IONA Macdonald’s name is thoroughly Scottish and it’s where she lives now.

But her formative years were spent in Huddersfield before she went off to study chemistry at Aberdeen University.

Now she is making a return to the town where she lived for most of her first 20 years as half of folk duo Doghouse Roses.

They will be playing at Bar 1:22 on New Street on Monday, March 3, as they take to the road for a short tour.

Singer Iona and guitarist Paul Tasker became Doghouse Roses in late 2005 after, as she describes it, one too many nights listening to old music while drinking red wine.

She thinks of their sound as occupying the spaces between Pentangle and Fairport Convention, with a nod to Gillian Welch on the way.

They released their second EP, Folk and Blues Part 1, last September and went on a 25-date European tour with US band The Willard Grant Conspiracy.

Iona’s family moved to Huddersfield, from Aberdeen in 1978, when she was about a year old.

She went to Crosland Moor Infant and Junior schools, nearby Moor End High School and then Greenhead College.

Although she was always interested in music as a child her main focus was sport.

She was a distance runner for Kirklees Schools and played hockey for Kirklees and West Yorkshire from the age of 13 to 18.

She went off to her studies in Aberdeen at the age of 20 and it was there she met Paul Tasker about three years ago.

Iona then began singing in public for the first time and within a short period had sung across the UK and Europe.

She says: “Over the same period I began working offshore on North Sea oil rigs, as a consultant chemist.

“This allows me the freedom to continue my music with flexibility other employment wouldn’t allow,”.

She and Paul moved to Glasgow two years ago to focus their attentions on our music.

Doghouse Roses are currently mixing their first full-length album with producer/composer Malcolm Lindsay, whose credits for TV and film music include the score for the Ewan McGregor film Young Adam with David Byrne.

Their first EP was released in September 2006, after honing their live sound by gigging extensively around Scotland, England and Holland.

Along the way Iona and Paul have shared stages with Seth Lakeman, Daniel Wylie, Kathryn Williams and others.

Partner Paul began playing the guitar after hearing legendary guitarist Bert Jansch in a Glasgow working men’s club in the early 1990s.

He has played hundreds of gigs and won a Danny Kyle Award at the Celtic Connections festival.

Critics have described Iona as a distinctive and accomplished singer with “vocals reminiscent of such folk luminaries as Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson”.

The new full-length CD of 11 original songs written by the Doghouse Roses is due for release soon.

It features string arrangements and piano from producer Malcolm Lindsay and performances from Robert Irvine, principal cello with Scottish Opera and Wilf Taylor, ex-Capercaillie, on percussion.

James ‘Bar’ Bowen will also be playing when Doghouse Roses appear at Bar 1:22, plus another act, who is yet to be confirmed.