Neil Davey

Neil Davey is a multi-instrumentalist, playing mainly 'things with strings', who comes from a musical family in which mandolins go back several generations.
Originally from Newquay, on Cornwall’s North Coast, and now living inland in Tregajorran on the side of Carn Brea. Neil and his brothers Kyt, Andy, and especially Merv, played a vital role in starting the great revival in Cornish traditional music and dance which we have seen over the last 40 years or so. They toured and recorded together in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the name Bucca.
Barring a less musical interlude, from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, during which he gained a degree in Artificial Intelligence and worked as a software engineer and mental health support worker amongst other things, Neil has worked as a professional musician for most of his adult life. This has included extensive touring throughout the world, playing alongside many of the legendary names in Celtic music, appearing on many of the world's main festival stages, and lots of recording either as a member of bands such as Anam, The Lorraine Jordan Band, Dalla, and Davey&Dyer or as a guest on albums by other artistes.
Neil also composes music, including special commissions for theatre and other projects. Many of his tunes have found their way quickly into the tradition in Cornwall, as well as into the repertoires of numerous bands both at home and abroad.
He has published two very popular books of Cornish tunes:
Fooch - Favourite Cornish Session and Dance Tunes (Volume.1.) and
Fooch2 - Favourite Cornish Session and Dance Tunes (Volume.2.).
In 2011 Neil became a bard of the Cornish Gorseth in recognition of services to Cornish music. His bardic name is 'Gov Tonyow' – ‘Tune Smith’.