John Cutliffe

John Cutliffe is from Buncrana, County Donegal, . John grew up playing Irish traditional and bluegrass music in the many pubs that dot the Irish countryside and has played with many pop and rock bands over the years. During his wilder days in London his Irish bluegrass band The Pyros teamed up with Frank Tovey (AKA Fad Gadget) and recorded albums on the world famous Mute Records.

Cutliffe helped formed The Pyros some years earlier in his home town of Buncrana. The group developed a cult following in the North West of Ireland. Various lineups have featured the cream of Donegal musicians including Kevin Doherty (Four Men and a Dog) and Ciaran Tourish (Altan). During this time John got the chance to meet and play with some of the best musicians in the world including Altan, Gerry O Connor, Ted Hawkins and rock legends such as former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough.

Cutliffe is the owner and editor of Jizz Time, a site that chronicles Irish and American roots music and is the Tour Manager and general U.S. "man on the ground" for Irish traditional band Altan. He is a keen photographer and his pictures can be seen on websites including Rosanne Cash's site and the MerleFest site and on album covers both in Ireland and Nashville. He now lives in Arnona, Jerusalem with his girlfriend, Laura Marshall and his son, Kevin Cutliffe.

Most recently Cutliffe has teamed up with Andrea Zonn to produce the Hands Across The Water CD, a 16 track collaboration album between Celtic and American artists.