THE rise of Ryan Young may at first seem meteoric but it has in fact been a journey that has taken 16 years.

The 26-year-old fiddler from Cardross on the banks of the Clyde burst on to the traditional music scene this year with the release of his eponymous debut album which has since been longlisted in the MG Alba Trad Awards album of the year category and, much to Young’s bemusement, is in the running to be nominated for a Grammy.

A surprisingly mature piece of work, Young’s album takes traditional – and what he suggests could be termed as slightly cheesy Scottish folk tunes – and adds to them a level of emotional depth that belies his tender years.

For Young, coming from an area not steeped in the traditions of folk music, it has been an exciting, if unexpected, journey.

“I started playing when I was about 10,” Young said. “I saw Aly Bain playing on the BBC Hogmanay Show and that was what spurred it all on. I just thought ‘I want to do that as well’.

“There were violin lessons offered at school and so it was through that that I first began playing.

“Where I’m from in Cardross there were no musicians playing traditional music. There was no trad music played in my house so it wasn’t until a neighbour introduced me to some CDs of fiddlers from County Clare in Ireland that I really began to listen to folk music intensely.”

Young’s unique style of fiddle playing has been clearly influenced by those years spent listening to those Irish CDs in Cardross.

“That was really all I heard fiddle music wise and I guess it has stuck with me. A lot of my style comes from emulating these players although it’s all Scottish tunes I play.”

From those early violin lessons, Young soon moved to the then-RSAMD where he would attend Saturday morning fiddle lessons and it was there that he would spend a lot of the next 10 years.

“I started taking lessons at the RSAMD when I was around 14. Every Saturday morning I’d go in around nine o’clock and leave about five,” Young said. “That was the first time I’d had individual fiddle lessons rather than violin lessons and it was also the first time I was surrounded by other people who actually played traditional music.

“There were always people around to play tunes with or talk to about folk music.”

Having been introduced to the wonders of the RSAMD during those Saturday lessons, Young then enrolled in the undergraduate course at 17 and then, after graduating, returned to what had by then been renamed the Royal Conservatoire where he did his Masters.

His talent did not, however, go unnoticed. He was a winner of the Danny Kyle Open Stage at Celtic Connections in 2007 and a finalist in the Radio 2 Young Folk Awards in both 2007 and 2008.

By 2015 he was again a finalist, this time in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition, a feat which he repeated the following year. He did not know it at the time but his career was about to take an unexpected turn.

“A guy called Jesse Lewis who’s won three or four Grammys saw a video of me performing in the competition on Youtube and got in touch,” Young explained.

Lewis has produced for the likes of virtuoso violinist Yo Yo Ma and the Los Angeles Philharmonics among others but to Young at that time he was a random American.

“I did have to Google him, which was probably my naivety about the music scene,” Young admitted. “I didn’t know if it was real at first. It just all seemed a bit far-fetched.”

However, Lewis had clearly seen something in Young and offered to fly over from his Boston base and produce the young Scot’s debut album.

“It didn’t really sink in until I saw him and realised that this was actually happening,” said Young.

Lewis set to work with Young, recording the album at the Conservatoire, and allowing the fiddler free rein to express himself through his music.

“It was all about helping me follow where I wanted to go rather than pushing me where he wanted me to go,” said Young. “He spent a lot of time getting to know me and what I wanted and then did his best to help me get there.”

So where is it Young wanted to go?

“I wanted to see if I could take these tunes to a deeper place. I play tunes that can be seen as cheesy like The Highland Laddie and I wanted to turn them into darker and more emotive tunes.”

Listening to his album it’s hard to disagree that the combination of Young and Lewis have achieved that aim. It all, however, harks back to those CDs of the fiddlers from County Clare.

“Everything they do is in the pursuit of making something meaningful and emotive. I’m just playing the tunes, really but I hope that that ambition comes through.”

Certainly, the album has attracted attention. A Grammy is something few folk acts from these shores would even see as being on their radar. For Young, though, an appearance on the shortlist which is revealed at the end of this month remains a distinct possibility.

How did he feel when heard the news his album was being considered?

“That was another ‘this-is-too-far-fetched-to-be-happening moments,” Young said. “Someone sent me a link to the Grammys website with my album on it and I thought at first it was a wind-up.

“Then I checked it out and discovered it wasn’t. It’s surreal.”

With so many musical ambitions seemingly realised at just 26 what are Young’s plans for the future?

“For my CD launch I got to play with [guitarist] Dennis Cahill and Martin Hayes from County Clare who has been a huge influence on my playing and I’d love to play with them more in the future,” Young explained. “They’re involved in lots of different projects though so it may be difficult.”

One suspects, however, that the modest Young is underselling himself and that playing with him again will be an honour – even for such seasoned veterans of the folk scene.

Ryan Young will be appearing with Jenn Butterworth on November 14 at Edinburgh Leith Folk Club and at Celtic Connections on February 1 at the National Piping Centre