A FOLK music duo will be warming up in Dunfermline before heading off to New York for a series of Tartan Week performances.

Hunter and McMustard are to bring their alternative spin on traditional folk music to PJ Molloys later this year before performing in Philadelphia, at Bryant Park, and at actor Alan Cumming's Cabaret Club in Manhattan.

And John McMustard, who makes up one half of the band alongside Ayrshire songwriter Colin Hunter, says that he is just as excited to play in Scotland's newest city as he is the Big Apple, having on a previous occasion talked his way into tickets for a Pars match and visited historical landmarks such as Dunfermline Abbey.

John told the Press: "I like my history and Dunfermline is a really interesting place to be.

"You need to try to immerse yourself in the places you visit, it's great, I'm excited for New York but I am just as excited to play Dunfermline again."

John, who is based in Glasgow, hopes to bring a local artist on board as a support act for the show, something the pair try to do for each gig.

"I am waiting on hearing about the Dunfermline support, it's about grass roots music, we need to have these places and give people the opportunity to play for bigger audiences.

"It's something I was lucky with and which got us in front of a really big audience."

John's first performance in Dunfermline was playing as Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5, in aid of Tiny Changes, a charity launched after the death of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison.

This year he will be part of making the change again – with plans to work with spoken word poet Kevin P Gilday for a show in Springburn in Glasgow.

He said: "History is massive in my writing, but so is having a social conscience.

"I'm going to be doing a gig with Kevin P Gilday trying to get artists into Springburn.

"It's is a deprived area, it has its own issues, there's lots of great artists, musicians, and comedians who come from the north of Glasgow."

Both John and Colin have explored history and global issues in their music, with influences as varied as Robert Burns, the Proclaimers, and Simon and Garfunkel.

Their first release was a tribute to Billy Connolly, while they have also focused on topics such as the Jacobites and climate change.

"We try to cast our net wide," John added.

"Our songs have a bit of poetry, a bit of spoken word, all different genres, we're really excited to be out and about."

Hunter and McMustard will play at PJ Molloys on April 7 and tickets for the gig are available online from TicketWeb.