Rab was born in the mid 60s on the outskirts of Glasgow. His great great grandfather had come here from Ireland during the potato famine of the mid 1800s. His Irish immigrant forefathers worked in the coal mines and later in the steel industry. Rab has Scotland and Ireland in his blood and his bones. He grew up in the Scotland of the 1970s where political correctness was a dirty word. He looks back at these days with great fondness which is readily apparent in many of his songs. He says he calls his songs folk songs because they are about folk, proper folk, real folk, working class folk. Rab doesn't recognise religion, politics, race or class. He's got time for anyone who isn't a tosser!