WITH a new artistic consultant for 2007, this year's Celtic Connections festival has a renewed spring in its step - not to mention an exceptionally interesting and varied line-up. Donald Shaw fact file Donald grew up in Taynuilt, Argyll, where he was taught accordion by his father. At 16 he won the All-Britain accordion championship. At 17 he founded Capercaillie, and still writes, produces and performs with the band, as well as pursuing his solo musical career. In the last 20 years he has produced and recorded more than 50 albums for artists in all areas of music, collaborating with an eclectic array of artists including Peter Gabriel, Nanci Griffiths, Bonnie Raitt, Donal Lunny and Soul II Soul. He is also an accomplished composer of film and TV scores, recently writing music for the award-winning movie American Cousins, and the film One Last Chance, on which he collaborated with Louisiana musician Dirk Powell, who worked on O Brother, Where Art Thou? He was musical director for the BAFTA-winning BBC arts show Tacsi, producing collaborations with over 200 artists. In 2000 he set up his own indie label Vertical Records, which has released artists including James Grant, Monica Queen and Shooglenifty.

The man behind it all is Capercaillie founder and acclaimed accordion player, Donald Shaw, who was appointed in June.

"When they got in touch with me back in the summer it was a tough decision to make, as I had other commitments," he says. "But it seemed such an exciting festival and I've been involved with it so much over the years in terms of performance. And I didn't want to realise in 10 years' time that I hadn't taken the opportunity of doing it."

He put other work aside and took a few months off to start contacting artists and focus on putting together the programme, which he admits was a bit like being a kid in a sweet shop.

But he adds: "I didn't want to change the festival too much, because people love it the way it is. It's a balancing act, and you try and bring something of yourself to it."

Looking at this year's bill - which you can find online at www.celticconnections.com, the hard work, care and attention he has put into the bill is evident.

Donald says: "A big part of the festival is creating collaborations and unusual connections with artists from different fields of music, not just Celtic music. That's what the festival has a reputation for, and that's what I wanted to continue doing: the excitement of new commissions and also expanding the horizons of the festival musically."

To that end, the Americana strand of this year's festival is a new diversion. The idea took root when Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions album came out. "I thought, wouldn't it be amazing to get Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions, but it was impossible because of their touring commitments. But off the back of that we decided to go for a strong Americana feel. For me it connects strongly with what's gone before.

"When I speak to Americana musicians, whether they are bluegrass, Appalachian or cajun, they have so much respect and enthusiasm for traditional Scottish and Irish music."

Among the concerts which Donald regards as a personal coup are securing Bela Fleck and The Flecktones and persuading influential guitarist John Martyn to showcase his seminal Solid Air album in full.

"What that shows is that the festival has respect from all sorts of musicians," says Donald. "They will be talked into trying something different because they know the festival has a great reputation.

"It's probably the best Celtic festival in the world, and it's where my heart is."