He is better known as the artistic director of Scotland's world-renowned Celtic Connections festival and as one of the founder members of Capercaillie.
However, Donald Shaw is now turning his attentions to food with a new Summer festival that will celebrate the age-old tradition of gathering to share meals, music and ideas.
Mr Shaw said some of the most amazing experiences of his life had been "sitting around a table and sharing a few tunes" while touring around the world with his band.
Taking place over three days in June at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park, he said the event also aimed to persuade more of the public to 'sow and grow' what is served on the kitchen table.
Scientists, activists, technologists and writers will come together with chefs to spark conversations around food poverty, climate action and sustainability.
The multi-instrumentalist and composer said he had picked artists who "shared the ethos" of what the festival is about and the line-up includes Emma Pollok, Admiral Fallow and Karine Polwart. However, performances on the more unusual spectrum will include a live recording by an artist of the sounds plants make as they grow.
The festival will culminate with a long table community meal share.
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"I've always related to that idea of sharing food with music,"said Mr Shaw, who is originally from Taynuilt in Argyll and is married to Capercaillie frontwoman Karen Matheson.
"The whole idea of the project is community and the sustainable growing of food and the idea that you can encourage anyone to grow food, even it it's a bag of soil of their doorstep.
"As a musician I spent years touring and some of the most amazing experiences have been literally sitting around a table sharing food and a few tunes, particularly in foreign countries where you are sitting with people and you might not speak their language.
"Music cuts through all that."
He said more artists were also considering how they can creatively engage with the public on issues such as the climate emergency.
"I think there is a new thought process for a lot of bands and musicians these days where it's not enough to play music and book a gig and go onstage.
"They have to have some kind of sense of what's going on in terms of the environment and politically.
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"That's always been part of folk music, where you think about music less in commercial terms.
"It's the idea that you can come and hear some great music but you can also engage with new ideas."
The Event Scotland-run festival has been funded by the Scottish Government and will be held from June 17-19. A second event is planned in Inverness at Northern Meeting Park, from September 2-4.
"We always had this great idea of a harvest festival being this iconic night in the calender in the say way as Burns night," said Mr Shaw.
"You share food that you have grown yourself and share music with people you know. There's almost a spiritual level to it."
He said the climate emergency had led him to consider whether it was ethical for musicians to fly half-way around the world to play one night at Celtic Connections.
He said: "I have to think carefully as a programmer. What we are trying to do now is say, we can't justify flying you in but if you have other events or you can string together other shows in the UK."
He said that this year's blended model of some live performances mixed with online ticketed events had allowed the festival to reach a wider, global audience and said some of this might be retained going forward.
"What we did see more than anything from the live events more than anything was the power of the live experience. The communication between the artists and the audience is absolutely pivotal.
"I think the onscreen action will never be a substitute for the live experience."
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