The Tannahill Weavers

Traditional Celtic music at its best! With fire-driven instrumentals and songs, haunting ballads and a good dose of humour, the Tannahill Weavers have transformed traditional Scottish material and brought it into the modern world, vitally alive and kicking.

The Tannahill Weavers are on of Scotland’s premier traditional bands, and have received worldwide acclaim over the years for their exuberant performances. They were the first Scottish traditional band to add the iconic bagpipes to their repertoire. Several years ago, the band was inducted into the Scottish Trad music Hall of Fame, the culmination of their awards and performances at not only iconic music venues but also at major Folk and Celtic Festivals.

The band also celebrated the nomination of their 18th album, Orach, as Album of the Year, and themselves as Band of the Year, and are considered a national treasure. They are even part of the Music curriculum at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and where newest member, fiddler Alistair McCulloch teaches. Guitarist and lead singer Roy and flutist and bodhran player Phil have been the core of the Tannies since the beginning, and along with Alistair and former member from Orachdays, piper Kenny Forsyth, are ready to captivate the next generation of fans to Scots culture and heritage!

In the late 18th and early 19th century, Scotland was in a turmoil of change. Highlanders were being driven from their lands and into the burgeoning Lowland factory systems. This brought two quite distinct cultures together, the mystic Celtic culture of the North and the old Anglo/Scots culture of the Lowlands. They were married by the double-barrelled shotgun of necessity and the Industrial Revolution. But this forced union brought forth a cultural heritage which, thanks to people like Robert Burns and Robert Tannahill, outlasted the worst of the Industrial Revolution. It married the mystic beauty of the Celtic music to the coarse, brawling, but vitally human music, poetry and ballads of the Lowlands. It is precisely this strangely moving yet lustily stirring quality that the Tannahill Weavers have captured in their arrangements of the traditional music and songs of Scotland. All of their material is traditional, but as good musicians should, they have transformed it and brought it into the modern world, vitally alive and kicking. - HT, Stringbark and Greenhide, Newcastle, Australia. Born of a 1968 session in Paisley, Scotland and named for the town's historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the Tannahill Weavers have made an international name for their special brand of Scottish music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms. The Tannahills began to attract attention when founding members Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie added the full-sized highland bagpipes to the on-stage presentations, the first professional Scottish folk group to successfully do so. The combination of the powerful pipe solos, Roy's driving guitar backing and lead vocals, and Phil's ethereal flute playing breathed new life into Scotland's vast repertoire of traditional melodies and songs.

Over the years, the Tannies have been trailblazers for Scottish music, and their tight harmonies and powerful, inventive arrangements have won them fans from beyond the folk and Celtic music scenes. The band has been inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, and recently released their highly acclaimed 50th Anniversary album Òrach ("Golden" in Gaelic) on award-winning label Compass Records.

The band is returning to playing as a five-piece for larger festivals, and with the team of Roy, Phil, Alistair, Malcolm, Kenny and Iain, the Tannahill Weavers are firmly established as one of the premier groups on the concert stage. Their latest recording is Solstice, a much-loved Scottish celebration of the winter holidays. From reflective ballads to foot-stomping reels and jigs, the variety and range of the material they perform is matched only by their enthusiasm and lively Celtic spirits.

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