The Tannahill Weavers are a band which performs traditional
Scottish music
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of emigration and a well-developed con ...
. Releasing their first album in 1976, they became notable for being one of the first popular bands to incorporate the sound of the
Great Highland Bagpipe
The Great Highland bagpipe ( gd, a' phìob mhòr "the great pipe") is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the Great Irish Warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British mil ...
in an ensemble setting,
and in doing so helped to change the sound of Scottish traditional music. In 2011 the band were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
The band was formed in 1968
and practised in a back room of the McKay family's rented
council house
A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 a ...
at 41 St. Ninian's Road, Hunterhill,
Paisley. The band first performed at St. Peter's Folk Club,
Glenburn, Paisley which was run by Pat Doherty, father of Weavers' founding member
Neil Doherty.
As of 2021, they continue to tour and release new recordings. They are named after Scottish poet
Robert Tannahill
Robert Tannahill (3 June 1774 – 17 May 1810) was a Scottish poet of labouring class origin. Known as the 'Weaver Poet', he wrote poetry in English and lyrics in Scots in the wake of Robert Burns.
Life
Robert Tannahill was born in Castle St ...
, known as the 'Weaver Poet,'
and have recorded several of his songs.
Members
The current members of the band are:
*
Roy Gullane (
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, vocals)
*
Phil Smillie (
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s,
bodhrán
The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or othe ...
, vocals)
*
Malcolm Bushby (
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
)
*
Iain MacGillivray (
Highland bagpipes,
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
,
Scottish smallpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
)
Past members have included:
*
Lorne MacDougall (
Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
)
*
John Martin (
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
, vocals)
*
Colin Melville (
Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s)
*
Leslie Wilson (
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
,
keyboards,
bass pedals
Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with a foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, vocals)
*
Alan MacLeod (
Highland bagpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s,
mandola
The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
,
organ, vocals)
*
Bill Bourne (vocals,
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic g ...
,
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
,
keyboards, bass pedals)
*
Dougie MacLean
Dougie MacLean, OBE (born 27 September 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Described by AllMusic as "one of Scotland's premier singer-songwriters", MacLean has performed both under his own ...
(
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...
, vocals,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, tenor
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
)
*
Duncan J. Nicholson (
Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s)
*Struan Thorpe (
Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipes
The Scottish smallpipe is a bellows-blown bagpipe re-developed by Colin Ross and many others, adapted from an earlier design of the instrument. There are surviving bellows-blown examples of similar historical instruments as well as the mouth-bl ...
,
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
)
*
Gordon Duncan (
Highland bagpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s)
*Hudson Swan (
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
, vocals,
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
,
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibra ...
,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...
)
*
Iain MacInnes (
Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s, vocals)
*
Kenny Forsyth (
Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipes,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
s)
*
Mike Ward (
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, vocals)
*
Ross Kennedy (
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
,
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
, bass pedals, vocals)
*
Stuart Morison (
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
s,
bones
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, and ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
)
*
Willie Beaton (
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
, vocals)
*
David Shaw (
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and sc ...
)
*
Willie Beag (
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
)
*
John Cassidy (whistles, vocals) - founding member
*
Stuart McKay (vocals, guitar, penny whistle) - founding member
*
Neil Doherty (vocals, guitar, mandolin, penny whistle) - founding member
*
Jim McGowan (vocals) - founding member
Timeline
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bar:Kennedy text:"Ross Kennedy"
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bar:Morison text:"Stuart Morison"
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bar:Bushby text:"Malcolm Bushby"
bar:MacLeod text:"Alan MacLeod"
bar:MacInnes text:"Iain MacInnes"
bar:Forsyth text:"Kenny Forsyth"
bar:Nicholson text:"Duncan J. Nicholson"
bar:Melville text:"Colin Melville"
bar:MacDougall text:"Lorne MacDougall"
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bar:Morison from:01/10/1986 till:31/12/1989 color:fiddle
bar:Martin from:01/01/1990 till:23/02/2019 color:fiddle
bar:Bushby from:24/02/2019 till:end color:fiddle
bar:MacLeod from:01/01/1977 till:31/12/1984 color:bagpipes
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bar:Nicholson from:01/01/1996 till:31/12/2001 color:bagpipes
bar:Melville from:01/01/2002 till:31/07/2014 color:bagpipes
bar:MacDougall from:01/08/2014 till:31/10/2018 color:bagpipes
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at:01/11/1983 color:black layer:back
at:01/04/1986 color:black layer:back
at:01/10/1987 color:black layer:back
at:01/09/1990 color:black layer:back
at:01/09/1992 color:black layer:back
at:01/09/1994 color:black layer:back
at:01/09/1996 color:black layer:back
at:01/09/1998 color:black layer:back
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at:01/09/2006 color:black layer:back
at:31/08/2018 color:black layer:back
Discography
Albums
*''Are Ye Sleeping Maggie'' (1976)
*''The Old Woman's Dance'' (1978)
*''The Tannahill Weavers'' (1979)
*''Tannahill Weavers IV'' (1981)
*''Passage'' (1984)
*''
Land of Light'' (1986)
*''Dancing Feet'' (1987)
*''Best of the Tannahill Weavers 1979 - 1989'' (1989)
*''
Cullen Bay'' (1990)
*''The Mermaid's Song'' (1992)
*''Capernaum'' (1994)
*''Leaving St. Kilda'' (1996)
*''The Tannahill Weavers Collection: Choice Cuts 1987-1996'' (1997)
*''Epona'' (1998)
*''Alchemy'' (2000)
*''Arnish Light'' (2003)
*''Live and In Session'' (2006)
*''Òrach'' (2018)
Contributing artists
*''
The Rough Guide to Scottish Music'' (1996)
References
External links
Tannahill Weavers(official site)
MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tannahill Weavers, The
Musical groups established in 1968
Scottish folk music groups
Green Linnet Records artists
Compass Records artists