Aly Bain
MBE (born 15 May 1946) is a
Scottish fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master
Tom Anderson. The former
First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell called Bain a "Scottish icon."
Career
Bain was born in the town of
Lerwick, in the
Shetland Islands of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. In the early years of his career, he was—briefly and unofficially—part of the band
The Humblebums
The Humblebums were a Scottish folk rock band, based in Glasgow. Its members included Billy Connolly, who later became a renowned stand-up comedian and actor; guitarist Tam Harvey; and singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. The band was active from ...
with
Gerry Rafferty
Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...
,
Billy Connolly
Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...
and Tam Harvey. He was one of the members of the band "Gordon Hank and the Country Ramblers", which also included Gordon Smith, Ian Stewart and Jack Robertson in 1967 and was based in Shetland.
He became nationally prominent as a founding member of
The Boys of the Lough
The Boys of the Lough is a Scottish-Irish Celtic music band active since the 1970s.
Early years
Their first album, called ''Boys of the Lough'' (1972) consisted of Aly Bain (fiddle), Cathal McConnell (flute), Dick Gaughan (vocals and guitar) and ...
,
[ a Scots-Irish folk group, with whom he played for over 30 years.
Simultaneously, Bain pursued a solo career in collaborative and television projects with Pelicula Films director Mike Alexander and producer Douglas Eadie, working on several international television series: ''The Down home Recordings'' (which described how fiddling music spread from Scotland and Ireland to America][), ''Aly Meets The Cajuns'', and six series of the '']Transatlantic Sessions
Transatlantic Sessions is the collective title for a series of musical productions by Glasgow-based Pelicula Films Ltd, funded by- and produced for BBC Scotland, BBC Four and RTÉ of Ireland. The productions comprise collaborative live performan ...
''.Jerry Douglas
Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer.
Career
In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he h ...
, Emmylou Harris, Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards ...
, Jay Ungar
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Ungar was born in the Bronx, New York City. He frequented Greenwich Village music venues during his formative period in the 1960s. In the late 1960s, ...
, Mary Black
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, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Dan Tyminski, Rosanne Cash
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, James Taylor
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, Eddi Reader
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, Paul Brady
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Initially popular for playing ...
, Darrell Scott
James Darrell Scott, known as Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959), is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The son of musician Wayne Scott, he moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana (known today as Lake Station, Indiana). ...
, Michael Doucet, Martha Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate McGarrigle (February 6, 1946 – January 18, 2010) and Anna McGarrigle (born December 4, 1944) were a duo of Canadian singer-songwriters (and sisters) from Quebec, who performed until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.
Music ...
, John Martyn
Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...
, Danny Thompson
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, Iris DeMent
Iris Luella DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician . DeMent's musical style includes elements of folk, country and gospel.
Early life
DeMent was born in Paragould, Arkansas, the 14 ...
, Karen Matheson
Karen Matheson OBE (born 11 February 1963) is a Scottish folk singer who frequently sings in Gaelic. She is the lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Héritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lea ...
, Karan Casey
Karan Casey (born 1969) is an Irish folk singer, and a former member of the Irish band Solas. She resides in Cork, Ireland.
Early years
Casey was born in Ballyduff Lower, Kilmeaden, County Waterford, Ireland. Her family encouraged her to si ...
, Donal Lunny
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...
, Joan Osborne
Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including rock, pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best kn ...
, Allison Moorer
Allison Moorer (born June 21, 1972) is an American singer/songwriter. She signed with MCA Nashville in 1997 and made her debut on the U.S. Billboard Country Chart with the release of her debut single, “A Soft Place To Fall,” which she co-wr ...
, Bruce Molsky
Bruce C. Molsky (born 1955, New York City) is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region.
Early years
As a young man, Molsky first became interested in blues music, but ...
and Allan MacDonald, bringing traditional music to a wider audience.
In 1989, Bain played at the Carnegie Hall in New York, USA, to a capacity crowd.Donald Dewar
Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician who served as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as ...
.[
In 2006, a television programme celebrating Bain's 60th birthday was broadcast by the BBC, documenting his life and works.][ The same year, Bain was inducted into the Scots Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
In 2009, Bain collaborated with ]Nicola Benedetti
Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti (born 20 July 1987) is an Italian-British classical solo violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She w ...
to create a television programme for BBC Scotland: ''When Nicola Benedetti Met Aly Bain'', broadcast the same year.
In 2010, Bain made a further hour-long television programme for BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
In 2012, Bain and Cunningham celebrated their 25th anniversary of touring as a fiddle and accordion duo. Bain also tours with Swedish multi-instrumentalist
(with whom he has recorded two albums) and with American old-time fiddler, singer, guitarist and banjo player
Bain has received many honours for his services to music.
In 1989, he received a
from the Record Industry Association for his ''Aly Meets the Cajuns'' recording. A further Silver Disc followed in 1991 for ''
.