Old Blind Dogs is a Scottish musical group which plays traditional
Scottish folk music and
Celtic music
Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...
, with influences from rock,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
Middle Eastern music
The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Armenian music, Kurdish music, Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cypriot ...
rhythms.
Background
The three founding members of the band (Ian F. Benzie, Buzzby McMillan and Jonny Hardie) first met during a so-called "
buskers' holiday" in the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
in 1990,
and after playing together for the summer decided to call themselves "Old Blind Dogs". Dave Francis and Carmen Higgins joined the band soon afterwards, but left in 1992 before the recording of the first album, ''New Tricks''. Since that time, the line-up of the band has changed frequently, with only Jonny Hardie remaining from the original group.
The Old Blind Dogs were named "Folk Band of the Year" at the
Scots Trad Music Awards.
Also in 2004, Jim Malcolm was named Songwriter of the Year. In 2001, the UK's
Association of Independent Music selected their album ''Fit?'' as a finalist for the Celtic Album of the Year award.
The band have toured extensively, performing in Britain, the US, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, and Russia.
Discography
* ''New Tricks'' (1992)
* ''Close to the Bone'' (1993)
* ''Tall Tails'' (1994)
* ''Legacy'' (1995)
* ''Five'' (1997)
* ''Live'' (1999)
* ''The World's Room'' (1999)
* ''Fit?'' (2001)
* ''The Gab o' Mey'' (2003)
* ''Play Live'' (2004)
* ''Four on the Floor'' (2007)
* ''Wherever Yet May Be'' (2010)
* ''Room with a View'' (2017)
* ''Knucklehead Circus'' (2021)
Band members
1990–92
* Ian F. Benzie (guitar, vocals)
* Jonny Hardie (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, backing vocals)
* Buzzby McMillan (cittern, bass)
* Carmen Higgins (fiddle)
* Dave Francis (percussion)
* Davy Cattanach (percussion) joined 1991
1992–96
* Ian F. Benzie
* Jonny Hardie
* Buzzby McMillan
* Davy Cattanach
1996–97
* Ian F. Benzie
* Jonny Hardie
* Buzzby McMillan
* Fraser Fifield (small pipes, saxophone)
* Davy Cattanach
1997–99
* Ian F. Benzie
* Fraser Fifield
* Graham Youngson (percussion)
* Jonny Hardie
* Buzzby McMillan
1999–2003
* Jim Malcolm (guitar, harmonica, lead vocals)
* Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, backing vocals)
* Buzzby McMillan
* Rory Campbell (whistle, border pipes, guitar, harmonica, backing vocals)
* Paul Jennings (percussion) left 2002
2003–2006
* Jim Malcolm
* Jonny Hardie
* Rory Campbell
* Fraser Stone (drums, percussion)
* Aaron Jones (bouzouki, bass, backing vocals)
2007–2008
* Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
* Rory Campbell (border pipes, whistles, vocals)
* Fraser Stone (percussion)
* Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)
2008–2016
* Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
* Ali Hutton (border pipes, whistles)
* Fraser Stone (percussion)
* Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)
2016–
* Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
* Ali Hutton (Great Highland bagpipe, border pipes, whistles)
* Donald Hay (percussion)
* Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)
In the following table, please note that although "Live" was released in 1999, the performers are those from the 1992–1996 line-up (Benzie, Hardie, McMillan, and Cattenach) and not those from "The World's Room" (a studio release from the same year).
References
External links
*
Compass Records Old Blind Dogs' former record label
{{Authority control
Celtic fusion groups
Scottish folk music groups
Scottish folk singers
Scottish buskers
Green Linnet Records artists
Vertical Records artists