The Tannahill Weavers
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 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 ...
at 41 St. Ninian's Road, Hunterhill, Paisley. The band first performed at St. Peter's Folk Club,
Glenburn, Paisley Glenburn is a large suburb situated to the south of Paisley, close to the Gleniffer Braes. Glenburn has three primary schools (Bushes Primary, Langcraigs Primary and St. Peter's Primary). A public library and many shops can be found at Skye C ...
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, 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 strin ...
, vocals) * Phil Smillie ( flute,
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 oth ...
, vocals) * Malcolm Bushby ( fiddle) * Iain MacGillivray ( Highland bagpipes, fiddle,
Scottish smallpipe 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 ...
s,
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 smallpipe 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 ...
s,
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, vocals) * Colin Melville ( Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipe 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 ...
s,
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 packag ...
,
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 strin ...
, 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 strin ...
,
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 gu ...
, fiddle, 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 ow ...
( fiddle, mandolin, 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 strin ...
, tenor banjo) * Duncan J. Nicholson ( Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipe 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 ...
s,
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,
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 strin ...
) * 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, glockenspiel, mandolin) * Iain MacInnes ( Highland bagpipes,
Scottish smallpipe 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 ...
s,
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 smallpipe 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 ...
s,
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,
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 strin ...
, 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, bass pedals, vocals) * Stuart Morison ( fiddles,
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, a ...
,
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 strin ...
) *
Willie Beaton Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...
( fiddle, 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 strin ...
,
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 ...
) * Willie Beag ( fiddle) * 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

ImageSize = width:1000 height:350 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:60 top:15 right:100 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1976 till:01/06/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:4 start:1976 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1977 Colors = id:gitvoc value:green legend:Guitar id:fluwhi value:skyblue legend:Flute id:bouzouki value:purple legend:Bouzouki id:bagpipes value:blue legend:Bagpipes id:fiddle value:orange legend:Fiddle id:Lines value:black legend:Albums id:bars value:gray(0.9) BackgroundColors = bars:bars BarData = bar:Gullane text:"Roy Gullane" bar:Smillie text:"Phil Smillie" bar:Swan text:"Hudson Swan" bar:Wilson text:"Les Wilson" bar:Bourne text:"Bill Bourne" bar:Kennedy text:"Ross Kennedy" bar:MacLean text:"Dougie MacLean" bar:Ward text:"Mike Ward" bar:Morison text:"Stuart Morison" bar:Martin text:"John Martin" 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" bar:Harper text:"James Harper" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Gullane from:01/01/1976 till:end color:gitvoc bar:Smillie from:01/01/1976 till:end color:fluwhi bar:Swan from:01/01/1976 till:31/12/1979 color:bouzouki bar:Wilson from:01/01/1980 till:31/12/1982 color:bouzouki bar:Wilson from:01/01/1990 till:31/12/2009 color:bouzouki bar:Bourne from:01/01/1983 till:31/12/1984 color:bouzouki bar:Kennedy from:01/01/1985 till:31/12/1989 color:bouzouki bar:MacLean from:01/01/1976 till:31/12/1976 color:fiddle bar:Ward from:01/01/1977 till:31/12/1979 color:fiddle 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 bar:MacInnes from:01/01/1985 till:31/12/1991 color:bagpipes bar:Forsyth from:01/01/1992 till:31/12/1995 color:bagpipes 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 bar:Harper from:01/11/2018 till:23/02/2019 color:bagpipes bar:MacDougall from:24/02/2019 till:end color:bagpipes LineData = at:01/08/1976 color:black layer:back at:01/10/1978 color:black layer:back at:01/10/1979 color:black layer:back at:01/08/1981 color:black layer:back 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 at:01/10/2000 color:black layer:back at:01/09/2003 color:black layer:back 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