The Tannahill Weavers are a popular band who performs traditional Scottish music

Music of Scotland

Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music...

. 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

Great Highland Bagpipe

The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....

 (the Highland bagpipes are primarily a solo instrument) in an ensemble setting, and in doing so helped to change the sound of Scottish traditional music.

The band was formed in 1968, practicing in a back room of the McKay family's rented Council house at 41 St. Ninian's Road, Hunterhill, Paisley and first performed at St. Peter's Folk Club, Glenburn, Paisley. The Club was run by Pat Doherty, father of Weavers' founding member Neil Doherty.

, they continue to tour and release new recordings. They are named after Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 Robert Tannahill

Robert Tannahill

‎Robert Tannahill was a Scottish poet. Known as the 'Weaver Poet', his music and poetry is contemporaneous with that of Robert Burns.He was born at Castle Street in Paisley on 3 June 1774, the fourth son in a family of seven...

 and have recorded several of his songs.

Members

The current members of the band are:

• Roy Gullane (guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals)
• Phil Smillie (simple system flute
  Flute
  The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
  
  , tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s, bodhrán
  Bodhrán
  The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...
  
  , vocals)
• John Martin (fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  , viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  , vocals)
• Colin Melville (Highland bagpipes
  Great Highland Bagpipe
  The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
  
  , Scottish smallpipes, tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s)

Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie have been members of the band since its inception.

Past members have included:

• Leslie Wilson
  Leslie Wilson
  Leslie Wilson may refer to:*Leslie Wilson *Leslie Orme Wilson, soldier and politician...
  
  (bouzouki
  Irish bouzouki
  The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
  
  , keyboards
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , bass pedals
  Bass pedals
  Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with 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 together as a unit...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals)
• Alan MacLeod (Highland bagpipes
  Great Highland Bagpipe
  The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
  
  , tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s, mandola
  Mandola
  The mandola or tenor mandola 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 , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
  
  , organ
  Organ (music)
  The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
  
  , vocals)
• Bill Bourne
  Bill Bourne
  Bill Bourne is a Canadian musician and songwriter, who frequently collaborates with a variety of artists, including Alan MacLeod, Shannon Johnson, Lester Quitzau, Madagascar Slim, Aysha Wills, Eivør Pálsdóttir, Wyckham Porteous and Jasmine 'Jas' Ohlhauser.Raised in a musical family in rural...
  
   (vocals, bouzouki
  Irish bouzouki
  The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , keyboards
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , bass pedals)
• Dougie MacLean
  Dougie MacLean
  Dougie MacLean OBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist.His career started with a traditional band, The Tannahill Weavers, in 1976. His solo career started in 1981 and since then he has recorded numerous albums...
  
   (fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , vocals, guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , tenor banjo
  Banjo
  In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
  
  )
• Duncan J. Nicholson (Highland bagpipes
  Great Highland Bagpipe
  The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
  
  , Scottish smallpipes, tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s)
• Gordon Duncan
  Gordon Duncan
  Gordon Duncan was a Scottish bagpiper. He began playing at the age of eight, taught initially by Bill Hepburn then by his father and his older brother Ian Duncan, himself a successful piper and Pipe Major...
  
   (Highland bagpipes
  Great Highland Bagpipe
  The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
  
  , tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s)
• Hudson Swan
  Hudson Swan
  Hudson Swan is a Scottish musician, specializing in folk music. He attended the John Neilson High School in the town of Paisley, Scotland, where he was born and raised....
  
   (bouzouki
  Irish bouzouki
  The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
  
  , vocals, fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , glockenspiel
  Glockenspiel
  A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
  
  , mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  )
• Iain MacInnes
  Iain MacInnes
  Iain MacInnes is a Scottish folk musician, currently working as the producer of the BBC Radio Scotland bagpipe music program Pipeline. He was formerly presenter of that program, before taking a one-year sabbatical in 2002 to write a book on piping in the 20th century...
  
    (Highland bagpipes
  Great Highland Bagpipe
  The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
  
  , Scottish smallpipes, tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s, vocals)
• Kenny Forsyth (Highland bagpipes
  Great Highland Bagpipe
  The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
  
  , Scottish smallpipes, tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  s)
• Mike Ward (fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals)
• Ross Kennedy (bouzouki
  Irish bouzouki
  The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
  
  , fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , bass pedals, vocals)
• Stuart Morison (fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  s, bones
  Bones (instrument)
  The bones are a musical instrument which, at the simplest, consists of a pair of animal bones, or pieces of wood or a similar material. Sections of large rib bones and lower leg bones are the most commonly used true bones, although wooden sticks shaped like the earlier true bones are now more...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  )
• 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

Discography

• Are Ye Sleeping Maggie (1976)
• The Old Woman's Dance (1978)
• The Tannahill Weavers (1979)
• Tannahill Weavers IV (1981)
• Passage (1984)
• Land of Light
  Land of Light
  Land of Light is an album by the Scottish traditional folk band The Tannahill Weavers which was released in 1986. The band is joined on several tracks by Scottish fiddler Dougie MacLean...
  
  (1986)
• Dancing Feet (1987)
• Best of the Tannahill Weavers 1979 - 1989 (1989)
• Cullen Bay
  Cullen Bay (Album)
  Cullen Bay is an album by the Scottish traditional folk band The Tannahill Weavers, released in 1990. The band is joined on several tracks by cittern-player Stuart Morison. Cullen Bay itself is on the coast of the Moray Firth, west of Spey Bay between the towns of Elgin and Banff...
  
  (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)

External links

• Tannahill Weavers (official site)
• MySpace page