Join us for an evening filled with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and originals from one of Scotland’s premier traditional bands.
Born of a 1968 session in Paisley, Scotland and named for the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the Tannahill Weavers have made an international name for their special brand of Scottish music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms. The Tannahills began to attract attention when founding members Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie added the full-sized highland bagpipes to the on-stage presentations, the first professional Scottish folk group to successfully do so. The combination of the powerful pipe solos, Roy’s driving guitar backing and lead vocals, and Phil’s ethereal flute playing breathed new life into Scotland’s vast repertoire of traditional melodies and songs.
Three years and a dozen countries later, the Tannahill Weavers were the toast of Europe, having won the Scotstar Award for Folk Record of the Year with their third album, The Tannahill Weavers. Canada came the next summer, with thousands at the national festivals in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto screaming an approval that echoed throughout the Canadian media. The Regina Leader-Post wrote, “The Tannahill Weavers personify Celtic music, and if you are given to superlatives, you have to call their talent ‘awesome’.”
The Tannahill Weavers’ unique combination of traditional melodies on pipes, flute and fiddle, driving rhythms on guitar and bouzouki, and powerful three- and four-part vocal harmonies have taken the musical community by storm. As Garrison Keillor, then host of “A Prairie Home Companion”, remarked, “These guys are a bunch of heroes every time they go on tour in the States”.
The Tannahills have turned their acoustic excitement loose on audiences with an electrifying effect. They have that unique combination of traditional melodies, driving rhythmic accompaniment, and rich vocals that make their performances unforgettable. As the Winnipeg Free Press noted, “The Tannahill Weavers – properly harnessed – could probably power an entire city for a year on the strength of last night’s concert alone. The music may be old time Celtic, but the drive and enthusiasm are akin to straight ahead rock and roll.”
Over the years the Tannies have been trailblazers for Scottish music, and their tight harmonies and powerful, inventive arrangements have won them fans from beyond the folk and Celtic music scenes and induction into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. The Tannahill Weavers are firmly established as one of the premier groups on the concert stage. From reflective ballads to foot-stomping reels and jigs, the variety and range of the material they perform is matched only by their enthusiasm and lively Celtic spirits.
This project is supported in part by Creative West which receives
support in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Additional support is provided by Farmers State Bank.
