Trad Nua Celtic Series: The Tannahill Weavers – Charlie’s Stage

In the late 18th and early 19th century Scotland was in a turmoil of change. Highlanders were being driven  from their lands and into the burgeoning Lowland factory systems. This brought two quite distinct cultures  together, the mystic Celtic culture of the North and the old Anglo/Scots culture of the Lowlands. They were  married by the double barrelled shotgun of necessity and the Industrial Revolution. But this forced union  brought forth a cultural heritage which, thanks to people like Robert Burns and Robert Tannahill, outlasted  the worst of the Industrial Revolution. It married the mystic beauty of the Celtic music to the coarse,  brawling, but vitally human music, poetry and ballads of the Lowlands. It is precisely this strangely moving yet  lustily stirring quality that the Tannahill Weavers have captured in their arrangements of the traditional music and songs of Scotland. All of their material is traditional, but as good musicians should, they have transformed  it and brought it into the modern world, vitally alive and kicking.

– HT, Stringbark and Greenhide, Newcastle, Australia

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 Tannahills 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’.”

Since their first visit to the United States, the Tannahills’ 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. In 2011 the band  was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, and in 2018 they released their highly  acclaimed 50th Anniversary album Òrach (“Golden” in Gaelic) on award-winning label Compass Records.  Their most recent release, Solstice, has won high praises even from sources outside the usual folk scene.

The most exciting change in recent years has been to the band line-up, with the additions of Iain MacGillivray and Alistair McCulloch. Iain plays bagpipes and fiddle, speaks (and sings) Gaelic fluently and has performed on  such high-profile projects as Outlander. Fiddle player extraordinaire Alistair teaches as a senior fiddle specialist at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland when not on tour with the Tannies, as well as performing with his  own trio. With Iain, Alistair, Roy and Phil, the Tannahill Weavers are firmly established as one of the premier  groups on the concert stage. From reflective ballads to footstomping reels and jigs, the variety and range of the  material they perform is matched only by their enthusiasm and lively Celtic spirits.

We will not be open during normal business hours for this show – ticket holders will be able to check in and the venue will open at the door time listed on this event page. 

Food & Bar: Our full bar and a limited menu of pizza, salads, charcuterie, and desserts will be available before and during the show.