The Tannahill Weavers

The Tannahill Weavers emerged as one of Scotland’s leading traditional ensembles by cultivating a compact, fiercely propelled Celtic approach whose central melodies came from highland bagpipes, guitar, flute, bouzouki, and fiddle, all supported by the rich vocal harmonies centered on Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie. Taking their name from the poet Robert Tannahill, known as the Weaver Poet, the band spent the 1970s building a reputation across the United Kingdom and Europe through performances that carried an almost rock-and-roll drive and by issuing three independent albums, among them their self-titled 1979 third release. Directing their attention toward the United States, they established a long-term association with Green Linnet Records that produced such pivotal recordings as Passage in 1984, Dancing Feet in 1987, and Cullen Bay in 1990. Despite continual changes among their pipers, a streamlined configuration that took shape in the 1990s remained the group’s core for the following twenty years and delivered later studio works including Epona in 1998 and Arnish Light in 2004. Following a stretch of reduced activity, the Tannahills returned in 2018 to mark their fiftieth anniversary with Òrach, their first album in fifteen years.

The band’s founding members first assembled in 1968 in Paisley, just beyond Glasgow. As they gained footing on Scotland’s traditional circuit, the original roster underwent several changes before stabilizing around Gullane on vocals and guitar, Smillie on flute, whistles, bodhran, and vocals, Hudson Swan on bouzouki and fiddle, and Dougie MacLean on fiddle, mandolin, and guitar—the quartet that recorded the debut LP Are Ye Sleeping Maggie in 1976. By then they had become regular fixtures at folk festivals throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, favoring a largely traditional Scottish repertoire. Throughout the next ten years the personnel kept shifting, sometimes with each album, yet Gullane and Smillie steered the ensemble through its evolving membership while preserving its musical identity. The arrival of highland bagpiper Alan MacLeod on The Old Woman’s Dance in 1978 supplied a defining feature that immediately distinguished the Tannahills from other Scottish traditional acts such as Silly Wizard and the Battlefield Band, remaining central to their sound thereafter. The introduction of organ foot pedals to supply a deeper bass register, first heard around the same period, further set them apart and infused their arrangements with rock-derived vitality. Their fourth album, IV, released in 1981, ranked among their strongest efforts and featured several pieces that became concert staples, notably the vigorous “Johnnie Cope/The Atholl Highlanders” medley; it also marked Les Wilson’s first appearance in the bouzouki and bass-pedal position, a role he later resumed as a fixture from the 1990s onward after sitting out the rest of the 1980s.

Having completed multiple tours of Canada while still independent, the Tannahills gained access to the American market and, beginning with Passage in 1984, embarked on an extended stay with the Celtic-focused U.S. label Green Linnet Records, home to acts such as Altan, Patrick Street, and Capercaillie, where they swiftly rose to prominence. After MacLeod’s departure, Iain MacInnes took over the pipes on Land of Light in 1986, the same release that introduced Ross Kennedy in the bouzouki and bass-pedal chair. With fiddler Stuart Morison now aboard, this lineup produced the classic Dancing Feet the following year. The decade closed with the retrospective Best of the Tannahill Weavers 1979–1989, which gathered key tracks from their earlier independent period.

By 1990 they had developed into a major international touring act, performing hundreds of concerts annually and maintaining a broad selection of traditional songs alongside original material written chiefly by Gullane and Smillie. For Cullen Bay, their opening release of the decade, they brought in fiddler John Martin, who joined the returning Les Wilson to form the stable nucleus of the band through the 1990s and 2000s. Kenny Forsyth succeeded MacInnes on the pipes for The Mermaid’s Song in 1992 and Capernaum in 1994 before yielding the chair to Duncan J. Nicholson, who appeared on Leaving St. Kilda in 1996, Epona in 1998, and Alchemy in 2000.

Arnish Light, issued in 2003, featured yet another piper, Colin Melville, and stood as the Tannahills’ final full studio album for fifteen years. Green Linnet encountered financial difficulties by 2006, after which its catalog passed through several parent companies before landing with Compass Records; the Tannahill Weavers moved with it, issuing their next project, the partly live and partly studio Live and In Session, on Compass that same year. In the decade that followed, the group’s schedule diminished considerably as members pursued individual and side endeavors, among them Smillie’s Sound of Taransay in 2013 and Gullane’s 2014 collaboration with Dutch accordionist Erik De Jong, Jink and Diddle. During this time they received induction into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame and added Lorne MacDougall to their roster of pipers. In 2018, marking their fiftieth anniversary, the Tannahills released their nineteenth studio album, Òrach, and launched an extensive tour.