The Tannahill Weavers

The Tannahill Weavers, who started as a band in the late '60s, occupy a unique position among the groups on the Scottish folk scene. Stalwarts Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie have surrounded themselves with a rotating cast of great musicians. Their music, which uses the Highland bagpipe, flute, and fiddle as its melodic core, is tighter, more intense, and harder-driven than the Battlefield Band, Silly Wizard, or their other contemporaries. Despite their mostly acoustic sound, they're the closest thing to a rock & roll band in intensity and attitude that the traditional Scottish music scene has to offer. Green Linnet Records has been the major force in promoting the Weavers, releasing more than a dozen albums over three decades. In 2000, the label continued that trend into the next millennium by releasing Alchemy. Arnish Light followed three years later, and the band continued to perform and record into the 2010s.