Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson - Partners In Crime

(February 2008) 11 tracks (46 mins): Old Bush / Jolly Tinker / Richard Dwyer's * Break Yer Bass Drone Again / The Crackin Fiddle * Jock Brown's 70th / Wine Shower / Dirty Bee * Turnberry Road / Dudley Drive * Jenna Drever Of Kirkwall * Absynthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder * No More Cages / Get Yer Hair Cut / Good Drying * Delboy's / Woods Of Old Limerick * Breton Tune / Maverick Angels * The Slow Train / Timmy Clifford's / Rev Bros * Return To Milltown / Bird's Nest / Miss Girdle.

Ross Ainslie (Scottish bagpipes, whistles) and Jarlath Henderson (uilleann pipes, whistles) first started playing together in 2003 at Armagh's William Kennedy Piping Festival, and have since joined forces to create a pipe sound that pushes the boundaries of what both Irish and Scottish instruments can achieve together.

Partners In Crime features many new compositions, along with traditional tunes as never heard before. Guests include Paul Meehan, Caomhin Vallely, Donald Shaw, James Mackintosh, Ali Hutton and Rick Standley.

Jarlath has been a three time All-Ireland Champion Uilleann Piper at only 19 years of age. In December 2003 he became the first Irish musician to win the prestigious BBC Young Folk Musician Of The Year. Ross hails from Perth and is a former member of the Grade 1 Vale Of Atholl pipe band. He has since toured with his tutor, the late Gordon Duncan, and was involved in Ivan Drever's band Clueless before more recently playing with Flook!, Dougie MacLean and Salsa Celtica.

"The combination of uilleann pipes and border pipes is pure alchemy - there's a risk it could blow up in your face, but on this occasion the result is rare and precious... This album starts good and gets better, the new tunes grow on you and the old ones dust off very nicely." (Alex Monaghan)

"...provides the listener with one of those rare moments that requires a good malt to sit and relax with... The duo are also capable of cranking the speeds up with some flashy displays of harmonic sparring including the grand opening track... With youth very much on their side, Ross and Jarlath have plenty of time to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with." (Pete Fyfe)

"Separated by the Irish Sea, their common crime is having long hair and playing brilliantly on the bellows pipes - Ainslie on the Scottish Border or Lowland instrument, Henderson on the uilleann. Huge technique (also on low whistles), adventurous contemporary rhythm, most of the compositional credits and solid studio support from some of Scotland and Ireland's top instrumentalists makes this a benchmark for the new generation." (Scotland On Sunday)