Mid Argyll Pipe Band - Blackwood And Hickory

(August 2008) 16 tracks: GOLOWAN - Illean Bithith Sunndach / Mid Argyll Pipe Band's Welcome to the Golowan Festival / An Dro (1) / An Dro (2) * THE CAMPBELL'S FAREWELL MEDLEY - Campbell's Farewell to Redcastle / Dalnahassaig / Ryan's Lullaby / Going to the Well for Water / MacArthur Road * GLASGOW SENSATION - Glasgow City Police Pipers / Haitian Sensation * ANGUS MAITLAND - Angus Maitland / The Steamboat / Bonnie Dundee / Muckin O' Geordie's Byre * CLIPPER MUSIC - Colin's New Clippers / Daryl Boyle * LEAVING LISMORE * BILL HALLIDAY CONQUERS MONT BLANC * SWEENEY THE COO KILLER II - One Too Many / Sweeney The Coo Killer II * COLLABORATION WALTZ * JIMMY THE BIRD - The Gordon's Farewell to Castlehill / James Robertson/ Farewell to Nigg / Simon Fraser University Pipe Band / Pipe Major JK Cairns * THE BOYS OF LOCH NA CORA * THE MARCHING HENS OF MOSSPARK - The Hen's March / Alan MacPherson of Mosspark * SHAM SHUI PO & BACK - The Road to Sham Shui Po / The Bloody Fields of Flanders / Lochanside * LEAVING LISMORE REPRISE * SOMERLED'S LEGACY * CHERYL'S WEDDING - The Quakers Wife / Queen of the Rushes / Cheryl's Wedding Jig.

Blackwood And Hickory is a bold and exciting step into new musical territory with innovative arrangements of new and traditional piping tunes. In addition to some excellent Band sets, the album showcases intriguing original compositions by Pipe Major Tony Higgins of Lochgilphead and Rod Buchanan from Kilmartin.

With influences drawn from Brittany, Cornwall and the Argyll homeland, these are compositions to be heard for the first time on any production, adding to the uniqueness of the album and making a major contribution to the piping culture.

Two of Scotland’s most in-demand musicians, James Mackintosh (Shooglenifty) and Brian McAlpine (Session A9) lend their inimitable class to contemporary and often anthemic arrangements, with Wild Biscuit and former Capercaillie guitarist John Saich producing the album and bringing together the full complement of musicians from the band's live show.

The results are breathtaking, from the anthemic beauty of Tony Higgins’s Bill Halliday Conquers Mont Blanc and Rod Buchanan’s Somerled’s Legacy, to the up-tempo urban chic of the Marching Hens of Mosspark and Clipper Music.

The album takes the same eclectic approach produced for the live show, with band members adding smallpipes, whistle, fiddle, djembe and bodhran to a range of styles and influences throughout.

The band have not played at competitions in recent years but have gained their respected reputation for community work and for taking their cultural heritage to new audiences in Europe, most recently in exchange visits with the Czestochowa Pipe Band in Poland.

The band is known for having a strong and growing youth element and encouraging new members, with a standard of achievement now remarkably evident in a choice of material for the album that goes beyond traditional Pipe Band repertoire.

STMA Scottish Pipe Band Of The Year 2007