Scottish Bands and Celtic Musicians

Celtic music in Scotland is a rich and diverse tradition deeply rooted in the nation's cultural heritage, and included  everything from traditional folk music, reels, jigs, to modern fusions like Celtic rock. We have had the pleasure of speaking to a variety of Scottish bands and Celtic musicians, and learning why it is so important to keep the heritage of Celtic music alive. Get in touch with your Scottish Music stories today.

The Glengarry Highland Games, in Canada are a very popular event that brings hundreds of people together to celebrate all things Scotland. The Brigadoons are one the bands performing at the games and we were lucky enough to steal them away for a quick fire style interview.

The Brigadoons Performing

The Brigadoons were first formed in 1971 and have been performing at Highland Games and Scottish Festivals in North America and Canada for over 30 years. However, the band have not stayed as the same 5 members for these almost forty years, old members have left and new members have been introduced, currently the band is made up of Denis (Vocals & Percussion), Paddy (Vocals, Guitar & Fiddle), Reg (Vocals, Guitar & Irish Bouzouki), Ashley (Fiddle) and Dan (Bass & Vocals). Their music is extremely successful in Glengarry, which is why they have been performing at Glengarry Highland Games for years now. They were even included in The Glengarry Celtic Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

What kind of music do The Brigadoons play?

The Brigadoons play Traditional Scottish along with some Irish and Canadian Celtic Music.

Is this the first time you will be attending Glengarry Highland Games?

We have been a featured at the Glengarry games for many years.

How do you decide your set list for each performance?

At the games we play popular Scottish Tunes along with some local Glengarry favourites.

How was The Brigadoons formed?

Local Glengarry musicians under the leadership of Rob Taylor formed a musical group called the Brigadoons.

What is the coolest thing you have done while being a part of the band?

Being asked to play for the (late) Queen during the Ontario Bi- Centennial Celebrations. And playing at EPCOT in Disney World.

The Brigadoons in the early days

How did you come up with the name The Brigadoons?

It came from the Broadway Musical.

What is your favourite part about attending Highland Games?

The Massed Bands

What is your favourite tartan?

Flower of Scotland

We hope you enjoyed our last interview with The Rogues! Sarah and Anna are now in Chicago ready for the Chicago Scottish Festival & Highland Games this weekend and it is time to meet another of the bands performing. Today's interview is with Cleghorn, America's Celtic Band, who originally started out as a Father-Son duo. Read on to find out what the band had to say about their history, the art of performing live and Scottish Culture today.

Can you share a little of the history behind the band?

Cleghorn is America's Celtic Rock Band and we are going on our tenth year! The musical engine of the band is renowned fiddler Dylan Cleghorn and his father, the legendary Texas guitarist John Cleghorn. Cleghorn's unique brand of "Celtic Rock" mixes their original song writing with high energy traditional fiddle and bagpipe tunes. Last year Danny Rasaily joined Cleghorn as our Drummer. Danny grew up in Katmandu, Nepal and he loves America!

How did you all initially become interested in Celtic music?

It's part of our heritage. Our last name is Cleghorn and the name traces back to 1380 Scotland.

What is the best part about performing your music live?

We love all the people. Our music and personalities appeal to all ages. We want the audience to escape with us.

What are you most looking forward to about performing at the 2019 Chicago Scottish Festival & Highland Games?

The Chicago Scottish Festival has been very good to us over the years. It's one of our favourites! Cleghorn has a fan base in Chicago that is second to none, even if it rains! We love the people of Chicago... we hope to see you there!

Have you ever visited Scotland?

Almost... we thought we were heading out to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but sadly it did not work out.

What is your favourite aspect of Scottish Culture?

Cleghorn identifies with the Scottish inner quest for personal freedom. We feel like the roots of American freedom go back to William Wallace. And in Texas, quite a few Scots sacrificed their lives at the Alamo. We understand and desire that kind of courage.

What makes your Celtic Band so special?

There are two trains of thought when performing music. One, "Go where the people want to go", or two, " Take the people where you want to go". We subscribe to the second train. We bring original singer-song writing to the table with a unique flair of rock guitar and traditional Celtic fiddle and bagpipe mixed in!

Ahead of the 2019 Chicago Highland Games we interviewed one of the performers for the weekend: The Rogues - America's Celtic Band.

The Rogues were first formed 25 years ago in 1994 and since then have been performing not only all over America but also all around the world. The band have some done some very cool things over the years: they produced their own theatre show, created music for a film, designed their own tartan (the tartan at the top of the page), released 10 albums and 2 DVDs and have won countless awards. They were even nominated for a Grammy! It is fair to say that the band have had an exciting 25 years and will be releasing an album to commemorate the occasion. The Rogues have a unique set up in that it is not the same members that perform at each event, Randy - the founder of The Rogues - discusses this in the interview. Read on to find out more about this quirky Celtic Band!

How did the original members of the band come together to form The Rogues?

Originally, we were friends from the piping community in Houston, Texas. We performed together in traditional pipe bands and took it a different direction, focusing on the fun stuff like jigs, hornpipes and reels, as well as original music of different styles.

How did the current members of The Rogues come to be playing together?

As our personal lives changed throughout the years and members' availability for travel changed, we needed to take on a few more players in different parts of the country, and its usually just word of mouth. Every piper knows other pipers kind of thing, and the same with drummers. In Mark's case, the other percussionist you'll be seeing, he originally hired The Rogues to perform 2 weekends at a festival where he was the entertainment director. Unfortunately, I got so sick I missed both weekends but he filled in for me. Then years later, he joined the band. A little karma there I guess.

What is the coolest thing you have all done while being a part of The Rogues?

For me I think it was our concert with the Air Force Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC as a guest artist. I had been a player in orchestras in the past but never played in front of an Orchestra. Also getting to perform in so many great places nationally and internationally has given us a lot of great memories.

What is your favourite part about performing your music live?

It's definitely connecting with an audience. There's something about live performance that can't be duplicated in a studio. The band and the audience feed off of each other making for a better experience for both.

What are you most looking forward to about performing at Chicago Scottish Festival and Highland Games?

This will be the first Highland Games that our new album, "25... and Live!" will be available, and that's always exciting. It's been a while since we've played Chicago so it's great to come back and be a part of such a great event.

Where did you all develop your love for Celtic Music?

For most of us it grew out of our experiences in a pipe band, and that led to discovering the world of Celtic Music. I think for me (being a drummer) it's a rhythm in Celtic Music that attracts me to it so much. Not that there aren't a lot of sad Celtic songs, but it's hard to listen to most of it and not be happy.

Are any of your members of Scottish Descent?

I think we all are of Scottish descent to varying degrees. I think if someone responds to Celtic music as strongly as I did, it must be calling to an element in their ancestry, whether they are aware of it or not.

What is your favourite aspect of Scottish Culture?

Definitely music for me, and the history and architecture are so interesting. Visiting ruins is probably my favourite thing to do in Scotland, other than a visit to a good pub.

We chatted with Tim MacDonald, a member of fiddling duo Banditcoots and Ceilidh Band the Ceilidh Bandicoots. Read on to find out the back story of both bands, and their stories of Scottish descent.

How did you and the band end up performing together?

We met through a mutual friend - Rachel Barton Pine. She'd been helping me improve my playing and also introduced me to the world of 18th Century music. As I got more involved with that I told her I wanted to play with a cool cellist, and she pointed out that she'd introduced me to Jeremy for exactly that reason several months previously! So I got Jeremy to play a couple local gigs, then we flew to Scotland to play together for the Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship (effectively the world championships of Scottish fiddling). We hit it off, and have been playing together ever since!

Separately I'd met Meg and Jonathan through folk dancing, and at some point we realised that we like playing tunes together. A while back I was asked to put together a ceilidh band for a one-off gig, asked them to do it, the Ceilidh Bandicoots were formed, and we've kept it up!

How did you all become interested in Scottish and Baroque music?

Jeremy and I approached it from different sides. I grew up steeped in traditional Scottish music, and my questions about where the tradition came from led to learning rather a lot about 18th Century music making. I started playing on a period-correct violin and more aggressively pursuing a historically-informed sound - not out of a devotion to history for the sake of it, but because the philosophy of 18th Century fiddlers really resonates with me: it's all about personal experience with the general field of early music than I do. He got properly introduced to the Scottish side of things by me, and now plays Scottish and American old-time music with several bands.

What is your favourite part about performing your music live?

There's a real thrill to seeing how the audience responds and using their energy to drive the music forward. A good audience can really help the tunes sound good!

How do you choose your set list for performances?

When Jeremy and I play with a duo we look through old books of tunes, pick out the ones we like, and then figure out which of the tunes we like in what order would make for a well-balanced and emotionally-satisfying concert. I guess my approach with the Bandicoots is similar, but with them experimentation is much more important: I can usually imagine how a tune will sound when Jeremy and I play it as a duo, but when the piano and percussion get thrown in anything could happen!

What are you most looking forward to about performing at the Chicago Scottish Festival and Highland Games?

It's always a great event, with so many different things going on - the athletes and the pipe bands and the dancers and so much more. It's particularly fun to be performing again this year since it's the introduction of the Bandicoots to the Games. Always fun to rock out at a new venue!

What is your favourite part about Scottish Culture?

Deep-fried Mars bars! More seriously, I'm always amazed at how much depth came out of such a tiny half-island. There's such an incredible richness in the music, the dance, the history.

Are any of you from Scottish Descent?

I am (and I think I am the only one in the band) - my father's the 17th Chieftain of Kingsburg (Kingsburg's a township in the North of Skye... and the title is just honorary!), and I'm the five-great grandson of Flora MacDonald. But heritage only takes you so far. I like the music because it's enjoyable, not because my however many greats grandparents were Scottish, and I appreciate that anyone can play it and anyone can listen to it. It's a very welcoming community!

The Australian Celtic Festival in 2018 was jam packed full of amazing music, dancing and so many Celtic Performers. The opening ceremony included performances from Pipe Bands and the Glen Innes Public School Choir, with the Mayor of Glen Innes on hand greeting festival guests. We followed up after the Festival with the family band String Loaded who performed at the festival.

String Loaded are a Celtic fiddle band made up of Sisters, Gabi and Livvy, playing the fiddle supported by mum and dad on guitar and bodhran. The family have travelled all around the world performing at Celtic festivals. String Loaded have been extremely successful at the Australian Celtic Music Awards, winning Celtic Instrumental of the Year, Celtic Group of the Year, Celtic Album of the Year and Celtic Artist of the Year. Today we speak to Jen, Mum of String Loaded, to tell us all about the band and why they love performing at festivals.

String Loaded at the Australian Celtic Music Awards

What inspired you to start String Loaded?

My grandmother was very Scottish and so I had grown up with many Scottish traditions and of course Scottish music in my life. After the girls had been learning the classical violin for a number of years it was a natural transition to start playing Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes as well. Of course the fiddle tunes were lots of fun to play so I decided to learn to play the bodhran and then Ray couldn't help but join in on guitar.

How do you cope performing together as a band and living together as a family?

We actually get on really well while we are performing and on the road at Festivals. We only ever get cranky with each other when we are rehearsing and trying to juggle work, school and band rehearsals. Music is our therapy time.

Do you attend the Australian Celtic Festival every year?

Yes we have been attending the Australian Celtic Festival for many years. It was actually the very first Celtic Festival that we took the girls to when they were very young. Livvy was so young she fell asleep after performing while a bagpipe band marched right past her.

String Loaded at the Australian Celtic Music Awards

What do you enjoy the most when performing at festivals?

Interacting with the audience. The people at the Australian Celtic Festival are all here because they love the music so they are always enthusiastic participants with us and our music.

How did you choose the tartan that is incorporated in your outfits?

When we first started we needed a uniform fast for our first gig and the only place we could find tartan kilts in our town was the Op-shops. The Op-shops only had red tartan so that had to do. I am a big believer in wearing a cultural uniform for our band as we play cultural music so when we knew the band would continue I ordered proper billy kilts for the girls from Edinburgh. The music we play is really happy and uplifting so the red tartans definitely fits with that as well.

What do you think is the best part of Scottish culture?

The music and the dancing is definitely our favourite part of Scottish Culture. We don’t mind haggis either!!

String Loaded at the Australian Celtic Music Awards

Gordon from our Albany, NY store was delighted to speak with musician Charlie Zahm ahead of the Litchfield Hills Highland Games in 2025. Charlie is a soloist and a passionate and successful performer on the Celtic festival circuit east of Mississippi, weaving Scottish and Irish history into his music. Described as having a baritone voice that "comes along once in a generation", and donning some truly authentic Celtic outfits, he ensures his performances are as respectful to the cultures he is celebrating as he can make them.

Charlie Zahm - credit: Charlie Zahm

About the Litchfield Hills Highland Games

You’re performing at the Litchfield Hills Highland Games this September (2025) - what do you enjoy most about being part of a Highland Games event?

When you're performing at the Highland Games, you are part of something much bigger and more important than yourself... You are part of a tradition in passing on the beauty of the culture from one generation to the next. I love to sing songs that have been around for decades, and sometimes hundreds of years---songs that tell stories that still need to be told... Songs that connect us with our Caledonian past. I think my small role is very fulfilling, and it's certainly what I love most about attending the Games.

For someone who has never attended, how would you describe the atmosphere of a Highland Games?

I think the energy at the Highland Games is electric... You've got huge athletes over there throwing telephone poles around, you've got these wonderful highland dancers on the other side of the field engaged in a competition they've spent all year preparing for... You got musicians over there playing their hearts out and vendors who are happy to adorn you with some amazing Celtic jewelry. What's not to love about that atmosphere?!

Do you have a favourite memory or highlight from past Games you’ve performed at?

I may not have a favorite moment of all the Highland Games I've performed at, but sometimes the best thing about doing what I do is when someone comes up to you with tears in her eyes telling you that was a song her grandmother used to sing to her and that she hasn't heard it in fifty years. Those moments are always so rewarding and very validating.

The Games bring together music, dance, sport, and heritage - how do you see your role as a musician fitting into that celebration of Scottish culture?

It's the history that is most engaging for me... I love songs that tell a story and remind us of ancient castles, battles past, loves lost and won, et cetera. Being able to say "This song was written by Sir Walter Scott" is an incredible feeling... It really connects me with days gone by.

Charlie Zahm - credit: Charlie Zahm

Music & Career

You have a rich repertoire of Scottish and Celtic songs - how did you first become interested in this music tradition?

My mother and her family are very musical. The song "Loch  Lomond"  as an example I first heard from her. Music was always in the house when I was growing up, and I'm very blessed that I had two parents who encouraged me. Even though I was a late bloomer and would much rather play football and basketball than practice the guitar, eventually I realized it was an imperative... All I've ever sung are folk songs. With very few exceptions, I don't know anything else.

Many of your songs are steeped in history. How do you balance storytelling with performance to keep the tradition alive for new audiences?

I don't know what is more important, the history or the song. But the songs help connect people to great historical events, such as Bonnie Prince Charlie and the "45," the songs of Burns and why he wrote them, or even just simple old, beautiful songs, celebrating a valley. People love it when you tell them the history behind the songs, it really helps them understand why they're still important today.

Is there a particular Scottish ballad or tune that you feel especially connected to, and why?

Yes, "The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" is my favorite song by far... I knew the song two years before I knew how to play the guitar, I was 14 and riding my bike on a bike path near my house and I was singing that song to myself, and I then realized that I was probably the only person on my street, other than my mother, who knew the song... And I knew I wanted to sing it for anybody who would let me sing for them.

How do audiences in the U.S. respond to Scottish traditional music compared to those in Scotland or elsewhere?

I find that people in the United States really want to connect with their heritage, and sometimes the annual Highland Games near their home is the only real way to do that. They love to talk about their families, they love to talk about what part of Scotland their ancestors came from, and they have lots of questions concerning the histories of Scottish events. That is not the case in Scotland; Scots don't have that hunger for their ancestry, like Americans do who celebrate their own Scottish blood. Growing up in Scotland you have that heritage all around you, but Americans are hungry to imagine what it was like to be their own ancestor living in the home country.

Thank you so much, Charlie, great to hear more about you and your music! You can visit Charlie Zahm's website here and his Facebook page here.

We hope you have enjoyed hearing from some a selection of Celtic musicians around the world. We would love to hear from you if you are a Scottish musician yourself, perhaps you are part of a Celtic group or maybe you just simply love Scottish music, either way get in touch today.