The Iron Horse was a Scottish Celtic music band formed in 1990. During the 1990s the band, along with others, broadened Celtic music from its traditional roots to the wider range of music now encompassed within the Celtic music genre. From slow airs and ballads to driving instrumentals, they wrote and performed a broad spectrum of Scottish folk music. Though the band split up in 2001, due to contractual recording obligations, they reunited briefly in 2004 to record a final album.
The band was introduced to a wider audience when they created the music for the BBC TV documentary series, The Gamekeeper (1995). Five Hands High, one of their more notable albums, opened with "8-Step Waltz", in fact a reel. The band is best known[ citation needed ] for their album Demons and Lovers. They later added a drummer, Lee Agnew (also part of Dougie MacLean's band) to the band. In a further change, their 1999 tour included the accordion and keyboards of Brian McAlpine. Both had appeared on Demons and Lovers.
Their last album in 2004, The Wind Shall Blow For Ever More was seen as a return of the band to an earlier sound.
The band toured extensively, appearing at many festivals, such as Ely, Edinburgh, Tarbert and Arran. They headlined the 1994 "Celts in Kent" festival, playing two shows in Faversham and the Sassoon Gallery in Folkestone. In 1996 they headlined the Gosport Easter Festival, with their contemporaries the Old Blind Dogs sharing the stage for the finale.
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Runrig were a Scottish Celtic rock band formed on the Isle of Skye in 1973. From its inception, the band's line-up included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The line-up during most of the 1980s and 1990s also included Donnie Munro, Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and Pete Wishart. Munro left the band in 1997 to pursue a career in politics and was replaced by Bruce Guthro. Wishart left in 2001 and was replaced by Brian Hurren. The band released fourteen studio albums, with a number of their songs sung in Scottish Gaelic.
Battlefield Band were a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, none of the original founders remain in the band.
The Connells are an American musical group from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, jangle-pop style of rock music with introspective lyrics that often reflect the history or culture of the American South.
Celtic music is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. In addition, a number of other areas of the world are known for the use of Celtic musical styles and techniques, including Newfoundland, and much of the folk music of Canada's Maritimes, especially on Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island.
Captain Tractor is a Canadian folk rock band, based in Edmonton, Alberta. They play a punk-influenced variant of Celtic folk music, similar to such bands as Great Big Sea, The Pogues or Spirit of the West. Their songs are often rich in local, cultural, and geographical references.
Enter the Haggis is a Canadian Celtic rock band based in Toronto. The band was founded in 1995 by Craig Downie, the only remaining original member in the lineup, which currently consists of Downie, Brian Buchanan, Trevor Lewington, Mark Abraham, and Bruce McCarthy (drums). For about a year, starting in late 2014, they recorded and performed under the name Jubilee Riots, and released their eighth studio album Penny Black under that name, before returning to the original name.
Karine Polwart is a Scottish singer-songwriter. She writes and performs music with a strong folk and roots feel, her songs dealing with a variety of issues from alcoholism to genocide. She has been most recognised for her solo career, winning three awards at the BBC Folk Awards in 2005, and was previously a member of Malinky and Battlefield Band.
The Electrics are a Celtic rock band from Dumbarton, Scotland. They formed in 1988 when former Infrapenny members Sammy Horner and Paul Baird (guitar) asked drummer Dave McArthur and sax/keyboard player Allan Hewitt to play a gig at Glasgow's Impact Festival. The band released a self-financed cassette album, Views in Blues, in 1989. Following this recording the band evolved a celtic rock sound, heavily influenced by The Waterboys and The Pogues. Subsequent recordings included Vision and Dreams (1990) which was distributed by Word Records, and Big Silent World (1993), on Germany's Pila Music label.
Salsa Celtica are a Scottish group that plays a fusion of salsa music with traditional Scottish instruments, including elements of folk and jazz.
Jimmy George is a Canadian folk rock band from Ottawa, Canada, who combine Celtic folk with rock influences and formed in 1991.
Rawlins Cross is a Celtic band that formed in 1988 in Atlantic Canada. With members from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario, the band took its name from an intersection in St. John's, Newfoundland.
The Men They Couldn't Hang (TMTCH) are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush, Paul Simmonds, Philip "Swill" Odgers, Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley.
The Cutter and the Clan is the fifth album by Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig. It was the band's breakthrough album, taking them from cottage industry to the international stage. It was also the first Runrig album to feature keyboard player Pete Wishart - forming the "classic" line-up of the band through what would be their most commercially successful period. Originally recorded on the band’s own Ridge label, it was taken on board by Chrysalis Records as part of a 1987 major recording contract. Highlights include the song "An Ubhal as Àirde", which was later to become the first and only Scottish Gaelic language song to reach the UK Top 20, reaching #18 in 1995, and was used in an advert for Carlsberg lager.
A Spanner in the Works is a studio album released by Rod Stewart on 29 May 1995. It is Stewart's seventeenth studio album and ended a four-year gap since his previous studio album. At the time it was Stewart's longest break between albums. It was released on Warner Bros. Records in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Five singles were released: "You're The Star", "Leave Virginia Alone", "This", "Lady Luck", and "Purple Heather".
Amazing Things is the eighth studio album by Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig, released in 1993. Amazing Things was ranked the third best album of the 1990s in the music review column The War Against Silence by Glenn McDonald: "The most life-affirming album ever made. Maybe the most life-affirming art work ever made."
Strawhead was a northern England, Preston-based folk musical group founded in 1974, that specialized in historical British music. Bolstering their national reputation for their accurate and powerful interpretation of the genre of social history of the 16th to 19th centuries, the group's repertoire included popular songs from the English Civil War era to the Victorian period performed on period and electronic instruments.
Capercaillie is a Scottish folk band that was founded in 1984 by Donald Shaw and led by Karen Matheson. Capercaillie performs traditional Gaelic and contemporary English songs. The group adapts traditional Gaelic music and traditional lyrics with modern production techniques and instruments such as electric guitar and bass guitar, though rarely synthesizers or drum machines.
Niteworks is an Electronic Celtic fusion band from the Isle of Skye. The band are known for writing new songs in Gaelic and melding the bagpipes and Gaelic songs such as puirt a beul with techno and house beats.
Celtic music in Poland has become more and more popular in culture, inspiring artists to perform this type of music. Since 2003, in the last week of the summer holiday Celtic Music Festival ZAMEK takes place in Będzin. It is one of the biggest Celtic festivals in Central Europe.
Blackthorn is an Irish-American band formed in Pennsylvania in 1990. Their style of music has come to be called Celtic Rock for the fusion of Irish traditional instruments and music with modern rock. They have released five albums, starting with It's an Irish Thing in 1993 and most recently Push & Pull in 2006. Their repertoire consists of Traditional Irish songs and tunes as well as original Irish-rock compositions and Irish folk songs with a rock twist.