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Scottish Celtic band Tannahill Weavers to perform March 20 at Me&Thee Music
One of Scotland’s best-known traditional Celtic bands will make a stop in Marblehead later this month.
The Tannahill Weavers will perform March 20 at Me&Thee Music in what organizers say will be the group’s only Boston-area appearance during its current tour.
The band traces its roots to a folk session in Paisley, Scotland, and takes its name from the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet Robert Tannahill. Over the decades, the group has become one of the most recognized names in traditional Scottish music and was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
'The Tannahill Weavers are known for combining traditional Scottish melodies with modern rhythms and arrangements. Their performances include centuries-old ballads, contemporary songs, reels and jigs, as well as humorous stories drawn from Scottish life.
The New York Times once described the group as “an especially eloquent mixture of the old and the new,” while the Winnipeg Free Press wrote that their music combines traditional Celtic sound with the energy of rock and roll.
The current lineup features guitarist and lead singer Roy Gullane, flutist Phil Smillie, fiddler Alistair McCulloch and Highland piper Iain MacGillivray. MacGillivray has also appeared in television productions including “Outlander” and “Men in Kilts.”
The performance will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 28 Mugford St., home of Me&Thee Music, a volunteer-run nonprofit arts organization that has presented international and national performers in Marblehead for more than 50 years.
Doors open at 7:15 p.m., with music beginning at 8 p.m. Seating is community style. Fresh desserts, coffee, tea, water and mulled cider are typically available during performances.
Organizers are also collecting donations of nonperishable food items for the Marblehead Food Pantry before each show this season.
Tickets are available online at meandthee.org or locally at Arnould Gallery, 111 Washington St.
One interesting cultural wrinkle here: bands like the Tannahill Weavers are part of the second revival of Celtic folk music that began in the 1960s and ’70s. Groups from that era figured out something clever — if you keep the ancient melodies but add modern instrumentation and touring circuits, suddenly centuries-old village music can fill concert halls on another continent. Marblehead’s little church stage is one tiny node in that long musical migration.
