Hello and thanks for joining me here! I am a musician, academic and broadcaster, and I specialise in researching, teaching and performing the cultural traditions of Scotland. My day job for the last 27 years was Professor of Scottish Ethnology at the University of Edinburgh, but I was also very active well beyond academia, as a piper and singer, and I presented Pipeline,
a weekly specialist music programme on BBC Radio Scotland for twenty years. I have most recently moved on from my post at Edinburgh and as presenter/producer of Pipeline to new challenges, including making my own weekly podcast, 'Enjoy Your Piping', and developing new creative projects in music, film and media.
Originally from Pitlochry in Perthshire, I played for many years with the innovative Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, winning the Scottish and European Championships. In my late teens I moved sideways into the folk scene, playing, recording and touring with the bands Ceolbeg and Clan Alba, and becoming a founder member of the ceilidh band Hugh MacDiarmid's Haircut. I have performed on around 20 albums, including my debut solo release, The Islay Ball, and a collaboration in 2009, Hinterlands, with harpist Wendy Stewart.
More recently, I played for two seasons in the Grade 1 Glasgow Police Pipe Band, and was one of the all-star cast in the Far Far From Ypres
commemorative tour in 2018. I perform regularly throughout the year with fellow folk musicians Sandy Brechin and Gregor Borland, and together we make up the trio BrOg.
In 2016, I wrote, produced and performed in Jock's Jocks, a one act play based on the extraordinary collection of first world war testimonies recorded by North East folksinger Jock Duncan as a labour of love over a period of fifty years. I also edited these for publication as a book under the same title launched in 2019. Currently, I am writing the biography of piper Martyn Bennett, due for publication later this year.
In addition to my work in music and media, I am a former Director of the European Ethnological Research Centre, a board member of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, and a board member of the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust.
I hope you find someting of interest on these pages, and please do get in touch if you'd like to know more or to chat about Scotland and our rich and varied culture!