Album Notes

Scottish music from Northern California (17 track CD)

This musical project celebrates the ties between Scottish traditions in the homeland and in the New World. In following these connections we have tried to present a broad range of our Scottish musical heritage, from the Norse inflected tunes of the Shetland Islands through the Gaelic melodies of the Western Isles to permutations of these traditions in the New World. These tracks also showcase a wide range of instruments and sounds from the Scottish oeuvre: bagpipes, harp, fiddle, guitar, trump, and bodhran. With tracks featuring Aaron Shaw (Wicked Tinkers), Hamewith (lead by John Taylor), Molly's Revenge, Beth Patterson, Susan Worland (Fiddlesticks & Ivory), Calli Morrow, Lyle Ramshaw (Fiddlesticks & Ivory), Lawrence Drummond, Joe Weed, and Michael Bentley you are sure to enjoy this representation of Scottish music in Northern California.

Another Scottish tradition (besides music) finding a home in the San Francisco Bay Area is the Scottish sport of Shinty, long a part of Highland culture. The Northern California Camanachd Club (NCCC), the first U.S. Shinty Club, was founded in 2001 and has worked to foster interest in Shinty in the Bay Area and beyond. Not only does this CD include several medleys of Scottish pipe tunes associated with Shinty, but it features a tune written specially for the NCCC by piper Aaron Shaw!

The sales of this CD will help to raise funds for the NCCC and allow them to continue to present this ancient Scottish pasttime to new audiences in California.

More information about this release can be found at http://beehaus.com/baysideandbenside/ and more information about shinty and the NCCC can be found at www.norcalshinty.com.