Old Blind Dogs February 7, 2008

Scotland’s Old Blind Dogs was assembled originally out of the members’ love for traditional music. With changing personnel over the course of eight recordings, the group has been branching out, incorporating different styles, but their primary focus remains on traditional material and acoustic instruments. The band’s level of musicianship is exceptionally high, and despite their taking some liberties with the traditional material, they remain faithful to the basic direction and quite tasteful, while imparting a contemporary twist to the music.

The Dogs show themselves to be one of the finest of the new generation of Celtic bands on the scene. With a distinctly Scottish perspective and extraordinary talent, the group creates music that is a nice combination of traditional elements with their own originality, from their creative arrangements to their use of African and Latin American percussion. In that respect, Old Blind Dogs are not as wildly eclectic as other performers who blend Celtic sounds with techno or hip-hop, but they do manage to come up with a fresh sound in the context of their traditional influence, making for enjoyable and often intriguing listening. And their traditional material steers clear of the war-horses in favor of more obscure pieces, or their own interpretations of existing poetry, in the case of the Robert Burns settings.

The Old Blind Dogs features Jonny Hardie (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, vocals), Aaron Jones (bass, bouzouki, vocals), Rory Campbell (pipes, low whistle, vocals) and Fraser Stone (percussion). They have a brand new CD “Four On The Floor” available for purchase during this tour or at the store.

Official Website: http://bopshop.com