Former Blazin’ Fiddles talent Bruce MacGregor set for unique Celtic Connections dates as he takes bar on tour for MacGregor’s Gathering
He is the internationally-acclaimed fiddler who gave up touring with the band to spend more time with his bar.
Why on earth, then, would former Blazin’ Fiddler Bruce MacGregor immediately go and hatch plans to take the bar out on tour?
The answer is simple. The Inverness musician and businessman may have tired of the mechanics of conventional band touring, but has never lost his passion for the music nor his belief in the power of good it can bring across the Highlands, particularly for the young.
That belief has propelled the MacGregor’s bar owner – recently awarded the provost’s Inverness Medal for services to the Highlands and its music – towards what will be a Celtic Connections appearance like no other this January.
Bruce, who founded Blazin’ Fiddles in 1998, was given a rapturous send-off on his last appearance with the band at a packed Usher Hall, Edinburgh, on St Andrew’s night.
Rarely one to sit still and draw breath, he is now planning a special show for Celtic Connections entitled MacGregor’s Gathering, at the National Piping Centre on January 17 and 18 from 5pm.
“The touring side had worn a bit thin for me, but I don't want to stop playing,” MacGregor admits.
“We love what happens at our bar in Inverness, MacGregor’s, with the spontaneity of the music and how the afternoons and evenings can shape up in unexpected ways, with so many different people joining in.
“We have worked hard to significantly lower the age of performers there as well.
“Then we thought we could maybe create something that was able to take that bar experience out on the road.
“We will take a group of the best regular musicians from the bar, add some very special guests, and look to recreate it all on stage at Celtic Connections.”
Those guests will include Irish-born folk singer-songwriter Edwina Hayes, Scottish country, folk and roots singer-songwriter Dean Owens and Finlay MacDonald,the head of the Glasgow piping school, among others.
To enhance the homely, ceilidh-style vibe, an actual bar will be built on stage with a backdrop image of the Inverness venue to add to the atmosphere.
Then, in a tie-up with Creative Scotland, the plan is to take that MacGregor’s experience out and about in 2025 to different small communities around Highlands and Islands.
It fits very neatly into Bruce’s outlook and passion for the Highlands, its music and its history.
Creative Scotland match funding will help make the venture a viable prospect for many smaller locations, with MacGregor's motivation being to play his part in ensuring the great tradition of music and creativity of the Highlands carries on among the younger generations.
“I don’t want to be touring all over the world, or all over England as I have found myself in the last three years,” Bruce said.
“This is more about recreating the community feel we get in the bar, so it feels more like a ceilidh than a concert.
“We will build the bar on stage and have loads of people kicking around about it like we do a normal ceilidh. It will just be ‘has anyone got a song?’
“Someone will come up and sing, people will maybe join in and we’ll see how the evening evolves.
“Once we’ve done it at Celtic Connections, the plan is to take it to other venues, whether it be a town or village hall where we can also do musical workshops earlier in the day.
“I don’t think smaller parts of the Highlands get to hear enough good music.
“It will be a case of working with locals, and making it a bit more of a community event in the evenings, rather than us just breezing into a place, playing and disappearing again.”
There are also moves to take the MacGregor’s Gathering experience out to festivals next summer, again with the help of Creative Scotland’s targeted support.
Many MacGregor’s bar regulars will have witnessed some memorable musical moments.
Bruce recounts how Cailean McKerron, the son of Charlie McKerron from Capercaillie and “a phenomenal pianist” popped in and played.
He was 16 at the time but captivated everyone present.
“He finished up and had to catch a bus. Next minute this nine-year-old breezes over and everyone thought ‘oh no, what’s this going to be like?’,” MacGregor recalled.
“And he was even better! He was from Prince Edward Island in Canada and his family had all come over and made a bee-line to our bar.
“There was his mother on the fiddle, father on the whistle and one of the other kids playing the guitar.
“There’s also a young lad Miles who plays the pipes who comes along every week, a great player at just 15 or 16 years old.
“One day he ended up sitting beside Mike Katz, who played with the Battlefield Band for about 20 years, and they just sat there talking about bagpipes the whole time. It was great. That’s the whole point of it - the social aspect is really important.
“It is about mixing up that age group and getting younger people involved in the sessions so they realise the music just isn’t about performing on a stage. It is as much about performing in a community setting.
“The process of being in a session means you meet and talk to people, sharing stories and music, knowledge and expertise.
“It is a little bit of theatre we’re trying to create and Jamie, our bar manager, will talk about some of the cocktails we’ve created inspired by historic Scottish characters and things like that.,
“There’s a lot of elements people won’t expect to see in a normal concert. We genuinely won’t have a clue how it will all shape up each evening.”