Droning On

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Craig is a talented musician & performer - his band Nelson's Blood has been doing regular sea shanty sing-along type performances for a good while now and they've recently put out an album. Amongst Craig's current library: the hurdy-gurdy. Some might call it the bagpipe's stringed sibling....

Colin is a piper, firefighter, tune arranger, and more: and he was basically born inside a bagpipe shop. Tune into this episode to hear some delightful chat and a few familiar tunes on the pipes -- Colin has recently finished a 2nd volume of familiar tunes arranged for highland pipes. Here's a link to the tune book: https://thepiperscove.com/product/nursery-rhymes-folk-tunes-and-common-melodies-vo...

Matt McArthur is a talented piper and an excellent standup comedian (among other things). Tune into this episode to hear some of Matt's fun, serendipitous story. Here's Matt's Instagram handle: @mattmcsomethin https://www.instagram.com/mattmcsomethin/ - We're on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DroningOnPodcast And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/droning.on.podcast/ - You can write-in to th...

Jeremy is the computer-hacking, globe-trotting, website-building force of nature behind TheSession.org Tune into this episode to hear some of Jeremy's mandolin picking, to boot! APPLICABLE LINKS https://thesession.org/ (of course) *that's a great place to make a one-time or recurring donation And consider supporting The Session via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/the_session ? - We're on Fac...

David Duncan returns to the show, this time to talk with us about his amazing invention: a pickup mic for the Great Highland Bagpipes! Tune into this episode to hear James list a few of the many things he does not understand, and demonstrate several more. APPLICABLE LINKS: Electrified Bagpipe Chanter: https://www.duncelectric.com/ -Elijah Walcott using it for looping: https://www.instagram.com/p/D...

Not unlike episode 128 last year, this episode is a rambly mess of a "road to competition" monologue over several months. Also not unlike last year, I didn't end up competing... at one local festival... But entirely un like last year: I did manage to compete once this time 'round! As before, if you're up for creating an audio journal like this in the ramp-up to a competition, performance, while co...

Ever heard of the Uilleann Pipes? The Ninja Turtles? The Internet? PODCASTS?!? Patrick D'Arcy invented them all. Tune into this episode to hear Jim mispronounce Patrick's surname with remarkable consistency... Here are some links to things we talked about: Patrick's music on Bandcamp: https://patrickdarcy.bandcamp.com/music Patrick's music website: https://www.patrickdarcymusic.com/ Uilleann Obses...

Rod returns, and this time: it's piratical. Tune into this episode to hear the host promise (repeatedly) to make flattering edits, and then completely neglect doing so! Here's the website that was mentioned in this podcast, "The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson": https://edrls.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/the-music-of-robert-louis-stevenson/ - We're on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DroningOnPodcas...

Hey friends, Here's a little bonus episode. A while ago, when first adding Patreon support as an option for the show, we started doing these drawings. D roning O n P rize giv E away But I fell behind, so catching up here - so far this year there have been several artists on the show with albums available on BandCamp. In this bonus episode the Cthulhu Dice Tower will select winners of copies of the...

Conor Crimmins is a talented DJ, surfer, flute-player, and more. Among many other excellent projects he has produced an album, AEROPHONE, which has been described as, "Banging dance music with spacy flute lines". Tune into this episode to hear, well, some real banging dance music with spacy flute lines! APPLICABLE LINKS: The album, "AEROPHONE": https://conorcrimmins.bandcamp.com/album/aerophone On...

The guest for this episode needs to introduction, it's Rabby himself, returned to the show for some chat! Tune into this episode to hear the best bagpipe-podcast-dad advice ever to hit the airwaves. Check out Rab's show and everything he's got going on along with the rest of the Big Rab Show crew at their website: https://www.thebigrabshow.com/ (and, of course, they're all over the socials) Here's...

Ben Jaber(wocky?) is a talented multi-instrumentalist gracing stages, camps, the internet, and more with his uilleann piping, french horning, fluting, and more. Tune into this episode to hear how Ben became the freshest prince of Bel-Air. Check out Ben’s website: https://www.benjaminjaber.com/ And their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benjabermusic/ And YouTube, too: https://www.youtube.com/u...

Justin is a lifelong piper. He's competed at high levels as a soloist and with bands, and he's played some Bagad as well. Tune into this episode to hear two dudes do their best to describe the indescribable regarding bagpipe-sounds. Here's a lovely MSR from Justin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJgheR_1GQE And a Piobaireachd, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHqG7Wjpp4A - We're on Facebook:...

Camille is a professional performer, experienced piper, published author, and (as of recently... or soon, because she lives in the future): a stained glass artisan! Tune into this episode for the most children's television programming focused Bagpipe Podcast Episode to date. Here are some bands that came up during our conversation: Australian Celtic Women: https://www.celticwomen.com.au/ Murphy's...

Jason Rouse is a talented artist. From programing games, to painting landscapes, to tape-recordings of historic sets of pipes and so, so much more. Tune into this episode to hear some killer tunes, great stories, and totally quotable quotes. APPLICABLE LINKS Jason's festival in Wales: https://sites.google.com/view/uilleannglanyfferi/home?authuser=0 Some of Jason's albums: https://pipingrouse.bandc...

Jack is a lifelong, multi-generational, multi-instrumentalist and on top of all that, he's also an excellent conversation partner. But don't take my word for it: check out this episode of the show, you'll see! Tune into this episode to hear the host's feeble attempts to stitch together multiple takes after the internet or solar flares or angry gods or something tried over and over again to stop th...

WRITE ABOUT GUEST Tune into this episode to hear which famous Irish singer joined Matt to sing about Donuts on his All of Us album. Here's some of Matt's music with the Electric Heaters: https://electricheaters.bandcamp.com/ And some of his music for kids: https://mattheatonmusic.bandcamp.com/ And of COURSE some of his music with Shannon: https://mattandshannonheaton.bandcamp.com/track/cabin-boy B...

Celtic Pink Floyd is a project that's been around for going on two decades now and a lot of very talented musicians have been involved from the beginning. Throughout all iterations, performances, and albums: brothers Damon & Brian Stout have been at the core and Patrick D'Arcy has been sprinkling traditional flavors over every arrangement. The brothers & Pat join me on the show to talk abo...

Just wanted to do a little re-upload in case anyone missing Jeff would enjoy hearing his interview from back in episode 077 (March, 2023). *Skipping ahead to the 1-minute mark will get you past the old opening "ad" from when this interview was first published. Jeff also played on a couple tracks for the charity album we did a bit ago, it's lovely to listen to him making music: https://droningon.ba...

Cedar Dobson returns to the Droning On podcast to talk through, and hear samples from, her excellent holiday album, "A Whistle Wonderland". Cedar's done some very cool, "tradifying," of familiar holiday melodies with plenty of her own signature Cedarisms . Tune into this episode to hear lots of wintertide standards done in a not-so-standard way! And congrats to Carol (of the Bells?) for winning th...

Andrew O'Sullivan is back to play through, (and talk through,) some more Holiday tunes! Tune into this episode to hear Andrew talk about fiddles, smallpipes, and "fiddling around with smallpipes". This episode features some piping from Andrew & I, but also from: Còig: https://coigmusic.bandcamp.com/album/carols Kate Nicholson and group - Tàladh Chrìosda (Christ's lullaby) ( Lomax Archive ):...

Robert Macdonald came on the show back in January of 2024. We talked then about his bagpipe journey, his music making with Pennyland , and more -- including the fiddle playing & tune-making of Cape Breton fiddler John MacDougall. The most recent episode ( 136: Music from the Dead, The Tune-Making of John MacDougall by Robert Macdonald ) was an, "audiobook," you might say, of what Robert wrote...

Robert Macdonald came on the show back in January of 2024. We talked, then, mostly about his music making with Pennyland . We talked a bit about his scholarly work on the compositions of fiddler John MacDougall, though, and ever since I've been wanting to dig a bit more into that. This episode is an, "audiobook," you might say, of what Robert wrote about John MacDougall's work after spending time...

With around 40 books published to date, Stuart combine the roles of writer, storyteller and lecturer in Scottish history, folklore and geomythography. Additionally, Stuart has had a fair amount of poetry published and for many, many years worked as a musician. For 30 years he has been teaching at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Open Learning and has also been visiting schools as a storyte...

Sean is a woodworking, re-enacting, tunesmithing multi-instrumentalist & delightful conversationalist. In this episode we talk about, (and hear samples from,) their recently-released album, Tunes for the Soul . Tune into this episode to hear Sean say, "when I do number two..." (that's a poop joke, I can't help myself). Check out Sean's album: https://seanpatrickreidy.bandcamp.com/album/tunes-f...