I wanted to do an album of bagpipes with non-traditional accompaniment. I also knew I wanted every track to have a unique sound, based on the tunes themselves, my interpretation of the tunes, the backing musicians and the instruments they played. I knew I would select a combination of traditional and contemporary bagpipe tunes and some brand new compositions of my own. I feel very fortunate to have been able to make the recordings at Sage Arts where Matt and Daniel helped guide me through the whole recording process, encouraging me to experiment and help discover the sound I was looking for in each track. I have been playing music my whole life, but always live -- where you play a note and it goes out to the audience then it becomes a memory. The studio recording process allowed me to indulge all sorts of creative ideas that would never be possible in a live setting. I was pleased to have so many talented musicians join me on the album. The opening track features two tunes written by two young pipers from the Pacific Northwest It proves that new, exciting, iconoclastic bagpipe are being written all over the world. Don't Stop Rockin' and Afternoon at the Green Monster feature syncopated rhythms, and non- traditional tune structures, and even a few extra notes not usually played on the bagpipe scale! Track 2, Swagger, features a gorgeous never-before-heard combination of two instruments: the dobro and Scottish small pipes. Legendary dobro virtuoso Orville Johnson is amazing on this track, and now he can add "bagpipe album to his over 200 album credits. Track 3, features Highland pipes specially modified to concert pitch to match the piano. Suzanne Taylor does an amazing job on the 10 foot Steinway grand. Track 4, one of my favorite tracks. When I first heard this traditional Scottish slow air, Angus G. MacLeod, it had a haunting lonely sound that somehow reminded me of the wide open spaces of the American West. Gerry O'Beirne plays the national slide guitar and Ed Littlefield, Jr. plays the pedal steel guitar to give that timeless sound. Track 5 is a set of pipe marches on the small pipes, including a tune of my own The MacRaes of Achmore named for some of my favorite people in my favorite little village in Scotland. I'm joined by Duncan Millar on drums, my band mate from the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band -- we are current world Champions! Track 6 is a set of Jigs, one Irish, one from Asturia in Spain, and one Scottish. Track 7 is And so it Goes by Billy Joel. It's a well known song of course, but who would thought it work so perfectly as a bagpipe tune. Track 8 is another set of hornpipes with come incredible played by Gerry O'Beirne on guitar and ukulele and phenomenal hand drum playing by American Champion Pipe Band Bass Drummer Mike Cole. Track 9 is a piece I wrote through a series of extended improvisations called it Evolution. I begins with a simple repetitive rhythmic patterns evolves into something more complex and layered. I'm joined here by two incredible musicians from Seattle Guitar Circle, guitarist, composer, and band leader Andrew Boscardin and multi-instrumental Igor Abuladze. Evolution is jig-like in its rhythm but everything is nonstandard, including the phrase structure and the use of three notes not traditional used in pipe tunes. The final track is an ancient Piobaireachd (pronounced pee- brock) tune called Too Long in This Condition. Piobaireachd is completely different from all of the other marches and dances tunes played on the pipes. It is typically much longer and slower, and require a great deal of subtlety of expression. This tune is one of the most beautiful and even though Piobaireachd has traditionally only been played by solo pipers I arranged here as a duet where I play both parts. I guess the whole album reflects my life up to this point: a respect for tradition but a desire to expand the possibilities for my instrument, a combination of solitary study and practice and collaboration with my musical friends who I respect and admire. It's has tunes written by pipers and non-pipers from around the world. The musicians come from a wide range of international and musical backgrounds, jazz, classical, celtic, rock, country, blues. In that way, it is sort the archetypal Americana -- in all the good ways, incorporating influences from the whole world of peoples and cultures. The entire experience of making the CD from my initial ideas to the collaboration to the recording to the mixing has been one of the most fun and rewarding experiences of my life. The result is something completely unique, something I am very proud of, something I hope people will enjoy. I am joined on Bagpipe Revolution by an all-star group of supporting musicians. Ed Littlefield, Jr. (pedal steel guitar) is a member of Marley's Ghost and the proprietor of Sage Arts. Ed plays wide range of instruments: acoustic and electric guitars, dobro, pedal steel guitar, piano, fiddle, mandolin, bass and Highland bagpipes. Gerry O’Beirne (guitars & ukulele) is a renowned singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (6 and 12 string guitar, ukulele, slide guitar among others). Orville Johnson (guitar & dobro) is a legend in the blues, bluegrass, and American folk scene. Orville is known for his dobro and slide guitar virtuosity and has played on over 100 albums. Igor Abuladze (guitar & bass) was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a multi-instrumentalist and performs and teaches guitar and electric bass in Seattle. Andrew Boscardin (guitar) has been playing guitar and writing music for over 20 years. He is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where he studied composition and electronic music and performed in the school's Improvisation and Guitar Ensemble, and of Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he majored in jazz guitar performance. Suzanne Taylor (piano) is well-known pianist in the Seattle celtic music scene. Her influences include classical piano, jazz, Broadway, pop, rock, and country. Duncan Millar (drums) is a drummer in the Five-Time World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band and one of the world's top pipe band drum soloists. Duncan has also played drums and percussion in rock bands in and around Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver. Mike Cole (drums) is a North American Pipe Band Bass Drum Champion. Mike is a professional educator and excels at many styles of percussion, including a wide range of hand drums from around the world. Other credits: Produced by Jori Chisholm Executive Producer: Ed Littlefield, Jr. Engineered by Daniel Protheroe & Matthew Gephart Recorded and mixed at Sage Arts in Arlington, Washington Mastered by Bob Katz at Digital Domain Cover and design by Tyler Fry Special thanks for Jeff Buck Ramsey for production assistance