Active until 2001 Genre Folk | Active from 1990 | |
Albums Five Hands High, Demons & Lovers Members Rod Paul, Stevie Lawrence, Ross Kennedy Similar Cormac Breatnach, Iron Horse, Sean Ryan, Session A9, The Tannahill Weavers | ||
The Iron Horse was a Scottish Celtic music band formed in 1990. During the '90s the band, along with others, broadened Celtic music from its traditional roots to the wider range of music now encompassed within the Celtic music genre. From slow airs and ballads to driving instrumentals, they wrote and performed a broad spectrum of Scottish folk music. Though the band split up in 2001, due to contractual recording obligations, they reunited briefly in 2004 to record a final album.
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The band was introduced to a wider audience when they created the music for the BBC TV documentary series, "The Gamekeeper" (1995). Five Hands High, one of their more notable albums, opened with 8-Step Waltz, in fact a reel, but the band is best known for their album Demons and Lovers' and, live, they added a drummer (Lee Agnew, also part of Dougie MacLean's band) to the band. In a further change, their 1999 tour included the accordion and keyboards of Brian McAlpine. Both had appeared on Demons and Lovers.
Their last album in 2004, The Wind Shall Blow For Ever More was seen as a return of the band to an earlier sound.
The band toured extensively, appearing at many festivals, such as Ely, Edinburgh, Tarbert and Arran. They headlined the 1994 "Celts in Kent" festival, playing two shows in Faversham and the prestigious Lady Sassoon Gallery in Folkestone. In 1996 they headlined the Gosport Easter Festival, with the contemporaries the Old Blind Dogs sharing the stage for the finale.
Band members
Discography
Additionally, they appear on;
Songs
The 8-Step WaltzFive Hands High · 1994
When She Cam' Ben She Bobbit / The Anvil / Duncan JohnstoneNorthern Lights · 1996
Northern Cross RisingFive Hands High · 1994