Old Blind Dogs

Biography

Old Blind Dogs is a Scottish musical group which plays traditional Scottish folk music and Celtic music, with influences from rock, reggae, jazz, blues, and Middle Eastern music rhythms.

Background

The three founding members of the band (Ian F. Benzie, Buzzby McMillan and Jonny Hardie) first met during a so-called "buskers' holiday" in the Scottish Highlands in 1990, and after playing together for the summer decided to call themselves "Old Blind Dogs". Dave Francis and Carmen Higgins joined the band soon afterwards, but left in 1992 before the recording of the first album, New Tricks. Since that time, the line-up of the band has changed frequently, with only Jonny Hardie remaining from the original group.
The Old Blind Dogs were named "Folk Band of the Year" at the Scots Trad Music Awards. Also in 2004, Jim Malcolm was named Songwriter of the Year. In 2001, the UK's Association of Independent Music selected their album Fit? as a finalist for the Celtic Album of the Year award.
The band have toured extensively, performing in Britain, the US, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, and Russia.

Band members

1990–92

Ian F. Benzie (guitar, vocals)
Jonny Hardie (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, backing vocals)
Buzzby McMillan (cittern, bass)
Carmen Higgins (fiddle)
Dave Francis (percussion)
Davy Cattanach (percussion) joined 1991
1992–96

Ian F. Benzie
Jonny Hardie
Buzzby McMillan
Davy Cattanach
1996–97

Ian F. Benzie
Jonny Hardie
Buzzby McMillan
Fraser Fifield (small pipes, saxophone)
Davy Cattanach
1997–99

Ian F. Benzie
Fraser Fifield
Graham Youngson (percussion)
Jonny Hardie
Buzzby McMillan
1999–2003

Jim Malcolm (guitar, harmonica, lead vocals)
Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, backing vocals)
Buzzby McMillan
Rory Campbell (whistle, border pipes, guitar, harmonica, backing vocals)
Paul Jennings (percussion) left 2002
2003–2006

Jim Malcolm
Jonny Hardie
Rory Campbell
Fraser Stone (drums, percussion)
Aaron Jones (bouzouki, bass, backing vocals)
2007–2008

Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
Rory Campbell (border pipes, whistles, vocals)
Fraser Stone (percussion)
Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)
2008–2016

Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
Ali Hutton (border pipes, whistles)
Fraser Stone (percussion)
Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)
2016–2021

Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
Ali Hutton (Great Highland bagpipe, border pipes, whistles)
Donald Hay (percussion)
Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)
2021-

Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar, vocals)
Mike Katz (UK/Europe: pipes, whistles)
Elias Alexander (USA: pipes, whistles)
Donald Hay (percussion)
Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals)

In the following table, please note that although "Live" was released in 1999, the performers are those from the 1992–1996 line-up (Benzie, Hardie, McMillan, and Cattenach) and not those from "The World's Room" (a studio release from the same year).