Colin Ross

Who is Colin Ross?

Colin Ross is an English folk musician, playing fiddle and Northumbrian smallpipes, and a noted maker of Northumbrian smallpipes, Border pipes and Scottish smallpipes, and one of the inventors of the modern Scottish smallpipes. Ross is also a fiddler, and played both Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle in the English folk music band the High Level Ranters. This specialised in the music of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. They played a major role in the revival of Northumbrian music from the 1960s. In 1977, each of the Ranters was given the chance to produce a solo album. Rather than do this alone, Ross collaborated with various other musicians to produce Cut and Dry Dolly, an album of early Northumbrian music, simple dance tunes from the late 18th century William Vickers manuscript together with long variation sets, particularly from the Peacock tunebook from the beginning of the 19th century. This was very influential in reviving interest in this early strand of Northumbrian music.