Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Tartan plaid enthusiasts got an eyeful. Drone aficionados got an earful. Lovers of the Scottish snap surely found theirs the most satisfying City Stages performance. We could only be talking about one group here, the red-kilted, decibel-laden Heritage Pipes and Drums Band of Birmingham. Their spirited performance of reels, jigs and other Scottish genres gave the Music Oasis a snare-drum bang of a final concert Sunday night.
Phillip Ratliff - The Birmingham News
Discography
For audio samples of the Birmingham Bagpiper, please visit http://www.myspace.com/birminghambagpiper.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Ryan Morrison received his initial tutelage from the late Dr. John Richardson and Pipe Major Emeritus Charles Smith of the Heritage Pipes & Drums of Birmingham, Alabama, both of whom were students of the late Pipe Major Ian Sturrock of the Royal Air Force, the first instructor for the Scottish Bagpipes in the state of Alabama.
From 1996 to 1999, Ryan was the owner and operator of The Town Piper located in Birmingham, Alabama, a retail business geared toward instruction of the Scottish Bagpipes. He cultivated a market from a virtually nonexistent circle to a sizable local piping community supporting Alabama's local pipers and pipe bands.
Ryan is a Grade 3 solo competitor who has won awards and medals at various Eastern United States Pipe Band Association sanctioned competitions for the Scottish Bagpipes throughout the southeast. He has performed and competed with two local pipe bands in competitions evaluated by Eastern United States Pipe Band Association adjudicators such as Sandy MacPhee, Peter Kent, William Logan, and Michael Cusack.
Ryan has been a motivating force for the interest in piping in Birmingham and surrounding areas, instructing many of Birmingham's local pipers and performing at hundreds of local venues. Among these events, the most memorable have been performing for Alabama Governor Bob Riley and performing for the opening of a local Rod Stewart concert!
Ryan was featured in an HBO documentary about the deadly MacDonald Chapel tornado of 1998 and can be heard piping in a local television advertisement for the Ross Bridge Golf Resort recorded by Airwave Recording Studios. He is also featured playing bagpipes on albums with professional recording artist Jeff Sauceda and Celtic Harpist Cynthia Lynn Douglass.
Since 2000, Ryan has been the Pipe Major and Director of Heritage Pipes & Drums, an award-winning bagpipe band based for more than thirty years in Birmingham, Alabama.
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