The Devil's Tailors

We perform traditional Scottish dance music, alternating between pipes + fiddle and twin fiddles sets, with accompaniment on guitar, bouzouki, percussion, whistle, and harp. Our tunes are a healthy mix of reels, jigs, and strathspeys, with the occasional hornpipe and slip jig, and we keep the instrumental sets high energy.

Our songs are also drawn from the Scottish repertoire; we have songs in Scots, English, and Gaelic, backed by a mix of instrumentation as above.

When playing for a Ceilidh, we usually bring in a caller and pianist, and will teach dances as needed. We can arrange for requested dances with the client, and will prepare a dance repertoire specific for the dances chosen.

When performing for a Burns Supper, we offer a full package - the piper for the haggis & Gaelic toast, soft instrumental music (based on Burns song airs) for dinner, and a full concert & Ceilidh for the dancing. We also prepare Burns songs for the concert portion.

Named for one of the most famous reels in the fiddler’s repertoire, “The De’il Amang the Tailors,” the band was conceived as a high energy Scottish Celtic band, heavy on pipes and fiddle, with a repertoire of tunes and songs spanning four centuries.

The Devil’s Tailors has played at the National Tartan Day Festival in Alexandria, VA, the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, MD, Celebrate Fairfax!, the Virginia Scottish Games, the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, at Burns suppers for the alumni clubs of the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, at John Strongbow’s Tavern in Alexandria, VA, and Historic London Town and Gardens in Edgewater, MD, along with ceilidhs, weddings, parties and other events, with more shows soon!

If performing with a house PA, we need a stage area of about 7'x14' minimum area. If we are providing our own PA, we will require this much space, plus space to mount the speakers.

We will need a minimum of 3 110VAC outlets, preferably 1 near the front of the stage, and 2 near the back. If using a house PA, we need at least 4 XLR inputs and 1 1/4" mono input for instruments (or 5 XLRs and a DI). One of these channels will need +48V phantom power. We will bring our own instrument wireless rigs as well as cables from our rigs to the stage snake or mixer. In addition, we will need a minimum of 4 vocal mics & stands (or provision to plug in our own wireless vocal rig, which needs an additional 110VAC outlet and has 4 XLR outputs). The total channels used are 4 instrumental, 4 mic-level instrument channels, and 1 line-level instrument channel (unless using a DI).

If we are retained for a dance, we will need an additional 1/4" line input and 110VAC outlet for the piano, and a fixed vocal mic and stand for the caller.