Ross Ainslie


Ross Ainslie is a Scottish traditional musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He plays highland pipes, smallpipes, border pipes, whistles and cittern, and is known for incorporating global influences including jazz, rock and Indian classical music into Scottish traditional music.
Ainslie is a founding member of the Celtic fusion group Treacherous Orchestra and a member of Salsa Celtica. He frequently collaborates with fellow piper Ali Hutton, with whom he won Best Duo at the BBC [Radio 2 Folk Awards] in 2017. As a solo artist, he has released five albums exploring personal and philosophical themes. He is a lecturer in bagpipes at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Early life and education

Ainslie was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1983. He began learning the chanter at age eight, initially giving up the instrument before returning to take lessons with tutor Norrie Sinclair. At eleven, he joined the Vale of Atholl Novice Junior Band in Pitlochry, where he came under the mentorship of pipe major Gordon Duncan. Duncan's unconventional teaching methods, which included encouraging students to improvise along to rock music and play pipes in fusion settings with guitars and bouzoukis, proved formative for Ainslie's later musical approach. It was during this period that he formed his musical partnership with Ali Hutton.
Ainslie studied traditional music at the Royal Scottish [Academy of Music and Drama] in Glasgow. In 2002, he was a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition.

Career

Ainslie's musical career spans collaborative projects, solo recordings, live performance and education. His compositional style blends Scottish traditional music with influences from Indian classical music, jazz, rock music and world music traditions, reflecting the mentorship of Gordon Duncan, who was known for placing bagpipes in unconventional musical settings.
Ainslie co-founded Treacherous Orchestra in 2009, an 11-piece instrumental group that blends traditional Scottish music with rock and punk elements. The band has released two albums: Origins and Grind, with the latter winning Album of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards in 2015. He has also been a member of Salsa Celtica, which fuses Scottish and Irish traditional music with Latin salsa and has toured internationally.
His most frequent collaboration is with Ali Hutton, with whom he has released three Symbiosis albums. The duo won Best Duo at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017. Other notable partnerships include recordings with Irish uilleann piper Jarlath Henderson, Scottish smallpiper Brìghde Chaimbeul and English multi-instrumentalist Tim Edey.
As a solo artist, Ainslie's debut album Wide Open incorporated Scottish, Breton, Indian and jazz elements. Remembering featured his songwriting and vocals for the first time. From 2017, he began a trilogy of concept albums exploring themes of personal healing and self-discovery: Sanctuary, Vana, and Pool. These later works feature expanded instrumentation including Indian classical instruments and collaborations with jazz and classical musicians. Ainslie's compositions are characterized by strong melodic content and complex, multi-layered arrangements that often move beyond traditional tune structures. Several of his compositions have become popular in traditional music sessions. For live performances, he works with The Sanctuary Band, featuring musicians from Scotland's folk and jazz scenes.
In addition to performing, Ainslie lectures in bagpipes at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate traditional music programs.
In March 2023, Ainslie gained international media attention when he performed a bagpipe version of Dr. Dre's "Still D.R.E." for rapper Snoop Dogg upon his arrival at Glasgow Airport. The performance, which featured Snoop Dogg dancing on the tarmac, went viral on social media and was covered by major news outlets worldwide.

Awards and recognition

YearAwardCategoryResultNotes
2013BBC Radio 2 Folk AwardsMusician of the YearNomitated
2014BBC Radio 2 Folk AwardsBest DuoNomitatedwith Jarlath Henderson
2015MG ALBA Scots Trad Music AwardsComposer of the YearWon
2015MG ALBA Scots Trad Music AwardsAlbum of the YearWonfor Treacherous Orchestra's Grind
2016BBC Radio 2 Folk AwardsMusician of the YearNomitated
2017BBC Radio 2 Folk AwardsBest DuoWonwith Ali Hutton
2018BBC Radio 2 Folk AwardsMusician of the YearNomitated
2018BBC Radio 2 Folk AwardsBest DuoNomitatedwith Ali Hutton

Discography

Solo albums

YearTitleLabel
2013Wide OpenGreat White Records
2015RememberingGreat White Records
2017SanctuaryGreat White Records
2020VanaGreat White Records
2022Live at the Gorbals Great White Records
2024PoolGreat White Records

Selected collaborative albums

YearTitleCollaborationLabel
2008Partners in Crimewith Jarlath Henderson
2012Originswith Treacherous Orchestra
2013Air-Fixwith Jarlath Henderson
2015Grindwith Treacherous Orchestra
2016Symbiosiswith Ali Hutton
2018Symbiosis IIwith Ali Hutton
2020Symbiosis IIIwith Ali Hutton
2022LASwith Brìghde Chaimbeul and Steven Byrnes
2023Diadwith Tim Edey