Published: Thursday, 11th February, 2010 11:01am

Gala piper nominated for celtic music award

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by Ben McGregor

A BAGPIPE track recorded in the Borders is in the running for an international celtic music award.

Listeners to the global internet radio station Celticradio.net have decided "Queens piper Medley" by Galashiels born piper Jimmy McRae is one of the top celtic music tracks of 2009.

It features on his latest album "Global Gathering", all of which was recorded and produced at David Little's "Soundstation" recording studio in the town's High Street.

This is the second time Jimmy has been nominated for a prestigious music award. In 2006, he was nominated for, and won, a top prize for outstanding new music compositions from the Performers Rights Society.

The awards are sponsored by Celticradio.net which is broadcast out of Chicago, Illinois, USA and has over 50,000 listeners and members around the world.

They were created to acknowledge and promote exceptional music in categories including Celtic rock, traditional, contemporary folk and bagpipes.

Jimmy is currently leading the bagpipe category with over 50 per cent of the vote but faces strong opposition from top pipe bands and leading solo pipers.

"I have always enjoyed seeing Dottle perform with the Border Boogie Band and really rate him as a drummer," said Jimmy. "As I got to know him better I became increasingly impressed with his skill and experience in the recording world and what a great studio set-up he had in Gala."

Anyone wishing to listen to his Galashiels recordings and earlier work can do so for free by logging onto his website www.jimthepiper.co.uk and visiting the music section.

Voting continues in the Celtic Radio awards until St Patrick's Day, March 17. The public are welcome to long into www.celticmusic.net to register their votes. It's free.