{"id":11305,"date":"2026-11-02T07:47:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T07:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/?p=11305"},"modified":"2026-11-02T07:47:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T07:47:26","slug":"mg-alba-scots-trad-music-awards-2026-allan-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/mg-alba-scots-trad-music-awards-2026-allan-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2026: Allan Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Congratulations to Allan Taylor<\/strong> who has \/ have been nominated in Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year sponsored by Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2026. Vote for Allan Taylor now!<\/a><\/strong> It’s going to be another great night at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards on Saturday 5th December in Paisley Arena, Lagoon Centre. Why not join us for a brilliant night of music and awards. Buy a ticket here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We asked Allan of Allan Taylor<\/strong> the following questions.<\/p>\n

Tell us about yourself<\/strong>
\nBorn and bred in Tornaveen a mainly farming community 18 miles west of Aberdeen, now living near Alford, Aberdeenshire. I have a wide repertoire of songs but my real passion is for the bothy songs and ballads of North East Scotland that I was brought up hearing.and singing in the Doric tongue.<\/p>\n

My first "paid "singing gig was as a seven year old in the local hotel on Christmas day, singing The Big Kilmarnock Bonnet, the "pay" A bottle of Coke, A box of Maltesers and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps!
\nHaving not sung in public since my teens, around twenty years ago. I was persuaded to enter the traditional and bothy ballad singing competitions at the Buchan Heritage Society. From there being encouraged by the likes of Jock Duncan, Joe Aitken, Geordie Murison, Scott Gardiner, Jim Taylor and Hector Riddell. I started entering competitions at Keith, Kirriemuir and Auchtermuchty TMSA (Traditional Music and Song Association) Festival.
\nSinging in competitions (and starting to win prizes) and competing at the Bothy Ballad champion of Champions led to me being invited to sing in concerts, to guest at festivals and have been fortunate to be invited to many places to sing. It gets busier every year!!<\/p>\n

I am active on both Facebook and TikTok promoting traditional singing to a much wider audience. The Muckin o Geordies Byre has had over 52K views to date<\/p>\n

As well as singing I am involved with two of the organisations promoting Scottish Music song and culture.
\nI sit on the board of TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) as Trustee and Treasurer. Also I have been involved in the TMSA now for many years and I am currently the Chair of the Aberdeen branch. .<\/p>\n

Any particular career highlights?<\/strong>
\nWinning the 2026 Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions was great highlight, winning after many years of being in the final
\nBeing a guest at many Traditional Music festivals such as Keith and Kirriemuir, singing weekends including The Inishowen International Folk Song and Ballad Seminar, Cullerlie Traditional Singing Weekend, Fife Sing and the Yorkshire Traditional Singing Weekend.
\nReleasing my first CD "I gaed up bi Alford" in 2020
\nAppearing at Folk Festivals and Clubs such as Orkney, Stonehaven Folk Club and Glenfarg (Along with Joe Aitken and Geordie Murison), and solo at Stonehaven Folk Festival and The Portsoy Haal.
\nSinging in the bothy group the in the show "A toast to Robbie Shepherd" at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen was a particular highlight. as was being the MC and a singer in the first 101 songbook concert at Celtic Connections in 2016<\/p>\n

Since the first weekend of Covid, I sing for 45 minutes on a weekly live show of my own on Facebook (See ye Thursday) attracting viewers from al over the world including the USA, Australia, Ireland and regularly attracting 3K plus views each week.<\/p>\n

Presenting a weekly show "Trad Time wi TMSA" on KCR 107.7fm and KCR.fm<\/p>\n

What are your plans for the future?<\/strong>
\n2027 is shaping up to be busier than ever before with concerts, folk club and festival appearances already booked. Unfortunately I can't divulge my biggest engagement of 2027 as the guest list hasn't been announced yet!! <\/p>\n

Trying to defend The Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions title in February, which will be interesting especially as my son Eoin has also qualified to compete in the final!<\/p>\n

To continue to promote traditional music and song across the generations, in particular to give encouragement and opportunities for the young folk coming through.<\/p>\n

Releasing a second CD at some future point.is also in my plans.<\/p>\n

Allan Taylor Social Media<\/strong>
\nWebsite: <\/a>
\nFacebook: https:\/\/@https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/afc1983\/
\nInstagram: @allanbothytaylor
\nYouTube: @allanbothytaylor
\nTikTok: @allanbothytaylor<\/p>\n

Listen to music: https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/allanbothytaylor<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2026 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards are on the 5th December 2026 in Paisley Arena, Lagoon Centre! You will be able to watch it live in person (buy a ticket here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Hosted by Scottish personalities Alistair Heather and Mary Ann Kennedy, the night will welcome live performances from some of the brightest lights on the thriving trad scene today including Valtos, Gnoss, Sian, F\u00e8is Ph\u00e0islig, Spodo Komodo and BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Rachel Groves and many more!<\/p>\n

If you would like to support Hands Up for Trad in their work with Scottish trad music and musicians why not become a friend of Hands Up for Trad<\/a><\/strong>. In addition to our high profile events like the Scots Trad Music Awards, we also deliver a less well known, education programme for young people from 8yrs right through to young adults at the start of their careers. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to Allan Taylor who has \/ have been nominated in Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year sponsored by Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2026. Vote for Allan Taylor now! It’s going to be another great night at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nominee-2026","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/files\/2026\/10\/facebook_1792674818267_7519023160959476912.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11307,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11305\/revisions\/11307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}