Iain Sherwood
Available for engagements in and around the San Francisco Bay Area

Born into a family of strong Highland tradition in 1949, Iain Stewart Murray Sherwood has been playing bagpipes since 1963. He was taught by Bill Anderson, Hector Cameron and Hamilton Workman (HLI), and Jock Sneddon (Gordon Highlanders), George Stoddart, and John Partenan. He has played with numerous Pipe Bands on the east coast and in the west. In 1967 Iain won the California Novice Championship at the Santa Monica Games, taking the Iain Campbell Memorial Trophy, and he has competed in Games across the US, in Canada, and in Scotland. He has been a Life Member of the Scottish Piping Society of London since 1967, of the Eagle Piper's Society of Edinburgh since 1972; and is currently a member ofThe Competing Pipers Association in Scotland. In April of 2000 he was elected to the prestigious Piobaireachd Society of Glasgow, Scotland, in recognition of his composing and playing ability. The tune being played is 'Donald Dewar's Welcome to San José,' composed by Iain in 1997, in honour of the late Scottish Prime Minister's visit to Silicon Valley.

He has been active in Living History organisations for thirty years. In 1972 he accompanied the Clan Fraser Society of California on many of its activities in Scotland, culminating in the Mallaig Games in August, where he piped the Frasers who re-enacted Lord Lovat's flight across the Highlands in 1746. He is also the founder and commanding officer of the White Rose Society, which has been active at American Highland Games throughout the western US since 1974, and is an honorary member of 'Bydand Forever' of San Diego.

Iain has played before such notables as HRH Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon; the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton; the late Brigadier the Lord Lovat; the late Master of Lovat; the late Mackintosh of Mackintosh; Lord Campbell; the Late Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel; James MacBain of MacBain, Chief of Clan MacBain; McCune of Coll Earn; the late Seton Gordon; the late Donald Dewar, the Prime Minister of Scotland; and numerous Clan and Scottish Society Presidents. He has held the position of Clan Piper for Clan Fraser and the Caledonian Society of Arizona. He is currently Piper to the San Francisco Commandery of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller.

In 1992 he spent a year teaching piping in the Piedmont, Ca. Adult Education program, which experience led him to write The Highland Emigrant's Piping Tutor, published in 1993. The first piping instruction book published in the U.S., it is a comprehensive manual for the instructed beginner, not a self-teaching book, using traditional methods and some modern innovations in the teaching process. He has also written a collection of pipe music, The First Half Century, now in preparation. Some tunes from this proposed book can be seen on our TUNES page.

Since 1987 he has owned and operated Cuillinn Craft, manufacturers of fine quality Highland Dress accessories in silver, gold, and leather. All items bearing the CUILLINN CRAFT touchmark are made by him, including dirks, sgians, sporrans, belts, and jewelry. In 1994 Cuillinn Craft became the U.S. west coast agent for Sharp & Co., makers of the Kintail, David Glen, J&R Glen, and Drumran lines of bagpipes, and he also currently represents J. Dunbar, Inveran, Trewin Somers,Tim Gellaitry, and JWM bagpipe makers, at Highland games in California, by mail, and on the internet.

He will be happy to consult with you on your piping needs. Appropriate tunes can be selected from his vast repertoire of pipe music, to best suit your occasion. He is also available to consult with you on all aspects of Highland Dress, historic and modern, and gives individual bagpipe instruction every week by appointment.

Iain plays a John MacDougall bagpipe made in the mid-1850s in Perth, Scotland.

For further information or to book an engagement call: (510) 569-1689 or email pipey@cuillinn.com .

photo credits: background, SF City Hall, Aug. 2000, Grace Cathedral, Feb. 2000 - Karen Winkler