Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Celebrities give Craig’s band a boost along the Highland Road

Craig Weir & The Cabalistic Cavalry. From left — Paul Weir, Craig, Josh Landsburgh and Ross White.
Craig Weir & The Cabalistic Cavalry. From left — Paul Weir, Craig, Josh Landsburgh and Ross White.

Stars of stage and screen have turned out to give a new Tayside band a hand up the road with their first single.

Most musicians ask friends for help when they record their first tunes.

So when Tayside piper Craig Weir decided to start his new band, Craig Weir & The Cabalistic Cavalry, he did just that.

Except he could call on stars such as Queen guitarist Brian May, Kyle Falconer of The View, Dundee’s queen of daytime telly Lorraine Kelly, and stage star Alan Kelly.

Along with names such as Les McKeown of The Bay City Rollers and ex-Libertine Pete Doherty, they each read a line from a poem to start and end the track.

The Highland Road, released on Sunday, is the first track from the band, which the 23-year-old began as a side project from his Celtic rock band Gleadhraich.

It begins and ends with a poem written by the Dundee primary school teacher and Canadian friend Chris Brown, inspired by a road trip they took in Canada last year.

“It’s based on a highway in Maxville, Ontario called Highland Road,” Craig said.

“Driving along it blew my mind and gave me this vision of Scotland being the centre of the creative universe.

“That led to my decision to get a variety of musicians and celebrities I’ve performed with around the world to contribute their voices to the track to express their love for Scotland.”

Comedian Fred MacAulay, AC/DC musician Mark Evans, 2011 Britain’s Got Talent winner Jai McDowall, and 2013 X Factor semi-finalist Nicky McDonald also feature.

Craig took up bagpipes at the age of eight and has played with Queen, the Bay City Rollers, and The Libertines, has performed for the Dalai Lama and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and been involved in major events from New York Tartan Week to the MOBO Awards.

Highland Road will be available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.

The band will launch their live shows with John Hassall & The April Rainers at The Green Room, Perth on May 12, and The Record Factory, Glasgow on May 13.

Celebs happy to take part

Talking about his part in the single, Brian May said: “I was happy to pour a little of my Scottish blood into this epic.”

Lorraine Kelly said: “I was delighted to take part in this project and hearing it all together gave me goose bumps.

“It’s very atmospheric and embodies the spirit of Scotland.”

Alan Cumming added: “It’s beautiful — really moving and I love all the different voices.”