A Fife ceilidh band is back on track after being nominated for a Scots Trad Music Award.
Having just launched a new album, titled Back on Track, the Lomond Ceilidh Band is one of four bands shortlisted in the Scottish Dance Band of the Year category.
Accordion player Alan Small believes it is the first time a Scottish dance band has released a record on vinyl for 25 years.
It marks a fresh start for the group, which was recently rocked by revelations that former band fiddler Ewan Stark had been sending lewd texts and Facebook messages to young girls.
Stark, who was last year sentenced to 255 hours of unpaid work, was sacked by his horrified band colleagues.
Band member Gemma Donald, a previous winner of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship and finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2015, said bookings had suffered as a result.
But she said being nominated for an award had put the focus back on the music.
She said: “Bookings haven’t been the same. People haven’t been getting in touch because there was a lot of bad publicity.
“We’re just re-establishing ourselves and to be one of the top bands nominated in the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards is just the icing on the cake.It’s what we’ve been working towards.
“To be included in the top four bands in the Scottish dance band category is a great honour for us.”
Award winners will be announced at a ceremony in the Caird Hall, Dundee, on December 3.
The Lomond Ceilidh Band has been shortlisted alongside Trail West, Sixties Bairns and the Peter Wood Shetland Dance Band.
Members of the public are being invited to get involved and vote through the awards website.
Back on Track was launched at the band’s concert in Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall on Monday November 7.
Mr Small added: “It would be a dream come true if we were named best Scottish dance band 2016.
“It is a very exciting time for us as a band having just released our new album on both CD and vinyl. Every vote counts and we would be over the moon if we could get as many people to vote for us as possible to keep us in the running.”
