If I were to mention “bagpipes,” your first response MIGHT be of someone playing “Scotland the Brave” on bagpipes. Yeah, I get it.
Then you haven’t met Ally Clarke-Duncan.
Ally Crowley-Duncan has carved out a nice little musical niche for herself. She took an instrument that most would associate with ceremonial parades – the bagpipes – and turned it into a hell of a musical experience. She’s posted several videos about whether certain rock songs would sound better with bagpipe accompaniment, and in most cases – yeah, they kinda do.
That works. For sure.
And she’s quite talented on this instrument. Here she is performing the instrumental “Sandstorm” at halftime of an Indianapolis Colts football game.
And trust me, it’s not like bagpipes haven’t been used in rock and roll before. AC/DC’s first major hit, “It’s a Long Way To The Top,” features lead singer Bon Scott on bagpipes.
And Ally the Piper actually explains how Bon Scott took on the bagpipes for this track – as well as demonstrating how it could be played on the bagpipes in the 2020’s.
Hey, if you’ve got this kind of talent and you can make this work, then I say go for it. And she has.
And it’s not just “hey, can these bagpipes cover X song?” videos. She also has videos that explain how bagpipes work, how they’re made, the different sounds they can make, all of that. This is fascinating.
But with all these videos and appearances, Ally has also run across something ugly. Unfortunately, there are a slurry of people who already have a preconceived notion of what bagpipes can do, and how dare some GIRL use them to play the solo from a classic rock song!
Let me explain. At one point, Ally the Piper showed that bagpipes work very well when synchronized to classic Metallica songs.
Boy did THAT piss some people off. You would have thought Ally the Piper’s last name was Napster or something.
In fact, it took a Metallica expert to stand up for Ally the Piper and her Metallica covers.
Then, after Ally the Piper created this music video for her song “Hail to the King,” which would make some incredible entrance music for any sports team. Yeah. I’m just imagining this now with the New York Knicks charging onto the basketball court. Hell yeah.
During the video, you can see her having a “Hamlet” moment, where she raises a skull to probably say, “Alas, Poor Yorick, I knew him, Horatio” in bagpipe-speak. Well, after the video hit millions of views on social media, she celebrated by getting that Yorick skull tattooed on her leg.
No big deal. People get tattoos all the time.
But BOY did the trolls come out from under the bridge for that one. And they had a double-dose of keyboard courage and 4chan Loko in their diseased brains. And they excoriated Ally for (gasp) getting a tattoo.
It got to the point where Ally had to defend herself on social media over simply decorating her body with a memento of her successful music video. Yeesh.
So Ally “addressed” these jackasses. Clearly and succinctly.
Here’s the thing. Ally the Piper makes music. Ally the Piper has fun with her music. Ally the Piper is talented and skilled in her art.
And Ally the Piper doesn’t need your bullshit knuckle-dragging idiocy.
But after all this … there’s really only one question I have for Ally the Piper.
Can bagpipes work for this song? Is it possible?
Inquiring minds like me want to know. 😀
Chuck The Writer 
Good stuff. And a local girl, at that.
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