The SFO are thrilled to announce that our Musical Director and Conductor, Blair Parham, has been nominated for a Scots Trad Music Award in the category of Industry Person of the Year.
You can vote for Blair in Category 8 of the Awards, where he is one of the 4 nominees.
Congratulations to everyone who has reached this final stage of the voting.
The Awards will be presented at Aberdeen’s Music Hall on 06 December 2025. The Music Hall, of course, occupies a special place in the history of the SFO, being the location of the orchestra’s inaugural concert in March 1980.
We would also like to thank you very much if you voted for us at the stage of the longlist for the Album of the Year at the Trad Awards.
Unfortunately, we did not make it through to the shortlist with “Sleeping Warrior”.
Many congratulations to all of those 10 individuals, duos and bands who were successful in getting through to the final shortlist.
They are (album name; artist; date of album release):
- To the Wind Mànran (Release date: 01/08/2025)
- araon Sian (Release date: 01/08/2025)
- Sunwise Brìghde Chaimbeul (Release date: 27/06/2025)
- Her By Design Jenn Butterworth (Release date: 28/02/2025)
- Fable Ainsley Hamill (Release date: 17/01/2025)
- In Terra’s Keep TRIP (Release date: 13/01/2025)
- Pool Ross Ainslie (Release date: 06/12/2024)
- Folkmosis Beth Malcolm (Release date: 18/11/2024)
- Lèirsinn – Perception Ewen Henderson (Release date: 18/10/2024)
- Anna Bhàn Mairearad Green & Rachel Newton (Release date: 04/10/2024)
If you would like to vote for any of the approximately 100 nominees across 22 categories, you can make your vote count via the Hands Up for Trad website here.
The ten albums vying for the prestigious Scots Trad Award for Best Album in 2025 are fantastic and they showcase the astonishing breadth of talent in Scotland today.
First up, we have Mànran with their album, To the Wind, released in August 2025. For a band already having a long track record and huge fanbase, reviews noted that this album takes a brave leap, applying a glossy sheen of current pop sensibilities to their brand, offering a refreshing and sometimes unexpected sound. Despite the poppy flair, Ewen Henderson’s fiddle is clearly there in the mix, lurking beneath the surface, recognisable in instrumentals like Downpour and See What You Hear. More of Ewen later…
Next, we have the mesmerising trio Sian, whose album araon also came out in August 2025. Sian, whose name means “storm” or “the elements”, originally came together to celebrate Gaelic songs composed by women. Reviewers adored the album, noting that the blend of voices is truly sublime, with production balancing the star-studded instrumentalists to allow the beauty of the voices and songs to shine through with great clarity. And talking about string involvement – araon features Charlie Stewart and Megan Henderson on fiddle.
Moving to a powerful concept piece, we have Jenn Butterworth’s debut solo album, Her By Design (February 2025). This album is highly acclaimed for its strong feminist themes, centering women’s experiences and re-interpreting traditional folk songs from a new perspective. Butterworth herself is a master of the guitar and her ambitious self-production has been highlighted as a major success. Adding a fantastic layer of drama to this project is the inclusion of guest musician Seonaid Aitken on fiddle.
January 2025 brought us Ainsley Hamill’s Fable. Hamill has been praised for her soulful and jazzy take on Scottish Folk, utilising an incredible voice informed as much by – yes – soul and jazz as by Scottish folk. There is a real richness of sound but also subtlety in her vocals. When it comes to the strings, for example, the album features Toby Shaer’s atmospheric fiddle on the track Sinnerman / Pheacaich.
TRIP’s second album, In Terra’s Keep, was released in January 2025. Born out of the vibrant Glasgow traditional music scene, TRIP unites the Celtic traditions of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, delivering a dynamic, driven, and distinctive sound with a cross-genre flare. The good news for fiddle fans is that Isla Callister is right there in the midst of things.
Delving into the latter half of 2024 releases, we find Pool by Scotland’s most sought-after piper, Ross Ainslie. Ainslie, a prolific collaborator and talented musician playing pipes, whistles, and cittern, has been recognised with numerous Scots Trad Music Awards nominations, including his albums Las and Diad making previous shortlists. Greg Lawson features on fiddle and the album opener High Place Phenomenon includes an excellent solo from him. Ross’s Mum, Aileen Smith, plays in the SFO’s first fiddle section – and organises our annual Perth concert – so no surprises who’ll we’ll be voting for.
In November 2024, Beth Malcolm released the brilliant Folkmosis. This ambitious 20-track album is essentially a musical coming-of-age autobiography, exploring belonging and celebrating connection to land and language. Critics have call it a spellbinding album that roots identity in music and heritage. The traditional murder ballad Edward features a lovely fiddle-inflected touch, with its jig-time bridges from Eryn Rae.
We must also celebrate the deeply personal and historical project from cousins Mairearad Green & Rachel Newton, Anna Bhàn (October 2024). This album is a stunning tribute to their great-great-grandmother, Anna Bhàn, who was at the forefront of the successful Coigach Resistance during the Highland Clearances in 1852. Heralded as a potential lodestone for this kind of music, the collaboration is praised as an exquisite marriage of history, music, and song. For string lovers, Rachel Newton plays harp and viola, and the music features the elegant marriage of piano, harp, and fiddle on the reflective air, Lady Stafford.
Next, we are back to Ewen Henderson and his deeply conceptual work, Lèirsinn – Perception (October 2024). Henderson, who is a co-founder of Mànran, is best known for the fiddle but also plays piano and whistles. His concept contrasts the mood of various geographical settings—first imagined, then experienced. The album cover artwork appears to have been inspired by Nick Drake’s Bryter Later. This thoughtful and thought-provoking project is rich in string work: Henderson plays fiddle and viola himself, and his sister, Megan Henderson, also contributes fiddle.
Finally, completing the Shortlist is Brìghde Chaimbeul’s album, Sunwise (June 2025). While Chaimbeul is a renowned Scottish piper playing both the Great Highland bagpipe and Scottish smallpipes, she actually learned the fiddle and piano before taking up the pipes at age seven. Her previous work Las (2021), co-released with Ross Ainslie, was also shortlisted for Album of the Year.
This shortlist is a vibrant kaleidoscope of Scottish identity, history, and musical evolution, blending pop energy, soulful jazz, and profound historical narrative—all underpinned by traditional instruments. It’s a true feast for the ears.
Good luck to all the short-listed nominees. Remember that HERE is where you should vote.