Atholl Highlanders (USA) Pipes & Drums of Stone Mountain
A pipe band out of the town of Stone Mountain,Georgia. The band is the pipe band of Clan Murray and wears the Murray of Atholl tartan. The Band motto is "Who's Like us?".
History
The band was first formed in 1981 as the James Reid Pipes & Drums. James Reid was a piper for Prince Charlie in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion. He was hung for being a Jacobite supporter, the death sentence was for playing pipes as an instrument of war. In 1983, Lord George Iain Murray, the 10th Duke of Atholl, granted the band permission to wear the Murray of Atholl tartan, to bear the name “Atholl Highlanders” and to be his representative in America. The band has no official connection beyond this to the Atholl Highlanders in Scotland. Lord Murray also granted similar rights to The Murray Pipes & Drums of Gothenburg, Sweden.
In the 1996 the band played for the Irish Olympic athletes in Decatur,Georgia during the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games. In January 2000, the Atholl Highlanders were the first pipe band to appear at a Super Bowl game, performing the National Anthem with singer Faith Hill at Super Bowl XXXIV (34) in Atlanta. The band participated in the Millennium Piping Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in August of that year, joining with over 8,500 pipers and drummers parading through the city to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
In 2007, for the bands support of the military; performing for departing and returning military units as well as playing for fallen soldiers, Drum Major Don Bogue and Pipe Major Evan Kohler-Camp were awarded the Georgia Commendation Medal by the National Guard. Currently, Pipe Sergeant Jerry Cannon, on duty with his unit in Afghanistan, is training beginning pipers, with support and material from the band.
The band was in the 2002 Tunes of Glory parade in New York City, with just under 7,000 marching up the Avenue of the Americas. The band has also performed in the Atlanta Braves 9-11 Remembrance pre-game ceremonies. The band returned to Edinburgh for the Pipe Fest 2005 parade, marching with more than 9,800 pipers and drummers from around the world. The band plans to participate in the 2010 Global Challenge, a project by Pipe Fest to connect as many pipe bands around the world in different towns and cities around the world for the first around the world massed pipe band performance.
List of Officers
Pipe Section
Pipe Major
- Evan L. Kohler-Camp (1999-Present)
- Berkeley Strobel (1989-1999)
- Chuck Calmbacher (1983)-(1988)
- Dave Brown - Founder - (1981)-(1983)
Pipe Sergeant
- Jerry Cannon (2006-present)
- Ben Summers (2007-present)
- Lisa Wight (2007-present)
Pipe Corporal
- Dennis Duncan (2007-present)
- John Murray (2007-present)
Drum Section
Drum Major
- Ben Linton(2009-present)
- Rob Volz (2006)-(present)
- Don Bogue (1996-present)
- John Rodgers (?)-(?)
- Bob Harlan (?)-(?)
- Paul Braman (1981)-(1984)
Drum Sergeant
- Konrad Klemens (1996-present)
See also
- Great Highland Bagpipe
- Bagpipes
- Types of bagpipes
- Canntaireachd
- Pipe Band
- List of pipe bands
- List of pipe band associations
- Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association