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In February of 2003, the band was honored by the Mississippi Legislature with a resolution recognizing them as the state’s “first legally organized bagpipe and drum unit in Mississippi....” Not too shabby for a band that plays the only instrument in history to have ever been outlawed as a weapon of war!

 

I talked with several band members at the recording session. Karen McKlemurry, a piper-in-training, told me, “I’ve always loved the bagpipes—since I was a child, but I never dreamed that I could actually play them.” Up until a year and a half ago, she’d had no idea that there were any bagpipers in Mississippi. Then she “caught the fever” upon hearing Kris play at a wedding. She later attended one of Kris’s workshops at Celtic Fest and from that point was convinced that she had to become a member.

 

Karen takes piping lessons from Kris and hopes to become a full member in about a year. “I’m very anxious to be playing and marching [with the band]. I want to be in the middle of it. I will definitely be there for Celtic Fest 2005.”

 

Tim Gordon (left) from Carthage is the band’s Pipe Major. He began learning the pipes in 1983 while stationed in Scotland with the U.S. Marine Corp. “As soon as I had orders to go there, I said I want to learn to play the bagpipe.” Tim says that membership in the band “brings our Scottish ancestry, our ethnic heritage, to the forefront, and we are able to share that with the crowds in parades and places where we play.”

 

Scottish ancestry, however, is not a prerequisite for membership in the band. The By-Laws of the band specify that membership is open to those who are citizens of Mississippi and the surrounding area, and who are ancestral or native-born Scots, Scots by marriage, or Scots by adoption. This last, Scots by adoption, requires that three members of the band propose a candidate for membership.

 

Steven Giles (see bag pipe tuning photo above) from Gilbertown, Alabama plays with the band whenever he gets a chance. He said at the recording session, “It’s a dream I’ve always wanted—to be in a pipe band—especially a good one. It means a lot...you get to please audiences all over the place with the sound of the Highland bagpipe. It’s a live heritage.”

 

 

For more information about the Father of Waters Pipes and Drums Band, please visit their Web site at www.fatherofwaters.com/. This will open a new page.

 

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