    aly bain mbe (born 15 may 1946 in lerwick, shetland) is a shetland fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master tom anderson. in 1967 he was a member of the shetland-based band gordon hank and the country ramblers, with gordon smith, ian stewart and jack robertson. shetland times, 11 january 2012 bain is now considered one of the finest fiddlers in the scottish tradition. ==career== in the early days of his career he formed (briefly and unofficially) part of the band the humblebums with two other âunknownsâ gerry rafferty and billy connolly and tam harvey. he became nationally prominent as a founding member of the boys of the lough, a scots- irish folk group, with whom he played for over 30 years. he received several honorary doctorates in the usa. simultaneously, bain pursued a solo career in collaborative and television projects with pelicula films director, mike alexander and producer, douglas eadie, working on several international television series: 'the down home recordings', 'the shetland sessions', 'aly meets the cajuns', and six series of the transatlantic sessions - in 2010 winning the bbc radio 2 folk awards, "good tradition award". since the early eighties bain has regularly collaborated and recorded with prominent musicians from across the globe, including: jerry douglas, emmylou harris, mark o'connor, jay ungar, mary black, mairÃ©ad nÃ­ mhaonaigh, dan tyminski, rosanne cash, james taylor, eddi reader, paul brady, darrell scott, michael doucet, martha wainwright, kate and anna mcgarrigle, john martyn, danny thompson, iris dement, karen matheson, karan casey, donal lunny, joan osborne, allison moorer, bruce molsky and allan macdonald, bringing traditional music to a constantly widening audience. in 1993 his autobiography "fiddler on the loose" was published by "mainstream". it was co-written with alastair clark. bain has recei
1946_births Living_people Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire People_from_Lerwick Scottish_folk_musicians Shetland_fiddlers Shetland_music