She’s had the backing of Metallica and Iron Maiden for her online bagpipe covers but for Ally Crowley-Duncan the biggest dream yet is playing her own show in Scotland.
Since the musician from New York last came to these shores to compete in the World Championships in 2015, she’s shot to fame online with over four million followers across TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
Now, she’s an ambassador for this year’s Piping Live! festival which, later this month, which will see over 30,000 attendees heading to Glasgow to celebrate all things bagpipes.
Her fascination with the instrument, she says, comes from a lifelong love of music and learning about her step-father’s Scottish heritage when he legally adopted her aged 12.
“My grandma taught me about things like the Duncan tartan and our clan, Donachie,” the 28-year-old, who posts online as Ally the Piper, said.
“I was watching YouTube videos about Scottish culture and the soundtracks were all bagpipes.
“Then I saw them in a parade in New York and I couldn’t figure out how they worked from looking at them, and that really intrigued my brain!”
Her mum found a local youth bagpipe band and, at 14, Ally started taking practice chanter lessons and soon progressed to her first visit to Scotland to play in the World Championships.
“I always tell people that bagpipes aren’t necessarily hard to learn, but they’re hard to get good at,” she said. “They take a little bit of extra TLC.
“I put everything I had into learning. I became really addicted because it’s such a challenge.”
Ally has an impressive haul of competition medals hanging behind her as she chats to The Sunday Post over Zoom from her New York studio.
But piping changed for her during the pandemic.
Having lost all her gigs and private lessons, as well as her retail job, she had time to focus on making a career out of playing.
“I hadn’t been practicing much at that point, just performing at shows and gigs. I wanted to brush them off and take the opportunity to fall in love with the instrument again.
“I just picked them up one day and decided to post a video of a tune on TikTok and people went crazy for it.”
Since then she’s racked up millions of views and taken all sorts of requests from jigs and reels to WWE themes and rock anthems, starting out on piano before adjusting keys, fingerings and even what chanter she uses.
“Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird was funny,” she said. “I had never heard it on bagpipes before, and I was like, how did this not connect? It just translates so perfectly over.”
@piper.ally K so here’s Freebird on a bagpipe #bagpipes #bagpiper #guitarsolo #freebird #lynardskynard #kiltsoftiktok
Iron Maiden were big fans of her bagpipe version of Hallowed Be Thy Name, and the family of late Swedish DJ Avicii’s family posted her cover of Wake Me Up on his website.
When Ally’s mashup of Metallica tracks attracted a negative comment, the band’s official account replied: “This guy doesn’t speak on our behalf. You’re awesome.”
“It was really crazy to see an entire community of metalheads and supporters of Metallica swarm in to support me,” she said. “I get a lot of hate comments because that’s what the internet’s like, but it was a really transitional moment for me to see the positives it can have from a community aspect.
“It’s always incredible when the original creator of the songs that you’re covering comes to bat for you, or even just says it’s cool. That’s the best feeling.”
Ally’s also found plenty of support from Scotland.
“A lot of Scottish people are just happy to see an instrument so deeply tied to their culture, their community, being represented in a positive light, because bagpipes are fantastic and amazing and so culturally significant but they don’t get a lot of good press.
“People are just are happy to see the instrument doing something in the mainstream which has exploded. I’ve started to see a lot of other creators coming up and playing the bagpipes as well post-pandemic. We’re starting to build an online community of people.”
Ally takes the trip across the Atlantic to Piping Live! later this month.
Run by the National Piping Centre in the run up to the World Championships, and now in its 21st year, it features concerts, recitals, competitions and workshops.
“I’m going to be doing some short performances showing the evolution of playing, so traditional stuff transitioning over to things like Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train,” she said. “It’s eclectic!”
“I’ve always loved Piping Live! and the National Piping Centre. I made it a point to go there every time I was in Scotland. For them to have reached out and want me to be part of the whole experience is amazing. I’m very excited.
“I love how they bring everybody together to support and celebrate Scottish culture and bagpipes specifically.
“To play bagpipes in Scotland is the big thing that I’m excited for, wherever that is in a building or out in some beautiful landscape.”
Piping Live! 2024, Aug 10-18, visit pipinglive.co.uk
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe