The Skirl of the Pipes in the Deep South
article and photographs by Bill Pitts

When one thinks of bagpipes, Mississippi doesn’t automatically spring to mind. Instead, it’s usually images of Scotland with its fields of heather and its crumbling castles. Yet, for those of us who have attended at least one of Mal's St. Paddy’s Parades here in the capitol city of Jackson or been to the annual Celtic Fest at the Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Museum, bagpipes (and drums) are indeed becoming a part of the Mississippi cultural landscape.

There are currently three pipe and drum bands in the state. The Mississippi Sound Pipes & Drums is based in Gulfport and Hattiesburg hosts the Hub City Pipes & Drums. But only one has the distinction of being the first and only Scottish Highland pipes and drums band operating under a non-profit charter granted by the State of Mississippi. It is also the largest performing group of Scottish pipers and drummers in the state. Meet the Father of Waters Pipes and Drums Band, founded in August, 2001 by Band Master Kris Carmichael .

Kris, a past president of the Caledonian Society of Mississippi and the 1996 Mississippi Scottish Highland Games, as well as the founder of the East Mississippi Scottish Society, saw the need for an organization such as this.

His goal is to “propagate and teach the arts of Scottish Highland piping and drumming” in order that “the communities and State of Mississippi might be enriched with a knowledge and sense of our Celtic heritage.”

In the photo to the left, Margaret Carmichael adjusts the volume on the playback as her husband Kris listens, obviously pleased with what he hears.

I had the pleasure of being invited to the band’s first recording session. This took place at the Brandon Assembly of God on a Saturday this past July [2004]. When I arrived at the church, they were posing for the CD cover, dressed up in full regalia (see below). Not a site one sees very often in Mississippi.

After the photographer—Scott Roberts, the brother of one of the pipers—was finished with his job, I had a chance to talk with Kris. He told me that “It’s always been my dream to see this band become the official state pipe and drum band of Mississippi because we’ve been such good ambassadors and the people have received us well. They say ‘I didn’t know there was a bagpipe band in Mississippi!’ but when they hear the sound...something stirs. Hopefully Mississippi will one day reach the point that it has in other types of music...that we’ll have the same representation in the fields of bagpipe music and also Celtic. We’re getting there, what you’re seeing right here is the very beginning.”

       
Margaret Carmichael (left-hand photo) monitors the sound levels as the band plays Scotland the Brave (center photo).
Steven Giles (on the right in the right-hand photo) helps Danielle Temple tune her pipes, while Drum Sergeant Danny Temple
waits in the background for the recording session to begin.

It was definitely a family affair: Kris’s wife, Margaret, took care of the bulk of the sound mixing, sitting in the balcony overlooking the sanctuary (see above). Kris’s cousin, Mike Carmichael, served as sound technician, overseeing the choice and placement of microphones, and recommending the best techniques for capturing quality sound.

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.”

Photo Courtesy of the Father of Waters Pipes and Drums Band Website

The band has regular performances that include the Laurel Christmas Parade, the Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade (seen above in 2004), the Mississippi Scottish Highland Games, and the annual Celtic Fest. They also play at weddings and funerals. I saw them perform a particularly moving ceremony in honor of fallen firefighters at the Jackson Fire Department’s 100th anniversary celebration at the Jamie Fowler Boyll Park on Lakeland Drive during the summer of 2004 (see photo below). Band Master Kris Carmichael ended the band’s rendition of Amazing Grace as a solo while slowly marching away from the rest of the band.

The band performed among the pines (above) at the Jackson Fire Department’s 100th Anniversary Celebration in the summer of 2004.

And they come together to rehearse. Rehearsals are open to anyone who would like to attend, either out of simple curiosity or with the intent of applying for membership in the band. A rehearsal schedule for those interested can be found on the band's website. Click the link below, then see their Calendar of Events page.

The Father of Waters Pipes and Drums Band is comprised of members who come from all over Mississippi—from Jackson, Vicksburg, Natchez, Kosciusko, Carthage, Meridian, Laurel, Hattiesburg, Madison, Wesson, Brandon, Harperville, Forest, and Starkville—plus Gilbertown, Alabama. All volunteers—highly dedicated—pipers and drummers sharing a dream, living a heritage. And bringing that heritage to audiences through their music.

The band’s kilts are in the Carmichael colors to honor the band’s founder Kris Carmichael.
In keeping with Scottish tradition, permission to wear this tartan was requested, and received, from Richard Carmichael of Carmichael, 30th Chief of the Name, and 26th Baron of the Lands of Carmichael, Scotland.

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.