The Bad Shepherds are a British folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 band formed by the comedian Adrian Edmondson

Adrian Edmondson

Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...

 in 2008. They play punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 songs with traditional folk instruments. The band primarily consists of Edmondson (vocals

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

, mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

s, mandola

Mandola

The mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...

), Troy Donockley

Troy Donockley

Troy Donockley is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist most known for his playing of uillean pipes.- Early life and career :...

 (uilleann pipes

Uilleann pipes

The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...

, cittern

Cittern

The cittern or cither is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is descended from the Medieval Citole, or Cytole. It looks much like the modern-day flat-back mandolin and the modern Irish bouzouki and cittern...

, whistle

Whistle

A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...

s, vocals) and Andy Dinan (fiddle

Fiddle

The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

).

Band history

After "accidentally" buying a mandolin, Edmondson taught himself to play a few chords and he began to play a few punk songs on it. Edmondson contacted Donockley – a virtuoso uilleann pipes player and multi-instrumentalist – and they got together "to see if there was anything in it". After playing together for two days they had arranged eight songs. After some initial experimentation, they enlisted Dinan, twice winner of the all-Ireland Fiddle Championship, and the band was formed. Essentially a folk band, the band's repertoire is taken from punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 and New Wave music

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 hits from 1978 to 1985. They re-interpret songs, inserting traditional reels

Reel (dance)

The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....

 and jig

Jig

The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...

s.

After touring the United Kingdom during 2008, the Bad Shepherds released their debut album, Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera! (which translates from an ancient Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

n dialect as One, Two, Three, Four!.) in May 2009. The band released their second album, with former Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

 member Tim Harries

Tim Harries

Tim Harries is a British bass player.Harries studied music at the University of York, graduating in 1981 before going on to study Double Bass with Tom Martin at the Guildhall School of Music...

 playing double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 in 2010.

The Bad Shepherds were nominated for the Best Live Act award at the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2....

.

Band members

• Adrian Edmondson
  Adrian Edmondson
  Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...
  
   – vocals, mandolin, mandola
• Troy Donockley
  Troy Donockley
  Troy Donockley is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist most known for his playing of uillean pipes.- Early life and career :...
  
   – uilleann pipes, cittern, whistles, vocals
• Andy Dinan – fiddle

Former band members

• Carol Dawson – fiddle
• Eimear Bradley – fiddle
• Keith Angel – percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Mark Woolley – percussion
• Martin Allcock
  Maartin Allcock
  Maartin Allcock , also known as Martin Allcock, is a multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer.-Biography:...
  
   – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Brad Lang – bass
• Tim Harries
  Tim Harries
  Tim Harries is a British bass player.Harries studied music at the University of York, graduating in 1981 before going on to study Double Bass with Tom Martin at the Guildhall School of Music...
  
   – bass

Discography

Year	Album details	Track listing
2009	Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera! Released: May 2009 Label: Monsoon Music Formats: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...	"I Fought the Law I Fought the Law "I Fought the Law" is a song written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets and became popularized by a cover by the Bobby Fuller Four, which went on to become a top-ten hit for the band in 1966 and was also recorded by The Clash in 1979... "/"Cockers at Pockers" "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight Down in the Tube Station at Midnight "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" was the second single taken from the album All Mod Cons by The Jam. Released on 21 October 1978, it charted at number 15 and was backed by a cover of the Who song "So Sad About Us", and "The Night", written by Bruce Foxton... " "Rise Rise (Public Image Ltd. song) "Rise" is a single released by post-punk group Public Image Ltd in 1986. It was the first single from their fifth studio album, Album.Written by John Lydon about the issue of apartheid in South Africa, which was a very prevalent issue in the 1980s... " "Whole Wide World"/"Hag With the Money" "The Model Das Model "Das Model" is a song recorded by the electro-pop group Kraftwerk in 1978; written by musicians Ralf Hütter and Karl Bartos, with artist Emil Schult collaborating on the lyrics. It is featured on the album, Die Mensch-Maschine; English version title: The Man-Machine... " "Humours of Tullah"/"Teenage Kicks Teenage Kicks "Teenage Kicks" is a 1978 song originally recorded by Northern Irish punk rock group The Undertones. Composed by the band's principal songwriter, John O'Neill, it was championed by DJ John Peel, and was his all-time favourite song.-John Peel:... "/"Whisky in the Jar Whiskey in the Jar "Whiskey in the Jar" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in county Kerry. It is about a Rapparee , who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed... "/"The Merry Blacksmith" "Once in a Lifetime Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song) "Once in a Lifetime" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their fourth studio album Remain in Light. The song was written by David Byrne, Brian Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth, and produced by Eno... "/"Pinch of Snuff" "London Calling London Calling (song) "London Calling" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash. It was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album London Calling... "/"Manchester Calling" "Up the Junction" "Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera" ("Fraher's Jig"/"Coppers & Brass"/"The Old Bush"/"Rip the Calico") "God Save the Queen God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song) "God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977... "/"Mountain Road"
2010	By Hook or By Crook Released: 2010 Label: Monsoon Music Formats: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	"Anarchy in the UK" "The Sound of the Suburbs The Members The Members are a British punk band that originated in Camberley, England. Their best known recording is "The Sound of the Suburbs" .-Career:... " "Making Plans For Nigel" "Friday Night, Saturday Morning Friday Night, Saturday Morning Friday Night, Saturday Morning was a television chat show with a revolving guest host. It ran on BBC2 from 28 September 1979 to 2 April 1982, broadcast live from the Greenwood Theatre, a part of Guy's Hospital... " "Ramones Medley" "Panic" "Ace of Spades Ace of Spades (song) "Ace of Spades" is a song by the English band Motörhead, released in 1980 as a single and the title track to the album Ace of Spades. The song spent 12 weeks in the United Kingdom Singles Chart, peaking at #15.-Overview:... " "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) "Ever Fallen in Love " is a 1978 song written by Pete Shelley and performed by his group, Buzzcocks. It was a number twelve hit on the UK Singles Chart.-Background and writing:... " "White Riot White Riot "White Riot" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash, released as the band's first single in 1977 and also featured on their debut album. There are two versions: the single version , and a different version on the UK album... "