The Tannahill Weavers are named after the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill.

Winners of the Scotstar Award for Folk Record of the Year with their third album, the group has made an international name for its special brand of Scottish music.

The band was formed in Paisley in 1968 and longest serving member, Roy Gullane, said the group were inspired by American folk bands The Clancy Brothers and The Weavers.

After seeing them perform on TV, Roy asked his parents to buy him a guitar for Christmas and he was hooked.

The 66-year-old said at that moment in his life he discovered what he wanted to do and more than 40 years later is still a member of the band he joined as a teenager.

Roy is also a songwriter, he writes traditional songs which are “written in such a style that they wouldn’t be recognised as new songs”.

The band began to attract attention when founding members Roy and Phil Smillie added the full-sized highland bagpipes to the on-stage performances, the first professional Scottish folk group to successfully do so.

The combination of the powerful pipe solos, Roy’s driving guitar backing and lead vocals, and Phil’s ethereal flute playing breathed new life into Scotland’s vast repertoire of traditional melodies and songs.

Roy said: “Other bands had tried it before but it didn’t work for them. We didn’t try to be too clever and it worked.” The band began by performing in Scotland and then went on tour in Europe before travelling to Canada where they performed at festivals in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto.

Since their first visit to the United States in 1981, the Tannahill’s music has taken the musical community by storm.

Over the years the ‘Tannies’ have been trailblazers for Scottish music, and have won over fans from beyond the folk and Celtic music scenes.

In 2011 the band was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, and in 2014 they were joined by innovative piper Lorne MacDougall.

Lorne has arranged and performed pipes for the Disney Pixar movie “Brave”, and Dreamworks’ “How to Train Your Dragon 2”.

To celebrate their 40th anniversary, eight of the bands former pipers will join them at Piping Live! to celebrate the milestone.

Lorne said: “Pipers come from all over the world. It’s great for meeting new and old friends.” Piping Live! is Glasgow’s International Piping Festival.

It is a week-long celebration which will see over 200 events with over 8,000 performers take place in various venues across Glasgow.

The world’s biggest week of piping will bring over 50,000 music fans to Glasgow and runs from August 10-16.