Over the years, the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders have performed at many functions, accompanied by the entertaining commentary of Harvey Ritch. For thirty years, the group has been the host band of one of the largest highland games in the world, the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. The band has been in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, Town and Country Magazine, USA Today, several documentary films and on the Turner South Network and Turner Broadcast System(TBS). The band has performed at many Southeastern venues ranging from Virginia to Florida. Additionally, we performed for Rod Stewart's 1990 world tour. Each August, the band performs a special Concert in the Park in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. In 1991, Dewar's Scotch sponsored the band for a trip to Orlando, where they were the host band for the highland games there and in 1999 made a special appearance at the Honda Riders Association's annual Honda Hoot.
In 1974, Agnes MacRae Morton and Harvey E. Ritch founded the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders. (Harvey had previously founded the Charlotte Scottish Pipe Band, a prize winning grade ll band with a World Champion drum corps – see below). Within two years, GMHPB earned the title of Southern Champions by winning at the Stone Mountain Highland Games-- a feat the band has replicated many times since.
Here is a list of our pipe majors since the band's inception:
1974-1981: Harvey Ritch
1981-1983: Ken Swinton
1983-1986: Ed Krintz leads GMHPB to grade II and a nearly undefeated 1985 season.
1987-1990: Bill Caudill
1990-1994: Ed Krintz, grade III and IV bands merge in 1994
1994-1996: Scott McLeod leads band back to grade III
1996-2006: Gordon Warburton leads GMHPB to 8th place victory, grade 3A at the Worlds.
2006-2008: Justin Gonzalez maintains our competitiveness, culminating in a victory in the Medley and 2nd place overall at the 2007 EUSPBA championships.
In 2006, P/S Justin Gonzalez took over the band as its new Pipe Major. An accomplished soloist and bandsman, Justin has won the George Sherriff Amateur Invitational competition and played with the grade 1 City of Washington Pipe Band and Windsor Police Pipe Band. 2007 also marked the founding of our grade V band, bringing a new level of family involvement and a new generation to the GMHPB tradition. In 2008, the grade III band was unable to field a complete drum corps while the grade V band grew and flourished. After a landmark 2008 competition season for the grade V band, the band leadership decided that the most competitive and inclusive move for the organization would be a band merger and new grade IV band.
The band's Drum Sergeants have included:
1974-1982: David Wonsey
1983-1992: Cecilia Zappa
1992-2000: David Fish
2001-2004: Carl Baggett
2005-2006: Tom Kee
2006-2007: Jason Higgins
2008: Mike Reuter
2009: Raymond Swinton
Sally Warburton is the only founding member currently performing with the band since its inception.
Players in the band still display the dedication seen in the early years. Despite being spread out geographically, the band still manages to practice weekly. Although the band is serious about being a competition band, it has always been a "family" of sorts also. It is through this camaraderie and fellowship that the band overcomes the many challenges a pipe band faces, a camaraderie exemplified in their music.
We have numerous goals for the upcoming years. GMHPB is dedicated to being a highly competitive grade IV band. The band leadership is focused on continuing to manage our geographic challenges through redesigning practices and choosing locations for maximal efficiency. As always, we remain committed to producing our best performance and enjoying ourselves by competing outside of the Southeastern USA.
In honor of founding member Agnes MacRae Morton, the band proudly wears the Weathered Hunting MacRae tartan. Clan MacRae Society, USA, is also a generous contributor to the band, for which we owe them our undying gratitude.
