A bagpiper since age six, Iain Mac Harg began competing early, and has received multiple awards from the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association. An accomplished Grade 1 piper, Mac Harg plays Highland pipes, Scottish smallpipes, and other European bagpipes, as well as flute, whistle, and bodhran. He received most of his instruction from P.M. George F. Ritchie, and is experienced in traditional Scottish, Cape Breton, Irish, Breton, and French playing styles.
Mac Harg has founded two pipe bands and participated in several additional Celtic groups. The Green Mountain Highlanders were his first pipe band. Formed while he was in high school, they went on to compete at many Highland Games. His second, the Catamount Pipe Band, formed in the central Vermont area.
Mac Harg has additionally performed in several Celtic folk-rock groups. During his college years, he was with Whiskey Before Breakfast, who toured the Highland Games on the U.S. East Coast and released the albums Hell's Brook and Time Well Spent. When they disbanded to pursue a wider variety of musical genres, the members who chose to retain a Celtic focus re-formed under the new name of Prydein. Prydein released their debut album, Unfinished Business, and then elected to cease performing.
Meanwhile, Mac Harg formed another folk group, the High Road, who have released an album, Around the Bend.
