As part of the year of Highland Culture in 1998 the band had originally come together to put on a one-off tour to showcase the various fiddle styles of the Highlands and Islands but the audience reception was so enthusiastic they decided to continue. Their name makes reference to the burning of fiddles that was done by the Church in parts of Scotland in the 19th century. In 1999 they were invited to the Fiddlers of the World festival in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. their Album
Magnificent Seven was Album of the Year in 2005, and they were Folk Band of the Year in 2013 and 2019. They took part in the
BBC Proms at the
Albert Hall, London in August 2005. Of the original line-up,
Aidan O'Rourke and Marc Clement left in 2009 and
Catriona Macdonald departed from the band in autumn 2010. They were replaced by the Shetland fiddler
Jenna Reid, award-winning guitarist Anna Massie The Scotsman newspaper described them as "...the Led Zeppelin of the Folk World." and (with singer
Emily Smith) in 2019. The album
Six was the final recording that features Iain MacFarlane and Allan Henderson, who were both founder members of Blazin' Fiddles. Blazin' Fiddles has been described as one of the world's most prolific fiddle groups. ==Line-up (2019)==