Campbell was a member of the Kreisler String Orchestra, an award-winning conductorless string orchestra, from 1989 to 1994. However she felt a strong hankering for
traditional music and felt the need to "come home" to her own cultural roots. In 1991 Campbell visited
Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. This marked a turning point and the start of Campbell's apprenticeship to traditional
fiddle and Scots song. Over the next few years she taught
step dancing and fiddle across Scotland and for the Scots Music Group. The
accordion player and multi-instrumentalist Freeland Barbour took her under his wing and she joined the Scottish dance band the Occasionals, in 1992. She was a member of the Ceilidh Collective and Bella McNab's dance bands. Campbell initially gained prominence as one half of the folk band The Cast, alongside her husband David Francis, with whom she has had a long collaboration. Their debut album
The Winnowing was released in 1994. The album includes their version of
Auld Lang Syne which was featured on the soundtrack of the 2008 movie
Sex and the City. The song can be heard during the New Year's scene of the film, accompanying a montage of the main characters' activities that night. The Cast recorded another two albums:
Colours of Lichen in 1996 and
Green Gold in 2007. In 1999, Campbell and Francis were invited to perform their version of
Auld Lang Syne for
Sean Connery at the Presidential Awards in Washington, D.C., with President
Bill Clinton in the audience. In 2011 and 2013 Campbell, Francis and the director Kath Burlinson made two shows of story and songs that marked the lives of Campbell's forebears.
Red Earth is the story of her grandmother's life as the wife of Campbell's grandfather, a young doctor who died in China in 1938 during the
Sino-Japanese War.
Revival! marks the life of her paternal grandfather the Rev
Duncan Campbell and his involvement with the Lewis Revivals in the 1950s. Campbell and Francis toured the
folk clubs and village halls of Scotland with both shows. They incorporated moving narrative with fiddle and viola tunes and original and traditional songs. They released the album
Revival & The Red Earth in 2012. In 2011, Campbell released her first self-titled solo album.
Mairi Campbell features the songs
Portobello Sands which tells of a mother keenly awaiting the return of her child.
Home (is not what I left behind) is about her grandmother's return to Scotland from China in 1940.
She stitched upon my heart is written for her own mother who was a fine artist and
quiltmaker. In 2014, Campbell released her solo EP,
Seven Songs. This is a showcase of Campbell and Francis's songwriting.
If I should meet my Maker is influenced by the life of her grandfather Duncan Campbell. ''Jock Tamson's Bairns'' is in the Scot's dialect and speaks of the darker side of Edinburgh. Campbell has collaborated with other musicians throughout her life. She has been a member of the ceilidh band The Occasionals since 1992. Since 2011 she has played and recorded with the baroque ensemble Concerto Caledonia and guested with Mr McFall's Chamber. She featured as a session musician for the Scottish quartet
GiveWay. In 2012, and again in 2014, Campbell was invited to support
Joan Armatrading in concert after winning a slot in her National songwriters’ competition. In 2014, Campbell and her husband David Francis joined a group of artists including
William McIlvanny,
David Greig,
Ricky Ross and
Karine Polwart for the Bus Party, a bus tour of Scotland to embark on conversations about
Scottish independence. == From 2015: Pulse, Auld Lang Syne and Living Stone shows ==