{{Short description|Type of Scottish musical group}} {{About|a type of Scottish music group|the Irish folk band|The Bothy Band}}

A '''bothy band''' is a musical group which comes from the farming culture of nineteenth century Scotland. At that time agriculture was relatively labour-intensive. As a result, large farms often had a small community associated with them, the farm toun<!--Shouldn't this be "town"? No. A toun is a small community of farm workers based on a single farm. -->. This was made up of married couples who lived in small cottages and single men{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}} who lived together in a ''bothy'', or shelter. Generally, these bothies housed itinerant farm workers, such as potato diggers. In order to entertain themselves and the other members of the toun, the young men of the bothy would form bothy bands,<ref>{{Cite book |last=hAllmhuráin |first=Gearóid Ó |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFGmDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22bothy+bands%22&pg=PT103 |title=A Short History of Irish Traditional Music |date=2017-05-08 |publisher=The O'Brien Press Ltd |isbn=978-1-84717-940-1 |language=en |chapter=Irish Music in Lowland Scotland}}</ref> and hold musical evenings, the ''bothy nichts'', with the bothy bands providing music.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lloyd |first=David |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KXbNBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22bothy+nichts%22&pg=PT92 |title=Start the Clock and Cue the Band: A Life in Television |date=2015-01-16 |publisher=Y Lolfa |isbn=978-1-78461-067-8 |language=en |chapter=The Place Where the Typhoid Comes From}}</ref> A good band might well become known outside the toun<!--Shouldn't this be "town"? See above or just read the article. It ''does'' explain what a toun is. -->, and be in demand for local events such as dances.

==See also== *Bothy ballads *The Bothy Band

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bothy Band}} Category:19th century in music Category:Scottish folk music

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