The Unusual Suspects of Celtic Colours is a big band based on a concept commissioned for Glasgow, Scotland-based festival Celtic Connections back in 2003. The original idea for the Unusual Suspects, conceived by Musical Directors Corrina Dawn (Hewat) and Dave Milligan, was to put together a folk big band featuring a collection of Scottish trad and jazz musicians organized into fiddle, pipes and whistles, accordion, and horn sections along with piano, harp, vocals, guitar, bass, and drums and percussion to play big band arrangements of original and traditional Celtic tunes. The concept was repurposed to feature a mix of Scottish and Cape Breton artists as the Unusual Suspects of Celtic Colours and they performed at the festival in 2004, 2006, and 2016. This year’s lineup includes Corrina Dawn (vocals/harp), Dave Milligan (piano), Mike Vass (fiddle, guitar), Patsy Reid (fiddle/viola), Lucy MacNeil (fiddle/vocals), Kathleen MacInnes (vocals), Alice Allen (cello), Roo Geddes (fiddle), Andrea Beaton (fiddle), Mairi Rankin (fiddle), Liz Doherty (fiddle), Kimberley Fraser (fiddle), Boyd MacNeil (fiddle/bouzouki), Allie Bennett (fiddle/guitar/voice), Kenneth MacKenzie (fiddle/pipes), Matt MacIsaac (highland pipes/whistles), Maireard Green (pipes/accordion/voice), Neil Sutcliffe (accordion/voice), Mac Morin (piano), Daniel Lapp (trumpet/fiddle), Jeff Goodspeed (saxophone), Danny Martin (trombone), Luke Dobson (trumpet), Jamie Gatti (bass), Mattie Foulds (drums/percussion), Cathy Porter (percussion), with special guests Wendy MacIsaac (fiddle/dance) and Mary Jane Lamond (voice).