Keith Sanger is well-known in the field of Scottish history for his imaginative and meticulous research. He has published many articles relating to Highland history, early music and Scottish music. A piper himself, he developed an interest in the connection between Piobaireachd and Harp music which, along with the harp playing of his wife, led to a deeper investiation into the history and background of the Scottish and Irish harps in general.

Alison Kinnaird has an international reputation as a visual artist and musician. She is also one of the foremost exponents of Scottish harp music, playing both gut and wire-strung Scottish harps.

Foreword 1. Myth and Magic: The Harp in Legend and Song 2. Shapes and Stones: The Earliest Archaeological Evidence 3. Clarsach and Cruit: Early Literary References and Nomenclature in Gaelic Areas 4. Harp and Carp: Early Literary References in Non-Gaelic Areas 5. Harps of Their Owne Sorte: Descriptions of Surviving Instruments 6. Fiction and Facts: The History of the Three Old Harps Examined 7. Court and Courtiers: The Harp at the Royal Court in Scotland 8. The Scots Lairds: The Harp in Non-Gaelic Areas 9. Irish Interplay: Irish Travelling Harpers and Musical Connections 10. Highland Harpers: Highland Clans and Their Harping Connections 11. Rory Dall Morrison and His Contemporaries: Three Harpers of the Mid 17th and 18th Centuries 12. The Atholl Connection: Perthshire as a Centre of Harping Activity 13. Fading Echoes: The Decline of the Harp in the Highlands 14. Puirt, Uirt and Orgain: The Music of the Harps 15. Classic Revival: The Harp in 19th-Century Scotland 16. A Harp New-Strung: The Harp in the 20th-Century. Appendices.