He assembled eighty musicians to form the Grit orchestra. On 15 January 2015, just over a decade after Bennet's death, Lawson conducted the Grit orchestra at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, to perform the Opening Concert at Celtic Connections. The concert was later named as the event of the year at the 2015 Trad awards. A further performance to take place on 23 August 2016 at the Edinburgh Playhouse will be part of the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bothy Culture, and the 25th anniversary of the Celtic Connections festival, Lawson and the orchestra, now containing some 100 traditional folk, classical and jazz musicians, performed the show Bothy Culture and Beyond at the SSE Hydro, Glasgow on 27 January 2018.