Jimmy Shand: First Recording Session, London 1933

Jimmy Shand's first recording session was in 1933 with the Regal Zonophone company. His employer, Dundee music shop owner Charles Forbes, had agreed to underwrite the costs - unknown to Jimmy - and so the session took place in the Abbey Road studios in London. There was a pianist available, but on some tracks Jimmy asked if he could record unaccompanied. Two records were eventually issued, MR 1387 and MR 1388.

1) CAR2411 Bottom of the Punchbowl/My Love She's But a Lassie Yet/Fair Maid of Perth
2) CAR2412 Atholl Highlanders/Rakes of Kildare/Teviot Bridge
3) CAR2414 Londonderry Hornpipe/High Level Hornpipe

Presumably matrix no. CAR2413 was The Druken Piper/Laird o' Drumblair/Deil Amang the Tailors - mentioned in Shand's biography by David Phillips (Dundee 1976); alas, I have not got a copy of that track.

Doonload

Other collections of Scottish 78rpm records:
Will Powrie, Scottish Melodeon from 78 rpm Recordings
Donald Davidson: Scottish Mouth Organ Classics
William Hannah: Scottish Melodeon 78s

Ron Gonnella, Scottish Fiddler

Fiddler  Ron Gonnella was originally from Dundee, and lived for many years in Crieff, Perthshire until his death in 1994. Gonnella’s great grandfather was a Robert Dewar, who was a shepherd near Tulliemet in Perthshire. Ron Gonnella recorded at least fifteen albums and taught at Morrison’s Academy in Crieff for many years. When he wasn’t there he was travelling the world playing Scottish fiddle, recording albums, and performing on radio, stage and dance halls. His great love was the music of the Golden Age of Scots fiddle, typified by the compositions of Niel and Nathaniel Gow, Robert Mackintosh, William Marshall and Joseph Lowe. Gonnella played in the Scottish Dance Band circuit with the bands of Jim Johnstone and Andrew Rankine. He had his own band for a while - featuring Iain MacPhail on accordion - but it was as a solo artist that he toured all over the world promoting Scots fiddle music. 


Until he married - late in his life - Gonnella would sit in his small flat and listen to his precious record collection and practise the fiddle tunes for his next recording. Top Scottish fiddlers such as Duncan Wood and Gregor Borland have told me of their admiration for his skills and techniques, and I think of him as a fiddler’s fiddler. The instrument he mostly played was a 1722 Italian violin made by Carlo Antonio Tanegia. I have been told that after his death there were a number of fiddlers desperate to try it to achieve the same wonderful tone that Gonnella produced; in the end it turned out to be a mediocre fiddle, and it was the musician who was special, not the instrument.


Ron Gonnella: A Discography
1964 An Edinburgh Fancy
1966 Scottish Violin Music
1973 Scottish Violin Music from the Gow Collections
1975 Fiddler's Fancy
1976 Fiddle Gems
1977 Ron Gonnella's Burns Night
1978 A Tribute to Niel Gow
1980 Scottish Fiddle Master
1981 Live from Crieff Hydro
1982 Ron Gonnella Plays the Fiddles of Gow, Marshall and Skinner
1983 Music for Eight Scottish Country Dances
1984 Ron Gonnella Playing a Stradivarius
1986 The Lad o' Kyle
1988 Ron Gonnella's International Friendship of the Fiddle
1992 Ron Gonnella's Fiddle Magic

I created this blog to draw attention to some of Scotland's forgotten musicians and folk groups, featruing records from my collection which were long out of print and which weren't likely to see the light of day again. I did not intend to deny people their rights, and I certainly never intended to profit in any way from other people's work. However, relatives of dead artists have contacted me and, as a result, these treasures will go back into their attics and cupboards and remain unlistened, their creators unheard of. Sorry.

Ian Powrie: At Home (1988)

Ian Powrie: At Home (1988)

01 Ian Powrie's Comps to Sir Thomas Wardle/Jimmy Shand's Welcome to Corrieburn
02 A Lass from Glasgow Town/Lunan Bay/Mary Shaw
03 Sir Kenneth Alexander/The Clan McColl
04 Mrs Hamilton of Pencaitland
05 Scotty Wilson/Donald MacLellan of Rothesay
06 Jimmy and Mickie
07 The Wild Flowers of Barra
08 Highland Cathedral
09 Gaelic Reel/In the Gloamin'/Tigh Na Gorm
10 Mackworth/Kemmel Hill
11 Catherine & John Fraser's Diamond Wedding
12 The Old Scottish Waltz
13 Kenny Thomson's Comps to Ian Powrie/A Tribute to Stan Hamilton/Peerie Willie
14 Ellenbrook/The Black Boy/Georgina Catherine MacDonald/C M Hall
15 Annie's Song/Country Roads/Thank God I'm a Country Boy
16 The Crags of Tumbledown Mountain

Powrie emigrated to Australia twice, once in the 1960s and once, I think, in the late 1980s. This was recorded while he was back on home soil in Strathearn, Perthshire, in his farmhouse with his old musical partners Jimmy Blue and Mickie Ainsworth on accordions, and Dave Barclay on bass.

Unavailable

Jimmy Shand & Ian Powrie: When Auld Friends Meet (1974)

Jimmy Shand & Ian Powrie: When Auld Friends Meet (1974)

01 Jimmy Shand's Comps to Ian Powrie/10th HLI Crossing the Rhine
02 Big Dougal/Margaret's Fancy/Carnie's Canter
03 79th's Farewell to Gibralter
04 The Bonnie Isle of Gletness/Sunset Over Foula/Rona's Voe
05 The Atholl and Breadalbane Gathering/Lord Elgin of Broomhall
06 O Gin I Were a Baron's Heir
07 St Andrew's Parade/Harveston Castle/Breadalbane Reel/Bobby Watson
08 Bill Black's Mirk/John Stephen of Chance Inn/Ian Powrie's Comps to Willie Hunter
09 MacLean of Pennycross/Sprig of Ivy
10 Soft Lowland Tongue/Annie Laurie/My Nannie's Awa'/I Lo'ed Nae a Lassie But Ane
11 Aunice Gillies's Farewell to Loch Gilphead/John Bain Mackenzie
12 My Ain Folk

Two giants of the Scottish dance scene collaborate on an album of great tunes, great music. There are solos by both, but most tracks are band efforts.

Unavailable

Ron Gonnella: Scottish Fiddle Magic (1992)

Ron Gonnella: Scottish Fiddle Magic (1992)

One of Ron Gonnella's final recordings comes from 1992 and consists of a selection of traditional Scottish tunes plus a few of Ron's own compositions.

01 My Love She's But a Lassie Yet/Davie, Davie Nick Nack/The Rose Tree
02 My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose
03 I Lo'e Nae a Laddie But Ane/My Wife's a Winsome, Wee Thing/The Prince of Wales' Jig
04 Thistle of Scotland/The Gallant Weaver/Bluebells of Scotland
05 Lochnagar
06 Duke of Perth/Lass of Gowrie/The Bridal
07 Rev Archie Minto's Faewell/Janet Leckie's/Elizabeth Donaldson's
08 Aikey Brae/Bessie Bell and Mary Gray/Bonnie Brier Bush
09 Barbara Bruce of Upper Cairnie/Kinloch of Kinloch/Aldridge's Hornpipe
10 Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre/The Scottish Horse/Janet Duncan's 92nd Birthday
11 Kilmarnock/Wiltshire
12 The Minestrone March/The Spaghetti Strathspey/The Ravioli Reel
13 Jock o' Hazeldean/Comin' Through the Rye/The Bonnie Wells o' Wearie
14 Highland Laddie
15 Dunkeld Hermitage Bridge/Doon the Burn Davie/Crieff Golf Club Centenery Reel
16 The Queen's Vist to Morrison's Academy
17 Bert Gonella's Jig/Bob and Anne's Strathspey/Lizzie Duncan's Fancy
18 Scots Wha Hae/Auld Lang Syne

Unavailable

Saut-Herrin': A Barrel o' Saut-Herrin (c.1989)

Saut-Herrin': A Barrel o' Saut-Herrin (c.1989)

01 Royal Scot Polka/Laddie Wi the Plaidie/Petronella
02 O Gin I Were a Baron's Heir
03 Margaret's Waltz/Tombigbee Waltz
04 The Broch Salmon Bothys
05 Coulters Candy
06 Si Beag Si Mhor
07 Chairlie Oh Chairlie
08 Mrs Mcleod's Reel/Kate Dalrymple/Duke of Perth/Kemnay House
09 Yellow On the Broom
10 Come to the Bower/Banks o' the Roses/Wha Saw the 42nd
11 Fareweel tae Tarwathie
12 Earl of Mansfield's March/Loch Maree Island/Aitken Drum
13 Dark Island
14 Rattlin' Roarin' Willie

A five-piece folk group from the Moray Coast (Burghead and Lossiemouth to be precise) who performed mainly for charity. Sandra Borthwick (guitar, vocals), George Pratt (banjo, mouth organ), Jim Eckford (mouth organ), Iain White (Northumbrian pipes, whistle, mandolin) and Dan Ralph (fiddle, vocals) recorded one album that I know about, the self-published "A Barrel o' Saut Herrin'" on cassette (n.d.)

Unavailable