The Strathspey King

I’ve always liked the odd hornpipes that have been attributed to Skinner. I found this CD at the store today & picked it up on the spot. This album is put together from his recordings & he was a fine player. Skinner does lean towards fancy party tricks (left hand pizzicato, thrown bows etc) but these tunes are fiddle gymnastics to begin with. It’s a good look at the fanciest Scottish fiddle music from the early 1900’s. Most of these tunes are still common to the Scottish tune book. It is a very fun listen & these tunes are good excercises for any fiddler. This album is probably as important to Scottish Music as the 78s that Morrison, Coleman etc are for Irish music. A very fun album.

I’ve just reviewed “The Strathspey King”.

It was so bizarre when I first heard it =) Too used to yon modern recordings.
It was incrediable how much I got to like it. Definately not for y’all hardcore ITM musicians!
There’s a couple of strange inconsistencies in tuning and timing, nothing major. Adds to the ambience =)
Apparently he’d do somersaults as he played… Aah, something to aspire to =D

Play Tullochgorum.

~Cait

Anyone know where I can get this album?_?

Through Amazon? Just click *Shop for “The Strathspey King” by J. Scott Skinner* under the tune listing of the recording.

I’m impressed by the quality of this! I’d say some of the tracks actually sound better than the Cameron Men or Cornkisters recordings from the 1930s. My favorite tunes on it are the Ten-Pound Fiddle and The Miller o’ Hirn (track 2 version).
I was just a bit surprised at the fact that Skinner didn’t spend as long on playing airs in the air/strathspey/reel sets, as compared to, say, Paul Anderson, where the majority of the track is the air and then the strathspey and reel finish off the set.