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Songs recorded live at the FifeSing Weekend in May 2007.
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The Place:

The Fife Animal Park
The Fife Animal Park is on the B937 between Collessie and Ladybank on the left about half a mile south from the A91/B937 crossroads. There are good train services from Dundee or Edinburgh to Ladybank station. Taxi (tel: 01337 828630 or 828214) from Ladybank to Collessie (4 miles). Click for interactive map.

Restaurant: Food and Bar Facilities
Food will be available throughout the weekend between events - from Friday at 6.00pm and for Breakfast and Lunch (Saturday & Sunday) and Evening meal (Saturday). Full bar facilities at all events.

On-site Accommodation
The Fife Animal Park has a paddock for free camping and caravans with on-site toilet facilities. Let us know at the time of booking if you plan to bring a caravan.

For a first visit to our event we are pleased to welcome Jeff Warner from New Hampshire (Friday evening and a workshop on Saturday morning only) - a singer with an extensive repertoire of old songs from the New England states. We welcome again local singer Jimmy Hutchison from Newburgh and we welcome back the noted traditional singer Sheila Stewart from Blairgowrie who was unable to be with us last year. From south of the border we welcome a fine singer Jill Pidd from Yorkshire and the distinctive voice and border ballad repertoire of Terry Conway from Northumberland. The northeast is represented by Geordie Murison of Stonehaven and (on Saturday only) the great northeast singer Jock Duncan from Pitlochry. From southwest Scotland we are very pleased to welcome Phyllis Martin who will present a workshop on Sunday morning on her song collecting in Dumfries and Galloway. Doc Rowe has been filming seasonal events and popular cultural traditions since the 1960s and will be presenting a workshop of film from his archive on Saturday morning.

Workshops/Talks

Saturday Morning ~ Jeff Warner: Folksongs and ballads from the Frank and Anne Warner archive. Doc Rowe: Doc introduces a selection from his archives including film of Jane Turriff and Lizzie Higgins.
Sunday Morning ~ Phyllis Martin: Song collecting in Galloway: the singers and their songs. Jimmy Hutchison and John Watt: Jimmy Hutchison interviews John Watt - his life and contribution to the folk revival since the 1960s.

Guest Singer Biographies

	Jeff Warner is from New Hampshire and is a talented musician on a variety of instruments including banjo and concertina and he is a singer of the old songs - from the Outer Banks fishing villages of North Carolina, to the lumber camps of the Adirondack Mountains and the whaling ports of New England. He is the son of Frank and Anne Warner, who were major song collectors travelling extensively through Canada, New England, and the American south from the late 1930s to the 1960s in search of traditional songs and singers.  One of their most important discoveries was the traditional singer and instrument maker Frank Proffitt from Laurel, Tennessee - the source singer for the outlaw song Tom Dooley - a hit of the 1960s folk revival. Websites: Jeff Warner Frank & AnneWarner
	Jill Pidd has been hailed as one of the best kept secrets of the folk world. Formerly of Hull she now lives between Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby and was a founder member of Hull's famous Rugby Hotel Folk club whose residents also included Ian Manuel, Jim Eldon and Mike Waterson. In the early 90s she toured for four years as one of the Watersons, and there was also a short period of performing with Mike and Ann Waterson as MichaelAnnJillo. She has been a regular at Whitby Folk Week, The National, Holmfirth, Forkhill, Innishowen and Cullerlie and is known to have been English folk singer Fred Jordan's favourite woman singer, performing at his funeral in 2002. Website: Jill Pidd
	Sheila Stewart - One of Scotland's finest traditional singers and the 'last in the line' of the Stewart's of Blair. The contribution made by Alex and Belle Stewart and their two daughters Cathy and Sheila to the Scottish folk revival of the 1960s and 70s was immense. The Blairgowrie Festival that brought together young folk enthusiasts from all over Scotland and the rich song and ballad traditions of the Scottish traveller community could never have happened without them. The Blairgowrie Festivals of 1966 to 1970 led not only to the founding of the TMSA but gave inspiration to the founding of many other traditional festivals. Sheila has recorded several excellent CDs, has written a biography of Belle and is involved in a theatrical production of Belle's life. We are very pleased to welcome Sheila back again to the FifeSing weekend after several years absence. Websites: Sheila Stewart The Last In The Line Sheila Sings: Young Jamie Foyers - a clip from a film made by Ewan Macoll and Peggy Seeger Sheila Sings: Mill o Tifty's Annie - another film clip made by Ewan Macoll and Peggy Seeger showing Sheila singing in Belle and Alec's front room, Yeaman Street, Rattray.
	Terry Conway is an excellent singer with a distinctive voice and a fine repertoire of English and Scottish traditional ballads, Irish songs, and other traditional folksongs, many with a historical subject. He is also a songwriter and some of his own songs have been taken up by such luminaries as Kathryn Tickell and Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. He usually accompanies himself on guitar but is a fine unaccompanied singer. His partner Liz Law often accompanies Terry on Appalachian dulcimer and occasionally on hammer dulcimer and has been known to put occasional harmonies to a chorus. Terry has taken part in the Border Ballad competition at Newcastleton and last year was a guest at the Living Tradition Summer School in Dundee. Terry and Liz are guests together at The Polish Club in Kirkcaldy on Thursdsay 13 May 2010 - the night before the FifeSing2010 weekend. Website: Stonehouse Music
	Doc (or David) Rowe was born in Torquay, Devon. With an early interest in traditional song – stemming largely from 1950s BBC radio broadcasts – from the 1960s Doc started collecting local folklore and folksong material. In 1963, he met BBC producer Charles Parker who, with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, was working on the BBC "Radio Ballads" (1957-64). A visit to Padstow May Day in 1963 became the first of many regular annual visits and documentation of that event. This started his overwhelming involvement with film recording of seasonal events and popular cultural traditions. In 1979 he moved to Sheffield and became a full-time volunteer at CECTAL (the Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language, now the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition). After organising the English Country Music weekend in Stannington in 1985, Doc left to take up directorship of The London History Workshop Centre. Since 1991 he has concentrated on his own archive which is currently housed in Sheffield. Doc will be presenting some of his film archive on Saturday morning. Website Doc Rowe
	Jimmy Hutchison is originally from South Uist - his mother a Gaelic speaker, his father from Glasgow. Jimmy has been singing traditional songs for many years. In the 1960s he was involved in the St Andrews folk club and became a great admirer of Jeannie Robertson, the Stewarts of Blair and old Davie Stewart. He was one of the organisers of the early Blairgowrie Festivals and is now on the organising committee of the Auchtermuchty Festival. Jimmy's relaxed, unhurried, laid-back style has won him many admirers over the years. Jimmy now lives in Newburgh where he runs a joinery business. Website: Musical Traditions review of Jim's CD: Corachree
	Geordie Murison was born and brought up on a farm at Fetteresso just outside Stonehaven, his father having moved there in 1935 from a farm in Buchan. His father had two older sisters who were a great source of stories about school and farm life before and after the First World War. The eldest one attended Whitehills School, New Deer while Gavin Greig was still headmaster. His mother's family (Robertson) were very musical and one of his earliest memories is of his granny sitting singing. His uncle played the fiddle and accordion and his older sister plays piano, guitar and sings. A chance meeting with Jim Taylor, Tam Reid's nephew, in 1997, led to Geordie attending Aberdeen Branch TMSA sessions. There he met Tam and Anne Reid who encouraged him to enter competitions at festivals. This led to him being invited to festivals all over the country including London, Dorset, Dublin and Whitby as well as in Scotland. In February 2008 he won the Elgin Rotary Club's champion of champions Bothy Ballad competition. Geordie has been a stalwart supporter of traditional song events throughout the northeast and of our own FifeSing weekends and we welcome him back as a guest. Website: The Elgin Championship
	Jock Duncan was brought up in the ballad-rich farming country around New Deer and Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, where he developed his love of traditional balladry and music. He is widely recognised as one of Scotland's foremost traditional singers. His extensive repertoire of traditional ballads and northeast songs is an inspiration. The great northeast singer John Strachan farmed close to Jock's family farm and for several years Jock sang with John Strachan's concert party. Jock knew old Jimmy McBeath and remembers giving Jimmy a sixpence for his rendition of an old bothy ballad at the cinema queue. Few singers nowadays can have such a pedigree. In 2006, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in recognition of his contribution to Scotland's living song tradition and he is, of course, an honorary member of the TMSA. Website: Hall of Fame 2006 CD: Jock Duncan: Ye Shine Whar Ye Stan! and songs on the FifeSing CDs: AH002 and AH003 and AH006.
	Phyllis Martin was with the well-known group Stravaig for more than 20 years. When she first started singing she found there were few songs from her own area of south-west Scotland - so she started asking around. She quickly discovered that old people were a wonderful source of songs and music and says it was always a thrilling moment when she found a song she hadn’t heard before. Phyllis will be a guest for the weekend and on Sunday morning will present a workshop on the songs and singers of Dumfries and Galloway. Since she left Stravaig four years ago, Phyllis and her husband Bill have been singing together as Linkum Doddie and are often asked into local schools to teach traditional songs to the youngsters. Website: Linkum Doddie in Dalbeattie Stravaig
	John Watt, a native of Dunfermline, now lives in Kinross after living for many years in Milnathort. He has been involved in the Scottish folksong movement for over forty years - starting Fife's first folk club The Howff in a basement in Dunfermline in 1960. A past chairman of the TMSA, he has presented several radio documentaries including Fife Connection. He has lectured for the Association of Scottish Literary Studies on Fife Poets and Song-writers, tutored for the WEA in Creative Writing and has been Chairman of the Milnathort based Love and Liberty Theatre Company. A singer, raconteur and composer, his work has been recorded by singers in Scotland, Ireland, Denmark and Canada. He has recorded two albums of songs, the first 'Shores of the Forth' in 1976 along with Davey Stewart and the Beggar's Mantle Ceilidh Band and more recently a CD 'John Watt - Heroes' produced by old friend, Fifer and singer/ songwriter Rab Noakes. Two of his well loved 'greatest hits' are on both albums - his iconic Kelty Clippy and his song of the fisher lass Pittenweem Jo - the first song he composed back in 1960. Not to be missed: Sunday morning - Jimmy Hutchison interviews John Watt - his life and contribution to the folk revival since the 1960s. Website: John Watt: Heroes
	Shepheard, Spiers & Watson: The singing weekend is organised by a committee of Peter Shepheard, Tom Spiers and Arthur Watson who sing together as Shepheard, Spiers & Watson. All three are enthusiasts for traditional song. Pete is a singer and musician and folksong collector and runs the Scottish music label Springthyme from his home in Balmalcolm. Tom, who has recently moved to the Turriff area, sings and plays fiddle and was for many years a member of the Aberdeen based group The Gaugers. Arthur who now lives in Perth, sings and plays whistle, was also in The Gaugers, founded the renowned Peacock Print Makers in Aberdeen and is now Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Dundee. The three formed the East of Scotland Traditional Song Group in 2003 as a vehicle for running the Fife Traditional Singing Weekend. The Group has now been formed into a Trust with the addition of two new trustees - Jimmy Hutchison from Newburgh and Chris Miles from Kirkcaldy. Website: Shepheard, Spiers & Watson

The FifeSing events are run by a Trust:
The East of Scotland Traditional Song Group
(Committee: Peter Shepheard, Tom Spiers, Arthur Watson, Jimmy Hutchison, Chris Miles)
Contact us at:
Peter Shepheard, Balmalcolm House, Balmalcolm, Cupar, Fife KY15 7TJ
tel: 00 44 (0)1337 830773
email: peter shepheard