I had to include this section, simply because of regional pride.    The North-east has a strong history of folk performers and instrument builders.  Some are simply names remembered for their skill at playing or building instruments.  Others are remembered by their presence and influence on today's young musicians.   This section is dediated to some of the people who have,and still are, having an effect on my love of folk music, the instruments and traditions.

Copyright Notice

The photographs and music clips for Billy Pigg, Forster Charlton and Kathryn Tickell have been collected from various sources.  If you are the copyright holder please contact me and allow me to keep these tributes to these great artists with due credit to you rather than remove them from public view to be forgotten by all.  Thank you.

Billy Pigg was a well respected piper who died in 1968.  His style survives in many of today's pipers which is a credit to his influence and input towards the regional tunes and traditions of the northeast.  Billy was taught his distinctive style and repertoire by members of the Clough family, themselves well known musicians.

I had this clip passed on to me and I believe it was recorded by Forster Charlton in the late 50's or early 60's.    The four tunes are Skye Crofters, Doctor McCleod of Alnwick, Swallow's Tail and Mallorca.  I think I have managed to remove a lot of the hiss that used to be a problem with reel to reel tape recorders without losing any of the quality of Billy's playing.

Forster Charlton started his musical career as a fiddler and was introduced to the pipes by Billy Pigg, a friend of his brothers.  His career spanned almost 40 years and he was involved with folk music right from the 50's.  He made a lot of recordings of local musicians and was a driving force in the Northumbrian pipers Society for several years, until his retirement.  The selection of tunes all come from the Piper's Tune Book for which, Forster did a lot of work to preserve and record the traditional tunes of the area.

The tunes on this clip are Lambshaw's Fancy, Noble Squire D'Acre, Salmon Tails, Herd on the HIll, Sweet Hesleyside, Buttered Peas and Proudlock's Hornpipe.  This is a very distinctive sound as Forster is accompanied by another great piper, Colin Caisley.  A sound that was heard for many years as the two of them toured and played together at concerts and folk festivals.

Kathryn Tickell is one of the new generation of Northumbrian pipers.  She started playing the small pipes at the age of nine and thanks to the encouragement of her father Mike, has also retained some of the traditional style of the older generation of players.  She started playing the fiddle and by 13 was an accomplished player  bringing the works of earlier folk musicians such as Willie Taylor, Tom Hunter and Joe Hutton to the attention of an appreciative audience.  Kathryn was brought up in the North Tyne Valley and, together with her playing of local tunes, has a wealth of stories about the area to impart to her audience.

This is a small clip from Air Dancing by the Kathryn Tickell Band and it's called Small and Wild. I'm sure you will agree it has a new and exciting sound which still echoes the flavour of the wildness of Northumbria and the Border Country.