Folk -Tom Spiers

Tom Spiers sings traditional Scottish songs, and plays the fiddle. “I never write my own songs. I collect old ones which I have learnt orally or from collections, and sing them,” he says, in his mellifluous, slightly lilting accent. He’s from Aberdeen, an area which is particularly rich in such material. “The area of North East Scotland was fairly isolated for a time, and a particular form of folk music evolved there.” he continues. “It was the only area in the north where Gaelic wasn’t spoken, and there were a lot of itinerant farm hands who collected songs and sang them to each other when they were working.”

Tom knew the legendary Jeannie Robertson, an Aberdeen-based singer whose ‘discovery’ in the early fifties was hugely important to the folksong revival, and was influenced by her. “I also knew Jimmy McBeath, who was a tramp who walked all over learning songs, which he’d sing while he was walking the roads.” In 1962 the Aberdeen Folk Club started up, and Tom became an enthusiastic member. “In effect I served an apprenticeship there,” he says, “listening to source singers.” There are a number of important published collections of local songs he uses, including the Child collection from the 19th century, and the Greig-Duncan collection made in the early twentieth century. “But I have learnt most of my songs orally, listening to other singers.” Many of the songs are about rural matters, some tell of wars and battles. “It’s interesting to hear them again in US collections, with the placenames changed, and knights turning into cowboys,” he says. AG