This outstanding collection of traditional fiddle music from the Scottish Borders was recorded from the playing of Tom Hughes of Jedburgh between 1978 and 1980. Tom Hughes and his family were all talented musicians – his grandfather Henry Hughes, father Thomas Hughes and two uncles played together in a family band – two or three fiddles, melodeon and tambourine – playing at the local events, country weddings, harvest home and hiring fair dances. Like his father and grandfather before him, Tom spent his working life as a ploughman on farms in the Border countryside around Jedburgh.
Although Tom’s style includes many characteristic Scottish elements, it is quite different from any mainstream fiddle style or the dominant fiddle style of Scotland’s North East. Through Tom’s playing we are able to gain an insight into an old, traditional, fiddle style stretching back through Tom’s family well into the 1800s.

1: Redesdale Hornpipe/ Galloway Hornpipe
2: Braes O Mar
3: Tam's Old Love Song / Banks Of Kale Water
4: Tam's Victoria Waltz
5: Marquis Of Lorne's Hornpipe
6: Cowie's Hornpipe/ St Patrick's Day Or Tell Her I Am/ Turkey In The Straw
7: Lady Mary Ramsay/ Orange And Blue (Solo )
8: Henry Hughes' Favourite
9: The Frost Is All Over/ Jackson's Morning Brush/ Irish Washerwoman
10: Sidlaw Hills/ The Wife She Brewed It
(Solo )
11: Sidlaw Hills/ The Wife She Brewed It
12: The Huntsman's Chorus
13: The High Road To Linton
14: The Barren Rocks Of Aden/ Nut Brown Maiden
15: Champagne Charlie
16: Auld Robin Gray
17: Faudenside Polka
18: The Rock And Tye Wee Puckle Tow. Tevioy Brig/ The Stool Of Repentance
19: Cock Yer Leg Up
20: Flouers O Edinburgh/ East Neuk O Fife
21: Lady Mary Ramsay/ Orange And Blue
22: Lilliesleaf Polka
23: Farewell To Whisky/ Roxburgh Castle
24: Milllcent's Favourite/ Tam's Untitled Hornpipe
25: Greencastle Hornpipe/ Off To California/ The Dundee Hornpipe
26: Boys Of Blue Hill/ The Harvest'd Long In Coming
27: Morpeth Rant ( Solo )
28: Morpeth Rant
29: Kelso Hiring Fair
30: Lady Mary Ramsay/ Soldier's Joy
31: The Triumph
32: Old Rustic Bridge
33: Auld Graden Kirn
34: Liberton Pipe Band
35: Redeside Hornpipe

This outstanding collection of traditional fiddle music from the Scottish Borders was recorded from the playing of Tom Hughes of Jedburgh between 1978 and 1980. Tom Hughes and his family were all talented musicians – his grandfather Henry Hughes, father Thomas Hughes and two uncles played together in a family band – two or three fiddles, melodeon and tambourine – playing at the local events, country weddings, harvest home and hiring fair dances. Like his father and grandfather before him, Tom spent his working life as a ploughman on farms in the Border countryside around Jedburgh.
Although Tom’s style includes many characteristic Scottish elements, it is quite different from any mainstream fiddle style or the dominant fiddle style of Scotland’s North East. Through Tom’s playing we are able to gain an insight into an old, traditional, fiddle style stretching back through Tom’s family well into the 1800s.

Lineup

Tom Hughes - Fiddle
Wattie Robson - Fiddle
Bob Hobkirk - Fiddle
Tom Scott - Fiddle
Jack Carruthers - Tin Whistle
Brian Miller - Guitar
Sid Cairns - Guitar