In Search Of Billy Pigg.

Wednesday morning at 10 AM and my day had just begun. I went out in my little garden to check on some of my sunflowers that I planted out yesterday. I was relieved to find that they seemed to be ok. I know you are not supposed to ‘cast a clout’ until May is out because of the danger of frost, but I am impatient. Then there was a knock at the front door. It was the postman with yet another CD. “That was quick”, I thought to myself because I had only ordered it two days ago. It is The Rough Guide To English Roots Music. I’ll tell you why I ordered it. When I was reading the excellent Richard Thompson autobiography a few days ago he mentioned lots of musicians whose work I knew well, but also many influential people who I had never heard of before. One of them had the great name of Billy Pigg. It was Dave Swarbrick who introduced Billy’s recordings to Richard. Billy Pigg was a Northumberland pipe player. Richard said he was a master and hearing him changed the way Richard Thompson thought about music. He said he was a folk version of Mozart. That aroused my interest. I had to find out more about Billy Pigg. Billy was born in 1902 and died in 1968. He began playing the Northumbrian small pipes at the age of 18. He won so many piping competitions that he was finally banned from entering them. I read that his recordings have a wildness and passion which is both inspiring and wholly distinctive. His originality of style and phrasing had the mark of genius and he was a huge influence on the younger generation of pipers.

That was enough for me. I knew I had to hear some Billy Pigg. Sorry Scottish people, but I have never been a big fan of Scottish bagpipe music. However, I do love the sound of the Irish Uilleann pipes. I think I first heard them played by Paddy Moloney on Mike Oldfield’s Ommadawn album in 1975, which led me to The Chieftains and other great Irish music. I also like the sound of the Northumberland pipes. I remember one magical afternoon about 30 years ago in the Acoustic tent at Glastonbury when I heard two great pipers. Firstly, Davy Spillane from Dublin who was a member of Moving Hearts at one time. He was followed by Kathryn Tickell who is a great piper and fiddle player from Northumberland. When I looked to see what Billy Pigg albums were available I was disappointed. I could only find a vinyl album called The Border Minstrel. That was no good to me because I haven’t got anything to play vinyl on. 

Then I stumbled across the compilation CD that arrived today. It included a medley of tunes by Billy called Gypsy’s Lullaby/ The Hawk/ Memories/ Coates Hall. As well as Billy there is 18 tracks of music by Eliza Carthy, The Oysterband, The Watersons, Martin Carthy, Rory McLeod, Dave Swarbrick, Edward 11, The Albion Band, Billy Bragg and other lesser-known people. There are a couple of tracks that sounded like they were recorded in the 1920s that were not really to my taste, but generally It is a great collection of lively Folk music. The kind of music that makes you wish you were at a Folk Festival in the summertime. Thank you very much Richard Thompson for leading me to the music of the legendary Billy Pigg.