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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Fiona Driver
Location: Orkney, Scotland
Instruments: fiddle
Music: Scottish / Texas Western swing
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSICÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýWHERE I PLAYÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýA FAVOURITE SONG |
  
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 ÌýÌýListen (1'45) to 'The Islay Rant' from the album The Orkney Fiddler, performed on fiddle by Fiona Driver, (Newtonhill Records, 1997)
ÌýÌýListen (3'20) to 'Thats What I like About The South', performed by Fiona Driver and 'The Lone Star Swing Band' led by Duncan Mclean on lead vocals and lead guitar, Fiona Driver on fiddle, Dick Levens on electric mandolin, electric slide steel guitar and Ian Tait on bass.
ÌýÌýListen (25'48) to Fiona Driver showcasing at the World On Your Street tent, WOMAD 2002
ÌýÌýListen (1'32) to Fiona talk about her music
'My great grandfather's fiddle was retrieved from the barn and restored. That's when I started to teach myself to play and read music.'
How I came to this music:
I come from a musical family. My Dad played the trombone and started a jazz band in Cheltenham in the 50's. My grandfather was a classical pianist. His father before him played the fiddle and an uncle of mine played the melodeon. My family moved to the Island of Hoy in Orkney when I was a baby. By the time I was 14, we'd moved to Stromness on the Orkney mainland. It was there that I heard a friend playing the fiddle and I was hooked.
My great grandfather, Percy's fiddle was duly retrieved from the barn and restored. That's when I started to teach myself to play and read music. Shortly after, I joined Orkney's West Mainland Strathspey and Reel society. I've been inspired by many fiddlers including Douglas Montgomery, Rodney Miller and Graham Townsend. I've won lots of fiddle competitions including 'The Orkney Young Musician of the Year' in 1995. I released a solo album, The Orkney Fiddler in 1997 where I recorded all the songs with my great grandfather's fiddle, Percy, as I like to call it. I also unearthed a beautiful old Italian fiddle in a junk shop in Shetland which I've had restored by Ewen Thompson over in Fair Isle.
I love old Scottish music, especially the repertoire from composers like James Scott Skinner, Niel Gow and William Marshall. I've composed about 90 tunes myself on the last count, many of them inspired by the strathspey, reels and slow airs but I go for the quirky title: 'The Last Carrot', 'Pigs in the Heather' and 'Mince and Tatties'. It's all inspired by my country living. I keep a big garden here in Rendall and grow lots of vegetables and flowers. I'm also partial to building 'dry stane dykes' - dry stone walls. Some of my tunes are about to be published in the 3rd volume of J.Murray Neil's The Scottish Fiddle: Tunes, Tales and Traditions, (Internlink Publishing)
Over the last few years, I'm increasingly being drawn to more modern material, especially western swing music from Texas. There's a real kick in it, unlike some of the traditional material, which can be a tad more composed and staid almost. My friend, Duncan McLean, got me started. He's so passionate about it, he's even written a book about the style, Lone Star Swing: On the Trail of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, (Norton, 1998) We formed ourselves into The Lone Star Swing Band. I play on a translucent blue electric five-string fiddle made by Kenny Johnson in Shetland. Western swing's a real mixture of jazz, country, blues and traditional. Buddy Ray's material is a major source of inspiration for our sets.
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