Alex MacArthur
by Norrie Y. Williams
October, 1988, and shepherd – Scottish dance band pianist, Ian Wilson of Leadburn Farm near Elvanfoot in Lanarkshire, had just had a hernia operation and was back in the ward dozing his way fitfully out of the anaesthetic.
During one of his brief, semi-conscious interludes he sensed someone by his bed but he quickly relapsed to surface some time later, again aware of a presence. This time a familiar voice said, “Are ye wakened faither?” It was his friend and dance band leader colleague Alex MacArthur, alias “The General”.
No-one was officially permitted to visit so soon after the operation, not even Ian’s wife Bertha, but this did not deter Alex who just went straight in. How he did it no-one knows, but more importantly, why did he do it? Simple, above all else he cared for people.
Yes I know music is normally quoted as his first love, but I would say his fellow beings had it by a short head. However, the order of precedence of these two passions is of no great and lasting benefit to the Scottish music scene. More of that later.
We all know that every person is unique in themselves but Alex, a larger than life figure, was more unique than most. Third youngest of a family of ten, he was born in 1930 in the small Perthshire village of Kinbuck, situated about 1½ miles north of Dunblane.
All the family were musically inclined with good singing voices. Mother played the mouth organ; one brother had a go at the melodeon and one of the uncles on his mother’s side, Ned McGibbon, a very good fiddler, played in The Keltryburn Accordion Band, which was based at Kenmore, on Loch Tay.
Alex’s natural talent as a player surfaced at the age of three when he would pick out recognisable tunes on the piano in a cousin’s house. When about eight years old he fell heir to a harmonium bequeathed by an elderly lady, and this he played almost non-stop until his mother bunged it out into the garden.
But, nothing daunted, he continued his sessions from underneath a tarpaulin! However, this insatiable appetite for making music got him into a spot of bother at the school. There was a harmonium in the woodwork room (which also doubled as a music room) and Alex would skip classes to have a tune, needless to say with painful consequences.
At this time also Alex was showing a keen interest in the accordion, having a “wee shottie” whenever the opportunity presented itself. Then at the age of fifteen came the break – one of his sisters who had been in the W.A.A.F. presented him with a small piano accordion, probably 24 bass.
He attended music lessons in Stirling under a Mr McFarlane but called it a day after a couple of years, a decision no doubt prompted by the need for self-expression and the desire to do his own thing.
To enlarge on this “formal training” for a few moments; because in later years he never ever had the written music in front of him during any performance whatsoever, public or private, his musical colleagues firmly believed that he couldn’t read the “dots” or at best only very little and yet they were aware that he would take music away and come back with it off pat. How was it done? Well, his wife, Evelyn, confided that he had remarkable powers of absorption and retention. He would take the music and read it as one would a book or newspaper with not an accordion in sight, and after ten or fifteen minutes he would dispense with the printed copy and go and play it.
This particular technique also prompted a request from Alex en route to a Scottish dance music broadcast with the Powrie band, “Could I possibly get the music the night before, rather than on the bus?”
The Arthur MacLeod Trio
But to backtrack. Between leaving secondary school in Dunblane and doing National Service in the Royal Engineers, Alex worked on the railway as a porter at Dunblane, not surprisingly as his father was also with the company in the same capacity but up the ladder, initially at Kinbuck and latterly at Dunblane, and his uncle Neil MacArthur was a signalman at Callander.
One of Alex’s contemporaries who did his National Service with the RAF was demobbed about the same time and had only been back in civvy street for a few days when he was approached by a Miss Hay of “Hay’s Music Shop” in Stirling, who told him that the “Forest Hills Hotel” in Aberfoyle was looking for a trio to do a ceilidh/dance function.
Being a big band enthusiast and pianist with the local “Palais” band, this request presented our ex-RAF type with a problem, because up to that point Scottish music had evaded him. His name – Jim MacLeod. What to do? It was then that Alex MacArthur sprang to mind. Although Jim had never worked with him, “I knew of him as a very accomplished accordion player with a penchant for Scottish Dance Music.”
To cut a long story short, they teamed up with a drummer and did the “Forest Hills” job. It was a resounding success and the lads were quite overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and reaction of the dancers. It was also an engagement which was to have a profound effect on their respective musical careers.
One thing led to another, their reputation spread, someone suggested they apply for an audition with the BBC. They were duly called to Dundee and, despite the fact that they thought they hadn’t a chance, the panel, which included Jimmy Shand, passed them with flying colours.
As the Scottish Dance Music at the time did not entertain trios, prospects were not too bright, but within a week Kathleen Garscadden (Auntie Kathleen) had enlisted them for her “Down at the Mains” programme, a slot which they filled for almost six years as “The Arthur MacLeod Trio” an amalgam of the two names which in retrospect they felt was unfortunate and rather stupid but they were young and inexperienced at the time.
It was in 1950 that I first heard the trio on the radio during working hours. I was very impressed indeed, so much so, that I approached my boss who lived in the flat adjacent to the office block and every Tuesday he would leave his front door open so that I could hear the music from the office. And he was English!
My first live encounter with Alex was at a Dunblane dance in 1951 when he relieved the Shand band at half time using George McKelvie’s accordion. Despite the “heavy” sound of this instrument the unmistakable MacArthur lift shone through. Later in the same year at another dance where The Arthur MacLeod Trio was officiating, I stood at the side of the stage fascinated by Alex’s style.
His technique of clipping a note an octave below the melody line was intriguing and greatly enhanced what were normally somewhat hackneyed tunes such as Bonnie Dundee etc. A year later I had the good fortune to be best man at a wedding in Doune and at the reception it was again The Trio, now fielding a 15-year-old Billy Thom on drums and as I was “compere” at the dance I had a ball, if you see what I mean.
After a couple of cracking 2/4s for a barn dance, I asked Alex what the second tune was, “I hadn’t heard that one before.” “That makes two of us” came the deadpan reply. Apparently he had forgotten what he had intended to play and busked his way through a “makey-up”.
With the help of radio, which was a big thing in those days, The Trio went from strength to strength on its own merits. Work poured in from all directions, some of the venues being remote and isolated. Alex loved this scene, the wee village halls, the couthie country folk and so on, whereas Jim, whilst also enjoying it, tended to favour a more settled existence and even then was looking towards the hotel world. So it was inevitable that they would follow their own separate ways. However, prior to this parting, The Trio augmented by the addition of a fiddle player and on occasion bass, became resident at The Dunblane Hydro.
The Powrie Band
Also for a short period in the early ’50s, Alex played with a small group of his own, his drummer being a Callander lad, Arthur Easson. Then in 1955, by which time Alex’s reputation as a top class accordionist had spread far and wide, he was invited to join The Ian Powrie Band which had a vacancy, the second box player, Jack Ewen, having left due to pressure of work.
Our man jumped at the chance staying with them until 1957 and doing at least two “The Kilt is my Delight” TV programmes and a whole series of radio’s “On Tour with Robert Wilson”. On one occasion when the full Powrie band had to fulfil engagements in Skye, drummer George Grant was unable to go and Alex suggested Ian approach Arthur Easson.
Arthur subsequently did one or two random jobs with the band, and then in January 1957, he joined as permanent drummer. For two or three years prior to this he had been running his own group, “The Glengarry Band”, which had as its fiddler a certain Bill Black – yes Bill Black of Stanley, who was latterly replaced by Hamish Menzies. What a tangled web we weave!
MARRIED
But to go back to The Arthur MacLeod Trio era, what must surely rank as the most important step in anyone’s life took place during that period. At a dance at Braco one evening, Alex was introduced to Evelyn Blair of Crieff. They were married in December 1954 and took up residence in Comrie in early 1955.
By this time, Alex, who had returned to the railway for a short time after demob, was working with the Springbank Sand and Gravel Company at Doune. In 1958 he took up a job as a travelling representative with Vandenberg (Unilever) who amongst other delicacies marketed “Stork” margarine – the “g” is hard as in “gosh”. As Alex used to crack, “I take the orders, the midwife makes the deliveries!”
As this job necessitated extensive travelling, he had to leave The Powrie Band, his successor being Mickie Ainsworth. Then in 1959, by now the proud father of a baby daughter, Fiona, he was moved to Elgin by his firm. A second happy event took place in 1961 with the birth of a son, Gordon. Nine years later and another shift with Vandenberg to Balerno, an attractive wee town a mile or two southwest of Edinburgh in the lee of the Pentland Hills.
MARK 1 BROADCASTING BAND
Once the dust had settled following the move to Elgin, Alex started up a band, or strictly speaking two bands, one for Scottish and the other, with trumpet, clarinet or baritone sax, for mixed or modern dancing – he himself was a very competent modern player.
Now the second accordion player in the Scottish Dance group was a local man, Rhynas Mitchell, a talented player and arranger, and a jazz fanatic. He had previously played second box in the Elgin based Ian Mearns Broadcasting Band in the early ’50s and in 1965, when Alex needed a fiddler to start broadcasting again, Rhynas approached Ian to see if he would be interested. He was, went for a run through at the MacArthur dwelling on the Sunday, adapted perfectly to Alex’s style, joined the band and did about fifteen broadcasts in the five years prior to the Edinburgh move.
MARK 2 BROADCASTING BAND AND RECORDS
Ian, who was taught fiddle by Kim Murray and who as a small boy had broadcast with her “Strathspey and Reel Players” has a Law Degree from Aberdeen University and in 1973 he moved to Girvan to take up the post of Town Clerk in the Ayrshire town.
At this time Alex was with The Jim Johnstone Band (we’ll come back to that later). One evening in 1978 Ian got a phone call from Alex, “How would you like to make a record?” Not having played together for some time, Ian was naturally slightly apprehensive but was reassured there would be no problem.
The promised run-through never materialised and they went cold into The Bluebell Studio in Glasgow’s Kersland Street. However, the material was familiar and, after only a few minutes’ warm-up, everything clicked into place and “Scottish Country Dances, Volume 1” was in the can. In addition to Ian and Alex the line-up for this recording was Davie Stewart of Kirriemuir (second accordion), the aforementioned Ian Wilson on piano, Bill Craib (double bass), and Billy Grant from Glasgow on drums.
Volume 1, released in 1978 was a success and things just took off from there, the Mark 2 band was on the map. Engagements followed thick and fast, dances, accordion clubs, and in 1979, a first BBC Broadcast from Max Houliston’s “Oughtens” restaurant in Dumfries.
Many other broadcasts followed, both for Radio Forth and “The Beeb”, and on one occasion the latter did three recordings in one week, two outside and one in the studio with Chris Worrall as producer. Just consider the amount of material required for three broadcasts – the mind boggles, but Alex could cope, partly because of his tireless enthusiasm and dedication and partly because of his belief in using good, well tried, traditional tunes. For example on the three commercial recordings made by the Mark 2 band, “Scottish Country Dances Volumes 1 & 2” and “The Biggar and Better Sound of Alex MacArthur” , out of 125 tunes used, no less than 90 are traditional. And with the unique MacArthur style and the Rhynas Mitchell and Ian Wilson arrangements, they all sound great. Rhynas’s Willie Davie bass progressions with the piano handing over to the double bass halfway up and vice-versa on the way down, must be an all time classic.
JIM JOHNSTONE
But to fill in the gap in the proceedings. In the late ’60s, while still up in Elgin, Alex met up with Jim Johnstone on several occasions when the latter was up with Jimmy Blue’s Band. So when he landed down in the Edinburgh area, he popped in to see Jim one day in 1973.
Coincidentally, Jim’s second accordionist, Tommy Lees, had just gone to London to work. Alex was invited to help out with an engagement; he filled the bill perfectly and became a permanent member of the band for three years or so taking part in lots of “Tellys” with the popular “Songs of Scotland” series. Alex’s method of learning a tune has already been expounded, but this could not easily be put into practice with parts for singers etc, but with his musicianship and experience he only had to hear a number a couple of times through and he knew what was wanted.
During these three years he also did a number of radio recordings with the band, twelve for Radio Forth and five or six for the BBC Scottish Dance Music programmes. Jim recounts with amusement how Alex in his inimitable, unruffled style would be happily playing away at a dance, his microphone pointing away from him, with the result that he couldn’t hear himself through the speakers, and consequently played up, thus obliterating the rest of the band.
The “boss” would then remonstrate with him, “I pay forty quid for a mike and you don’t use it!” No problem, mike re-orientated and all was well.
BIGGAR
The Vandenberg rep job began to interfere more and more with the music. Alex became somewhat disenchanted with it and decided to go into the hotel business taking over The Clydesdale Hotel in Biggar in 1974, a fully blown establishment with residents, functions and so on.
It was very hard work for Evelyn and himself but it gave him greater flexibility and he could devote more time to music. However, latterly it proved to be too much of a hassle and they sold up in 1985 and moved to The Farmer’s Arms, a public house in Thornhill, 14 miles north of Dumfries.
Incidentally it was apparently the locals in Biggar who christened mein host “The General”. In view of this and the MacArthur sense of humour it was decided to name Alex’s dispensary “The General’s Bar” and Evelyn quotes an amusing incident where two elderly ladies were passing as a painter was putting the finishing touches to the sign and one said to the other “He’s ower young tae hae been a General!”
It should not have come as a surprise to anyone that, given the new found flexibility and ready made premises on the doorstep, an Accordion and Fiddle Club was started up at The Clydesdale before very long.
This was the vehicle that Alex needed to give full expression to his desire to help others who shared his love and enthusiasm for our music and also as an outlet for his priceless ready wit and good humour. He had the ability to say the most outrageous things with a disarmingly innocent postscript, which made the victim or victims proud to be the butt of the banter. Who else would get away with calling the Lochgilphead 3-row maestro “Grazer McFlynn”!
The ways in which he helped and encouraged the younger players are legion. Just consider the boost to a youngster’s confidence when a player of Alex’s ability and standing sat down to back them on second accordion or piano, or when visiting other Clubs as guest artiste asked them to come up and back him. Whenever circumstances permitted it was his policy to go to Clubs with either a duo or trio, with the twofold purpose of saving the Club undue expense and also of involving young or inexperienced players.
Many are the times he charged only travelling expenses and a fee for his pianist or whoever. His selflessness was an example to all and to list those he has helped would take pages.
Suffice it to say that they will be eternally grateful and the fruits of his labours will be there for years to come. Many are the players who made their first broadcast with The MacArthur Band and it was Alex who introduced Paddy Neary to the Scottish stage.
Ian Wilson, the erstwhile owner of the hernia and a Powrie fan, had seen Alex many times with that band, but he had never had a tune with him until the Biggar Club started up and then one evening he was invited to accompany him to Stranraer and that was the start of Ian’s very happy association with the Mark 2 band. He had, by the way, been pianist with The Eric Goodfellow Band until its demise in 1977. Alex, incidentally, was a great fan of this particular group.
HUMOUR AND STYLE
Alex’s highly developed, inimitable sense of humour, which endeared him to audiences everywhere, from packed concert halls to wee day rooms in old folks’ homes, began to show itself in his schooldays when his essays had his English teacher rolling about.
Ian Wilson has, of course, a fund of stories which illustrate the MacArthur style of communication and one which typified this was when he compered a Border Strathspey and Reel Society concert attended by the Duchess of Roxburgh. When he was making his introductory remarks he spotted the Duchess, an elderly, dignified lady in the centre of the front row. As the concert progressed the Duchess gradually subsided into a blissful snooze and Alex made great play of this by winking knowingly and making asides to a tall young lady further along the row. At the interval the players and compere were given refreshments and met various dignitaries, and lo and behold the tall young lady was there and Alex was introduced to her – the Duchess of Roxburgh!
And another example. If at a function or Club there happened to be a group of older ladies in the front, three of them would be singled out as the “Beverley Sisters from Crawfordjohn” or some other exotic local resort. He had the audience and the “Bevs” eating out of his hand within minutes. Sometimes he would look over his specs or turn them upside down and on one occasion when he had broken one of the lenses just before the start, he had the place in fits by periodically scratching his nose by poking his finger through the hole in the frame from the back.
At a dance one evening at Thornhill with Keith Dickson of Dolphinton on second accordion, they kicked off with a “Gay Gordons” and no-one got up. This, as most players will know, is somewhat demoralising, but nothing daunted Alex comes away with, “Right, all change partners.” The ice was broken and the floor was filled for the second bout.
Another of his classic ploys at a dance was to have the dancers in full cry at an old fashioned waltz singing I Belong to Glasgow or something of that nature at the top of their voices and then he would stop playing, light a fag, cross his legs, turn to the rest of the band, say, “Stop!” and engage them in animated conversation while the punters continued to dance round to their own singing, falling about with laughter at the same time. Then suddenly, fag out, tune picked up perfectly by band, and dance brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
One evening at Blairgowrie Club where Jim Johnstone was guesting solo, Alex was in the audience and at some stage in the proceedings he was asked up to do a wee spot. He surrounded himself with an all star cast, Angus Cameron, Jim Johnstone, Billy Craib, Bill Cormack (piano) and Bill Jarvis (drums) then proceeded to tell the audience hilarious stories for ten minutes, got up, thanked his colleagues and left the stage without a note being struck!
On returning to the railway after National Service, Alex did a spell at Doune station and at that time a young fiddler and Scottish Dance Music enthusiast Hamish Menzies was telegraph boy in Doune. He knew Alex well and occasionally took himself down to the station for a crack and to indulge in their common obsession, in other words have a wee tune.
On one such visit they were in the porter’s room, Alex had the box strapped on, “What do you think of this one?” as he launched into a pipe march or some other delicacy. He was in full flight when a train came in. Nothing daunted, and still playing, he backed out on to the platform looked up and down, a passenger tossed him a penny, he touched his cap, pocketed the coin and carried on with the tune. One could go on and on.
INSTRUMENTS AND MUSIC
When I first saw Alex in 1951 he was playing a black ‘Gaudini’. I don’t know what followed that particular accordion but in 1955 he bought a hand made Hohner Morino IV (1950 vintage), one of that select band of instruments which were made to order. Alex’s particular Morino had very distinctive straight tuning, he would not have changed it for any other and played it right up to and including that fateful October Saturday concert in the Edinburgh Playhouse.
It was his own instantly recognisable sound. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and one or two admirers have had their accordions similarly tuned.
As has already been said Alex never played off music but just scribbled the names of dances or tune sets on fag packets or wee scraps of paper which he invariably lost before he reached the stage, then it was just a case of working off the top of his head. During one broadcast the producer, a perfectionist, was querying a harmony and over the wall-speaker came, “I think you should change that.” Alex picked up his list of tunes from the stand, written I believe on a “Stork” Order Form, put it down again and said, “That’s all right now, sir” and off they went no bother at all.
ODDS AND ENDS
Because of the long distances covered travelling to and from engagements, Alex always had good cars, at least two of them being Mercedes, one a big 4.8 with a cruise control which must have had some pretty high settings judging by some of the quoted journey times! In later years it became the practice to take a driver along (Tom Hope), so that the players could safely have a bit of shuteye on the way home.
From the earlier reference to fag packets it will have been gleaned that Alex liked a cigarette or two – in fact the band christened the cars “mobile kippering sheds”.
Stemming from his days with Vandenberg, Alex knew all the back roads and cobbled streets in every town in Scotland and could thread his way across a built-up area in record time. He also knew people all over the country, in the most outlandish and isolated spots and could call in on friends and acquaintances for a cuppa virtually anywhere and everywhere.
For example, on the way to the Kinlochsheil Club beyond Kyle of Lochalsh, Alex would look at his watch and say, “4 o’clock, we’ll go to such and such a croft and visit so and so”. When they got there the elderly lady tenant would say in a broad Highland tongue, “Whaatt are you doing here, MacArthur?” “Never mind whit ah’m daein’ here, just get the kettle on!” And a good time was had by all.
As well as being a tea addict, Alex was also very partial to gingerbread men, especially a brand only to be found in Clackmannan and also to girdle and tattie scones indigenous to the Leadhills area. He would track these goodies down with unerring judgement.
Such was Alex’s intense interest in, and dedication to the Scottish Dance Music scene, that he developed an outstanding talent for recognising bands sometimes after only a couple of notes or at worst a couple of bars and in most cases he could identify the individual players as well. This was partly because of the “rent-a-band” principle of which he was not greatly enamoured, whereby a number of top bandleaders would draw from a nucleus of twenty or so backing musicians.
The complete entity band units were and still are becoming scarce and the lead apart, the sameness of sound saddened Alex more than a little. There were certainly no worries on this score as regards his own band.
Alex was a bit hard on drummers or possibly “firm with” would be a better expression. If for example a tune such as The Highland Wedding was slowed up slightly at some point to gain maximum expression, but the drummer kept on with the initial beat regardless, Alex wouldn’t say anything, but my goodness his foot would get going to some tune and the errant percussionist was soon pulled into line.
HOBBIES AND FAMILY
“Hobbies,” said Evelyn, “well music came first, second, third and last. But Alex was also a very keen reader, not of books, but newspapers, cover to cover, kept himself very well informed on all manner of subjects including politics – he was also an avid watcher of political programmes on TV, but he had no particular leanings, one way or the other. In the hotel business one has to speak knowledgeably on all kinds of subjects.”
One other, perhaps surprising, hobby was Bridge, he and Evelyn being members of the local club at Thornhill.
Then of course Alex was the proud grandfather of three – Scott, Heather and Craig, the family of daughter Fiona and husband Robert Lawson who is in the sheep business. They have a 400-acre farm at Newbigging near Carnwath, which in turn is not far from Carstairs. Fiona is very keen on animals, works hard on the farm and enjoys it immensely.
Alex had a great rapport with the young ones but never forced his music on them. However, Scott was taken along to hear “Papa’s” band do an outside broadcast in a two-band session at Thornhill a couple of years ago. Alex’s band was on first and when Scott had sat through the performance, quoth he, “Well that’s enough for me,” and “Gran” thought, “How profound Scott, my sentiments exactly.” Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings……….
The other half of the family, son Gordon, is an actor, plays piano and sings a bit. At the November meeting of the Biggar Club he paid tribute to his father by playing one of his favourite tunes Durrisdeer as a piano solo. Club Secretary, John Anderson, and guest player Paddy Neary added their own personal appreciation during the evening.
Gordon did his drama training in London, but was then faced with the chicken and egg situation, to get work he needed an agent, but to get an agent he needed to have worked. However, luck was with him, he eventually did a spell in the “Young Vic”, moved back to Scotland, got a part in a Border production, was spotted, did a one-liner as a taxi driver in STV’s “Take the High Road”, and finally landed a couple of much more substantial roles in the series. He then appeared in pantomime in Stirling where he had to do a bit of everything, singing, acting and dancing.
Now back to Mum (Evelyn) – the hotel business doesn’t leave much time for hobbies but she shared Alex’s enthusiasm for Bridge and in fact attended classes in the same. She also enjoys Scottish Country Dancing and in earlier years, the mid-50s to be precise, when spare time was more plentiful, she attended the weekly sessions in a crowded Perth City Hall, with music supplied by The Powrie Band which of course at that time included Alex in its line up.
Evelyn’s musical tastes are fairly broad based, she enjoys many types including light classical and the lighter modern style.
A LIVING TRIBUTE
It would require a whole volume to record the tributes of admiration and gratitude paid to Alex by enthusiasts, players, family, relations, friends and colleagues, but as a fitting conclusion let just one or two of these folk who were so dear to his heart speak for themselves.
Evelyn MacArthur “He had a style of his own, it came from the heart…” “…he was always thinking of others, totally unselfish and self-effacing.”
Jim MacLeod “It’s still with me and always will be – Alex’s tremendous enthusiasm for Scottish Music, he introduced me to it. He was Jimmy Shand daft and got me interested in all the good tunes, it was new to me.”
Alan Gardiner “I was torn between the pipes and the accordion but I was so strongly influenced by Alex MacArthur – he was my idol – that the box won.”
Ian Mearns “It was a marvellous time, playing with Alex. He had a unique style, lots of lift in the music and a background of humour and fun. Always laughter wherever he went without any hurtful side effects.”
Ian Wilson “He was just great to work with, always appeared even tempered. He was kind hearted but strict and hated any form of injustice. He was a very intelligent man.”
Robin Brock “Alex’s fun and enthusiasm for the music, he underplayed his own capabilities – a tremendous musician. He had a unique style, nobody else ever played like Alex.”
Ian Powrie “Sandy never had an ill word against anybody.”
Jack Delaney “It was the man’s tremendous ability in communicating with people. His personality came out in his playing.”
Jim Johnstone “I never saw Alex reading music, he latched on very quickly, a natural musician. His humour was always to the fore, great company in the band and always the same.”
Jennifer Forrest “I actually doubt if I’d be playing the accordion today if it hadn’t been for Alex, because he gave me so much encouragement in the first couple of years of my playing – he made such a big impact on all my views. When I was out of work on leaving school, he gave me the chance to play second box with him all over the country from Thurso to the south of Wales.”
Just a few comments from fellow musicians which typify those from players and non players alike from every corner of Scotland, indeed far beyond, wherever Alex and his music were known.
Finally a couple of snippets from a “Shepherd’s Fancy” programme which I feel sums up the philosophy of the man – his consideration for and understanding of the real people and his dedication to Scottish Music.
Alex – “…something new coming in where youngsters now are looking for rhythm. Tremendous players, they’ve all got the message or are keen to get the message.”
And now a very pertinent observation – “I think some get too serious and they play far too complicated stuff. The average listener that’s sitting up on the hillsides on the West Coast or on the hills this way, the shepherds etc., they’re no’ interested in five thoosand notes, they want something they can do their knitting to or have a puff at the pipe and recognise a lot of the stuff. It’s okay bringing in new tunes, but sometimes I think some of them forget who they are actually playing for.”
As Robbie Shepherd commented, “Wise words indeed”.
Alex MacArthur, “The General”, irreplaceable, an act that no-one can follow, but the enthusiasm he generated amongst the younger players and the lead and encouragement he gave to so many have ensured a healthy future for our music and will remain a living tribute to his memory.
The names of all those who helped me, either directly or indirectly with material for this write up, appear in the text. May I thank them all most sincerely for their assistance.
Box and Fiddle
January 1990
During one of his brief, semi-conscious interludes he sensed someone by his bed but he quickly relapsed to surface some time later, again aware of a presence. This time a familiar voice said, “Are ye wakened faither?” It was his friend and dance band leader colleague Alex MacArthur, alias “The General”.
No-one was officially permitted to visit so soon after the operation, not even Ian’s wife Bertha, but this did not deter Alex who just went straight in. How he did it no-one knows, but more importantly, why did he do it? Simple, above all else he cared for people.
Yes I know music is normally quoted as his first love, but I would say his fellow beings had it by a short head. However, the order of precedence of these two passions is of no great and lasting benefit to the Scottish music scene. More of that later.
We all know that every person is unique in themselves but Alex, a larger than life figure, was more unique than most. Third youngest of a family of ten, he was born in 1930 in the small Perthshire village of Kinbuck, situated about 1½ miles north of Dunblane.
All the family were musically inclined with good singing voices. Mother played the mouth organ; one brother had a go at the melodeon and one of the uncles on his mother’s side, Ned McGibbon, a very good fiddler, played in The Keltryburn Accordion Band, which was based at Kenmore, on Loch Tay.
Alex’s natural talent as a player surfaced at the age of three when he would pick out recognisable tunes on the piano in a cousin’s house. When about eight years old he fell heir to a harmonium bequeathed by an elderly lady, and this he played almost non-stop until his mother bunged it out into the garden.
But, nothing daunted, he continued his sessions from underneath a tarpaulin! However, this insatiable appetite for making music got him into a spot of bother at the school. There was a harmonium in the woodwork room (which also doubled as a music room) and Alex would skip classes to have a tune, needless to say with painful consequences.
At this time also Alex was showing a keen interest in the accordion, having a “wee shottie” whenever the opportunity presented itself. Then at the age of fifteen came the break – one of his sisters who had been in the W.A.A.F. presented him with a small piano accordion, probably 24 bass.
He attended music lessons in Stirling under a Mr McFarlane but called it a day after a couple of years, a decision no doubt prompted by the need for self-expression and the desire to do his own thing.
To enlarge on this “formal training” for a few moments; because in later years he never ever had the written music in front of him during any performance whatsoever, public or private, his musical colleagues firmly believed that he couldn’t read the “dots” or at best only very little and yet they were aware that he would take music away and come back with it off pat. How was it done? Well, his wife, Evelyn, confided that he had remarkable powers of absorption and retention. He would take the music and read it as one would a book or newspaper with not an accordion in sight, and after ten or fifteen minutes he would dispense with the printed copy and go and play it.
This particular technique also prompted a request from Alex en route to a Scottish dance music broadcast with the Powrie band, “Could I possibly get the music the night before, rather than on the bus?”
The Arthur MacLeod Trio
But to backtrack. Between leaving secondary school in Dunblane and doing National Service in the Royal Engineers, Alex worked on the railway as a porter at Dunblane, not surprisingly as his father was also with the company in the same capacity but up the ladder, initially at Kinbuck and latterly at Dunblane, and his uncle Neil MacArthur was a signalman at Callander.
One of Alex’s contemporaries who did his National Service with the RAF was demobbed about the same time and had only been back in civvy street for a few days when he was approached by a Miss Hay of “Hay’s Music Shop” in Stirling, who told him that the “Forest Hills Hotel” in Aberfoyle was looking for a trio to do a ceilidh/dance function.
Being a big band enthusiast and pianist with the local “Palais” band, this request presented our ex-RAF type with a problem, because up to that point Scottish music had evaded him. His name – Jim MacLeod. What to do? It was then that Alex MacArthur sprang to mind. Although Jim had never worked with him, “I knew of him as a very accomplished accordion player with a penchant for Scottish Dance Music.”
To cut a long story short, they teamed up with a drummer and did the “Forest Hills” job. It was a resounding success and the lads were quite overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and reaction of the dancers. It was also an engagement which was to have a profound effect on their respective musical careers.
One thing led to another, their reputation spread, someone suggested they apply for an audition with the BBC. They were duly called to Dundee and, despite the fact that they thought they hadn’t a chance, the panel, which included Jimmy Shand, passed them with flying colours.
As the Scottish Dance Music at the time did not entertain trios, prospects were not too bright, but within a week Kathleen Garscadden (Auntie Kathleen) had enlisted them for her “Down at the Mains” programme, a slot which they filled for almost six years as “The Arthur MacLeod Trio” an amalgam of the two names which in retrospect they felt was unfortunate and rather stupid but they were young and inexperienced at the time.
It was in 1950 that I first heard the trio on the radio during working hours. I was very impressed indeed, so much so, that I approached my boss who lived in the flat adjacent to the office block and every Tuesday he would leave his front door open so that I could hear the music from the office. And he was English!
My first live encounter with Alex was at a Dunblane dance in 1951 when he relieved the Shand band at half time using George McKelvie’s accordion. Despite the “heavy” sound of this instrument the unmistakable MacArthur lift shone through. Later in the same year at another dance where The Arthur MacLeod Trio was officiating, I stood at the side of the stage fascinated by Alex’s style.
His technique of clipping a note an octave below the melody line was intriguing and greatly enhanced what were normally somewhat hackneyed tunes such as Bonnie Dundee etc. A year later I had the good fortune to be best man at a wedding in Doune and at the reception it was again The Trio, now fielding a 15-year-old Billy Thom on drums and as I was “compere” at the dance I had a ball, if you see what I mean.
After a couple of cracking 2/4s for a barn dance, I asked Alex what the second tune was, “I hadn’t heard that one before.” “That makes two of us” came the deadpan reply. Apparently he had forgotten what he had intended to play and busked his way through a “makey-up”.
With the help of radio, which was a big thing in those days, The Trio went from strength to strength on its own merits. Work poured in from all directions, some of the venues being remote and isolated. Alex loved this scene, the wee village halls, the couthie country folk and so on, whereas Jim, whilst also enjoying it, tended to favour a more settled existence and even then was looking towards the hotel world. So it was inevitable that they would follow their own separate ways. However, prior to this parting, The Trio augmented by the addition of a fiddle player and on occasion bass, became resident at The Dunblane Hydro.
The Powrie Band
Also for a short period in the early ’50s, Alex played with a small group of his own, his drummer being a Callander lad, Arthur Easson. Then in 1955, by which time Alex’s reputation as a top class accordionist had spread far and wide, he was invited to join The Ian Powrie Band which had a vacancy, the second box player, Jack Ewen, having left due to pressure of work.
Our man jumped at the chance staying with them until 1957 and doing at least two “The Kilt is my Delight” TV programmes and a whole series of radio’s “On Tour with Robert Wilson”. On one occasion when the full Powrie band had to fulfil engagements in Skye, drummer George Grant was unable to go and Alex suggested Ian approach Arthur Easson.
Arthur subsequently did one or two random jobs with the band, and then in January 1957, he joined as permanent drummer. For two or three years prior to this he had been running his own group, “The Glengarry Band”, which had as its fiddler a certain Bill Black – yes Bill Black of Stanley, who was latterly replaced by Hamish Menzies. What a tangled web we weave!
MARRIED
But to go back to The Arthur MacLeod Trio era, what must surely rank as the most important step in anyone’s life took place during that period. At a dance at Braco one evening, Alex was introduced to Evelyn Blair of Crieff. They were married in December 1954 and took up residence in Comrie in early 1955.
By this time, Alex, who had returned to the railway for a short time after demob, was working with the Springbank Sand and Gravel Company at Doune. In 1958 he took up a job as a travelling representative with Vandenberg (Unilever) who amongst other delicacies marketed “Stork” margarine – the “g” is hard as in “gosh”. As Alex used to crack, “I take the orders, the midwife makes the deliveries!”
As this job necessitated extensive travelling, he had to leave The Powrie Band, his successor being Mickie Ainsworth. Then in 1959, by now the proud father of a baby daughter, Fiona, he was moved to Elgin by his firm. A second happy event took place in 1961 with the birth of a son, Gordon. Nine years later and another shift with Vandenberg to Balerno, an attractive wee town a mile or two southwest of Edinburgh in the lee of the Pentland Hills.
MARK 1 BROADCASTING BAND
Once the dust had settled following the move to Elgin, Alex started up a band, or strictly speaking two bands, one for Scottish and the other, with trumpet, clarinet or baritone sax, for mixed or modern dancing – he himself was a very competent modern player.
Now the second accordion player in the Scottish Dance group was a local man, Rhynas Mitchell, a talented player and arranger, and a jazz fanatic. He had previously played second box in the Elgin based Ian Mearns Broadcasting Band in the early ’50s and in 1965, when Alex needed a fiddler to start broadcasting again, Rhynas approached Ian to see if he would be interested. He was, went for a run through at the MacArthur dwelling on the Sunday, adapted perfectly to Alex’s style, joined the band and did about fifteen broadcasts in the five years prior to the Edinburgh move.
MARK 2 BROADCASTING BAND AND RECORDS
Ian, who was taught fiddle by Kim Murray and who as a small boy had broadcast with her “Strathspey and Reel Players” has a Law Degree from Aberdeen University and in 1973 he moved to Girvan to take up the post of Town Clerk in the Ayrshire town.
At this time Alex was with The Jim Johnstone Band (we’ll come back to that later). One evening in 1978 Ian got a phone call from Alex, “How would you like to make a record?” Not having played together for some time, Ian was naturally slightly apprehensive but was reassured there would be no problem.
The promised run-through never materialised and they went cold into The Bluebell Studio in Glasgow’s Kersland Street. However, the material was familiar and, after only a few minutes’ warm-up, everything clicked into place and “Scottish Country Dances, Volume 1” was in the can. In addition to Ian and Alex the line-up for this recording was Davie Stewart of Kirriemuir (second accordion), the aforementioned Ian Wilson on piano, Bill Craib (double bass), and Billy Grant from Glasgow on drums.
Volume 1, released in 1978 was a success and things just took off from there, the Mark 2 band was on the map. Engagements followed thick and fast, dances, accordion clubs, and in 1979, a first BBC Broadcast from Max Houliston’s “Oughtens” restaurant in Dumfries.
Many other broadcasts followed, both for Radio Forth and “The Beeb”, and on one occasion the latter did three recordings in one week, two outside and one in the studio with Chris Worrall as producer. Just consider the amount of material required for three broadcasts – the mind boggles, but Alex could cope, partly because of his tireless enthusiasm and dedication and partly because of his belief in using good, well tried, traditional tunes. For example on the three commercial recordings made by the Mark 2 band, “Scottish Country Dances Volumes 1 & 2” and “The Biggar and Better Sound of Alex MacArthur” , out of 125 tunes used, no less than 90 are traditional. And with the unique MacArthur style and the Rhynas Mitchell and Ian Wilson arrangements, they all sound great. Rhynas’s Willie Davie bass progressions with the piano handing over to the double bass halfway up and vice-versa on the way down, must be an all time classic.
JIM JOHNSTONE
But to fill in the gap in the proceedings. In the late ’60s, while still up in Elgin, Alex met up with Jim Johnstone on several occasions when the latter was up with Jimmy Blue’s Band. So when he landed down in the Edinburgh area, he popped in to see Jim one day in 1973.
Coincidentally, Jim’s second accordionist, Tommy Lees, had just gone to London to work. Alex was invited to help out with an engagement; he filled the bill perfectly and became a permanent member of the band for three years or so taking part in lots of “Tellys” with the popular “Songs of Scotland” series. Alex’s method of learning a tune has already been expounded, but this could not easily be put into practice with parts for singers etc, but with his musicianship and experience he only had to hear a number a couple of times through and he knew what was wanted.
During these three years he also did a number of radio recordings with the band, twelve for Radio Forth and five or six for the BBC Scottish Dance Music programmes. Jim recounts with amusement how Alex in his inimitable, unruffled style would be happily playing away at a dance, his microphone pointing away from him, with the result that he couldn’t hear himself through the speakers, and consequently played up, thus obliterating the rest of the band.
The “boss” would then remonstrate with him, “I pay forty quid for a mike and you don’t use it!” No problem, mike re-orientated and all was well.
BIGGAR
The Vandenberg rep job began to interfere more and more with the music. Alex became somewhat disenchanted with it and decided to go into the hotel business taking over The Clydesdale Hotel in Biggar in 1974, a fully blown establishment with residents, functions and so on.
It was very hard work for Evelyn and himself but it gave him greater flexibility and he could devote more time to music. However, latterly it proved to be too much of a hassle and they sold up in 1985 and moved to The Farmer’s Arms, a public house in Thornhill, 14 miles north of Dumfries.
Incidentally it was apparently the locals in Biggar who christened mein host “The General”. In view of this and the MacArthur sense of humour it was decided to name Alex’s dispensary “The General’s Bar” and Evelyn quotes an amusing incident where two elderly ladies were passing as a painter was putting the finishing touches to the sign and one said to the other “He’s ower young tae hae been a General!”
It should not have come as a surprise to anyone that, given the new found flexibility and ready made premises on the doorstep, an Accordion and Fiddle Club was started up at The Clydesdale before very long.
This was the vehicle that Alex needed to give full expression to his desire to help others who shared his love and enthusiasm for our music and also as an outlet for his priceless ready wit and good humour. He had the ability to say the most outrageous things with a disarmingly innocent postscript, which made the victim or victims proud to be the butt of the banter. Who else would get away with calling the Lochgilphead 3-row maestro “Grazer McFlynn”!
The ways in which he helped and encouraged the younger players are legion. Just consider the boost to a youngster’s confidence when a player of Alex’s ability and standing sat down to back them on second accordion or piano, or when visiting other Clubs as guest artiste asked them to come up and back him. Whenever circumstances permitted it was his policy to go to Clubs with either a duo or trio, with the twofold purpose of saving the Club undue expense and also of involving young or inexperienced players.
Many are the times he charged only travelling expenses and a fee for his pianist or whoever. His selflessness was an example to all and to list those he has helped would take pages.
Suffice it to say that they will be eternally grateful and the fruits of his labours will be there for years to come. Many are the players who made their first broadcast with The MacArthur Band and it was Alex who introduced Paddy Neary to the Scottish stage.
Ian Wilson, the erstwhile owner of the hernia and a Powrie fan, had seen Alex many times with that band, but he had never had a tune with him until the Biggar Club started up and then one evening he was invited to accompany him to Stranraer and that was the start of Ian’s very happy association with the Mark 2 band. He had, by the way, been pianist with The Eric Goodfellow Band until its demise in 1977. Alex, incidentally, was a great fan of this particular group.
HUMOUR AND STYLE
Alex’s highly developed, inimitable sense of humour, which endeared him to audiences everywhere, from packed concert halls to wee day rooms in old folks’ homes, began to show itself in his schooldays when his essays had his English teacher rolling about.
Ian Wilson has, of course, a fund of stories which illustrate the MacArthur style of communication and one which typified this was when he compered a Border Strathspey and Reel Society concert attended by the Duchess of Roxburgh. When he was making his introductory remarks he spotted the Duchess, an elderly, dignified lady in the centre of the front row. As the concert progressed the Duchess gradually subsided into a blissful snooze and Alex made great play of this by winking knowingly and making asides to a tall young lady further along the row. At the interval the players and compere were given refreshments and met various dignitaries, and lo and behold the tall young lady was there and Alex was introduced to her – the Duchess of Roxburgh!
And another example. If at a function or Club there happened to be a group of older ladies in the front, three of them would be singled out as the “Beverley Sisters from Crawfordjohn” or some other exotic local resort. He had the audience and the “Bevs” eating out of his hand within minutes. Sometimes he would look over his specs or turn them upside down and on one occasion when he had broken one of the lenses just before the start, he had the place in fits by periodically scratching his nose by poking his finger through the hole in the frame from the back.
At a dance one evening at Thornhill with Keith Dickson of Dolphinton on second accordion, they kicked off with a “Gay Gordons” and no-one got up. This, as most players will know, is somewhat demoralising, but nothing daunted Alex comes away with, “Right, all change partners.” The ice was broken and the floor was filled for the second bout.
Another of his classic ploys at a dance was to have the dancers in full cry at an old fashioned waltz singing I Belong to Glasgow or something of that nature at the top of their voices and then he would stop playing, light a fag, cross his legs, turn to the rest of the band, say, “Stop!” and engage them in animated conversation while the punters continued to dance round to their own singing, falling about with laughter at the same time. Then suddenly, fag out, tune picked up perfectly by band, and dance brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
One evening at Blairgowrie Club where Jim Johnstone was guesting solo, Alex was in the audience and at some stage in the proceedings he was asked up to do a wee spot. He surrounded himself with an all star cast, Angus Cameron, Jim Johnstone, Billy Craib, Bill Cormack (piano) and Bill Jarvis (drums) then proceeded to tell the audience hilarious stories for ten minutes, got up, thanked his colleagues and left the stage without a note being struck!
On returning to the railway after National Service, Alex did a spell at Doune station and at that time a young fiddler and Scottish Dance Music enthusiast Hamish Menzies was telegraph boy in Doune. He knew Alex well and occasionally took himself down to the station for a crack and to indulge in their common obsession, in other words have a wee tune.
On one such visit they were in the porter’s room, Alex had the box strapped on, “What do you think of this one?” as he launched into a pipe march or some other delicacy. He was in full flight when a train came in. Nothing daunted, and still playing, he backed out on to the platform looked up and down, a passenger tossed him a penny, he touched his cap, pocketed the coin and carried on with the tune. One could go on and on.
INSTRUMENTS AND MUSIC
When I first saw Alex in 1951 he was playing a black ‘Gaudini’. I don’t know what followed that particular accordion but in 1955 he bought a hand made Hohner Morino IV (1950 vintage), one of that select band of instruments which were made to order. Alex’s particular Morino had very distinctive straight tuning, he would not have changed it for any other and played it right up to and including that fateful October Saturday concert in the Edinburgh Playhouse.
It was his own instantly recognisable sound. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and one or two admirers have had their accordions similarly tuned.
As has already been said Alex never played off music but just scribbled the names of dances or tune sets on fag packets or wee scraps of paper which he invariably lost before he reached the stage, then it was just a case of working off the top of his head. During one broadcast the producer, a perfectionist, was querying a harmony and over the wall-speaker came, “I think you should change that.” Alex picked up his list of tunes from the stand, written I believe on a “Stork” Order Form, put it down again and said, “That’s all right now, sir” and off they went no bother at all.
ODDS AND ENDS
Because of the long distances covered travelling to and from engagements, Alex always had good cars, at least two of them being Mercedes, one a big 4.8 with a cruise control which must have had some pretty high settings judging by some of the quoted journey times! In later years it became the practice to take a driver along (Tom Hope), so that the players could safely have a bit of shuteye on the way home.
From the earlier reference to fag packets it will have been gleaned that Alex liked a cigarette or two – in fact the band christened the cars “mobile kippering sheds”.
Stemming from his days with Vandenberg, Alex knew all the back roads and cobbled streets in every town in Scotland and could thread his way across a built-up area in record time. He also knew people all over the country, in the most outlandish and isolated spots and could call in on friends and acquaintances for a cuppa virtually anywhere and everywhere.
For example, on the way to the Kinlochsheil Club beyond Kyle of Lochalsh, Alex would look at his watch and say, “4 o’clock, we’ll go to such and such a croft and visit so and so”. When they got there the elderly lady tenant would say in a broad Highland tongue, “Whaatt are you doing here, MacArthur?” “Never mind whit ah’m daein’ here, just get the kettle on!” And a good time was had by all.
As well as being a tea addict, Alex was also very partial to gingerbread men, especially a brand only to be found in Clackmannan and also to girdle and tattie scones indigenous to the Leadhills area. He would track these goodies down with unerring judgement.
Such was Alex’s intense interest in, and dedication to the Scottish Dance Music scene, that he developed an outstanding talent for recognising bands sometimes after only a couple of notes or at worst a couple of bars and in most cases he could identify the individual players as well. This was partly because of the “rent-a-band” principle of which he was not greatly enamoured, whereby a number of top bandleaders would draw from a nucleus of twenty or so backing musicians.
The complete entity band units were and still are becoming scarce and the lead apart, the sameness of sound saddened Alex more than a little. There were certainly no worries on this score as regards his own band.
Alex was a bit hard on drummers or possibly “firm with” would be a better expression. If for example a tune such as The Highland Wedding was slowed up slightly at some point to gain maximum expression, but the drummer kept on with the initial beat regardless, Alex wouldn’t say anything, but my goodness his foot would get going to some tune and the errant percussionist was soon pulled into line.
HOBBIES AND FAMILY
“Hobbies,” said Evelyn, “well music came first, second, third and last. But Alex was also a very keen reader, not of books, but newspapers, cover to cover, kept himself very well informed on all manner of subjects including politics – he was also an avid watcher of political programmes on TV, but he had no particular leanings, one way or the other. In the hotel business one has to speak knowledgeably on all kinds of subjects.”
One other, perhaps surprising, hobby was Bridge, he and Evelyn being members of the local club at Thornhill.
Then of course Alex was the proud grandfather of three – Scott, Heather and Craig, the family of daughter Fiona and husband Robert Lawson who is in the sheep business. They have a 400-acre farm at Newbigging near Carnwath, which in turn is not far from Carstairs. Fiona is very keen on animals, works hard on the farm and enjoys it immensely.
Alex had a great rapport with the young ones but never forced his music on them. However, Scott was taken along to hear “Papa’s” band do an outside broadcast in a two-band session at Thornhill a couple of years ago. Alex’s band was on first and when Scott had sat through the performance, quoth he, “Well that’s enough for me,” and “Gran” thought, “How profound Scott, my sentiments exactly.” Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings……….
The other half of the family, son Gordon, is an actor, plays piano and sings a bit. At the November meeting of the Biggar Club he paid tribute to his father by playing one of his favourite tunes Durrisdeer as a piano solo. Club Secretary, John Anderson, and guest player Paddy Neary added their own personal appreciation during the evening.
Gordon did his drama training in London, but was then faced with the chicken and egg situation, to get work he needed an agent, but to get an agent he needed to have worked. However, luck was with him, he eventually did a spell in the “Young Vic”, moved back to Scotland, got a part in a Border production, was spotted, did a one-liner as a taxi driver in STV’s “Take the High Road”, and finally landed a couple of much more substantial roles in the series. He then appeared in pantomime in Stirling where he had to do a bit of everything, singing, acting and dancing.
Now back to Mum (Evelyn) – the hotel business doesn’t leave much time for hobbies but she shared Alex’s enthusiasm for Bridge and in fact attended classes in the same. She also enjoys Scottish Country Dancing and in earlier years, the mid-50s to be precise, when spare time was more plentiful, she attended the weekly sessions in a crowded Perth City Hall, with music supplied by The Powrie Band which of course at that time included Alex in its line up.
Evelyn’s musical tastes are fairly broad based, she enjoys many types including light classical and the lighter modern style.
A LIVING TRIBUTE
It would require a whole volume to record the tributes of admiration and gratitude paid to Alex by enthusiasts, players, family, relations, friends and colleagues, but as a fitting conclusion let just one or two of these folk who were so dear to his heart speak for themselves.
Evelyn MacArthur “He had a style of his own, it came from the heart…” “…he was always thinking of others, totally unselfish and self-effacing.”
Jim MacLeod “It’s still with me and always will be – Alex’s tremendous enthusiasm for Scottish Music, he introduced me to it. He was Jimmy Shand daft and got me interested in all the good tunes, it was new to me.”
Alan Gardiner “I was torn between the pipes and the accordion but I was so strongly influenced by Alex MacArthur – he was my idol – that the box won.”
Ian Mearns “It was a marvellous time, playing with Alex. He had a unique style, lots of lift in the music and a background of humour and fun. Always laughter wherever he went without any hurtful side effects.”
Ian Wilson “He was just great to work with, always appeared even tempered. He was kind hearted but strict and hated any form of injustice. He was a very intelligent man.”
Robin Brock “Alex’s fun and enthusiasm for the music, he underplayed his own capabilities – a tremendous musician. He had a unique style, nobody else ever played like Alex.”
Ian Powrie “Sandy never had an ill word against anybody.”
Jack Delaney “It was the man’s tremendous ability in communicating with people. His personality came out in his playing.”
Jim Johnstone “I never saw Alex reading music, he latched on very quickly, a natural musician. His humour was always to the fore, great company in the band and always the same.”
Jennifer Forrest “I actually doubt if I’d be playing the accordion today if it hadn’t been for Alex, because he gave me so much encouragement in the first couple of years of my playing – he made such a big impact on all my views. When I was out of work on leaving school, he gave me the chance to play second box with him all over the country from Thurso to the south of Wales.”
Just a few comments from fellow musicians which typify those from players and non players alike from every corner of Scotland, indeed far beyond, wherever Alex and his music were known.
Finally a couple of snippets from a “Shepherd’s Fancy” programme which I feel sums up the philosophy of the man – his consideration for and understanding of the real people and his dedication to Scottish Music.
Alex – “…something new coming in where youngsters now are looking for rhythm. Tremendous players, they’ve all got the message or are keen to get the message.”
And now a very pertinent observation – “I think some get too serious and they play far too complicated stuff. The average listener that’s sitting up on the hillsides on the West Coast or on the hills this way, the shepherds etc., they’re no’ interested in five thoosand notes, they want something they can do their knitting to or have a puff at the pipe and recognise a lot of the stuff. It’s okay bringing in new tunes, but sometimes I think some of them forget who they are actually playing for.”
As Robbie Shepherd commented, “Wise words indeed”.
Alex MacArthur, “The General”, irreplaceable, an act that no-one can follow, but the enthusiasm he generated amongst the younger players and the lead and encouragement he gave to so many have ensured a healthy future for our music and will remain a living tribute to his memory.
The names of all those who helped me, either directly or indirectly with material for this write up, appear in the text. May I thank them all most sincerely for their assistance.
Box and Fiddle
January 1990