Box and Fiddle
Year 42 No 09
May 2019
Price £3.00
60 Page Magazine
12 month subscription £33.60 + p&p £15.85 (UK)
Davie Stewart – Man of Harmonies - 2019 Guest of Honour
by Pia Walker
I travelled to Kirriemuir on the last day of February to visit a very well-known person. No, he didn’t write Peter Pan, although he does live a stone’s throw from J. M. Barrie’s birth place. He has written a book with 42 tunes encompassing marches, slow airs, waltzes, polkas, reels, jigs, hornpipes, strathspeys………..and the Kilberry Samba! The first thing he did during my visit was to sit down and play a waltz in my honour – thank you so much. In his 80th year he, as a bandleader, recorded a CD. He is none other than Davie Stewart, respected and well known for his harmonies and accompaniments, and one of our deserving 2019 Guests of Honour.
Davie has been playing Scottish dance music since the early 50s. Indeed, he calls himself a dance band musician and loves just to be part of a 6-piece band instead of being the leader. He especially loves it when the lead is strong and good and without ego-trips. Asked why he never became a bandleader himself, he answered that he did on his CD although it took him 50 years to do so.
Davie was born in Forfar, as an only child, to his mother Agnes and father David Peter Stewart who passed away when Davie was three. He moved to Kirriemuir when he was 15 after his mother, a keen dancer, remarried Davie Stark who acquired a snack bar in Kirrie. Stark’s Snack Bar with its juke box was a popular meeting place in Kirrie. It was here he met Billy Craib and the ‘dynamic duo’ began a friendship that still exists.
Davie calls Kirriemuir ‘Cameron-country’ as it was teeming with musical Camerons – Angus, Alex, Scott and May to name but a few – and he played with them all. He has fond memories of the Ogilvie Arms afternoon ceilidhs. Indeed he has many memories, and I promised not to publish them in this family publication!
His grandfather James Ferguson played a 2-row button-box by ear, and when Davie was 8 or 9 years old his grandfather wanted to give ‘the young lad’ the small Rauner accordion that Davie’s uncle Jim Ferguson had brought him from Germany in 45-46. But his mother forbade him to play it until he had learnt to read music. I think Agnes was quite a force to be reckoned with, as she wanted the best for her boy. She sent him to Norman C. Guild of the Angus Occasionals who taught piano, fiddle and piano accordion as per the Scottish Bible, the Scott Skinner book of music. He also taught Lindsay Ross and Angus Cameron and so Davie’s long career began.
We had a long talk about playing by ear. Apparently, it is a good chat-up line as Davie, with a glint in his eye, told me, “I have often been asked by the ladies if I play by ear, and when I say no, they get ever so disappointed!” Davie feels it is important to be able to hear the music even if you know how to read it and in the early band days to play be ear was essential. As he says, “Especially in Scottish music, you have to interpret the music in order to play it with feeling.”
Davie’s first experience of playing was in Norman C. Guild’s Orchestra in a church hall as a young boy. What made it extra memorable was that Mr Guild passed away at that event. As Davie says, “For a musician that’s the way to go!” When he was around 13 be was part of a concert party recorded for Children’s Hour by Elizabeth Adair for whom Angus Fitchet composed a tune of the same name.
Davie was put to a trade when he finished school at 15, as an electrician, but wasn’t too keen, being to involved with music. He did his National Service in the Army in 1957-59. While he was stationed in Bahrain, he was asked to put a cabaret together. He gathered singers and other performers for the show – even a Scouser who could balance everything from toothbrushes to chairs on his nose! “He made it look too easy, so I had to tell him to ham it up – that’s stage craft!” This was also the first time he had encountered Christmas, as in Scotland Christmas wasn’t celebrated much and you still worked on that day.
He left the Army in April 1959 and in October of that year married Janet who sadly passed away in 2007. He has two sons. Graeme lives in London and sings tenor with the ENO and teaches voice, while his older son David (Fergus) lives in Spain after a stint in the Navy.
In the mid-1960s he worked front of house for a spell in the famous J.T. Forbes in the Nethergate in Dundee together with John Huband of Sound fame whom he played alongside in the 80s.
He started playing in the Dundee Festival run by Henry Forbes – the brother of J.T. Forbes – and later, when the Perth Festival began with Bill Wilkie at the helm, was a regular there. Indeed, he played at the 50th Perth Festival winning the senior accordion shield.
One of his favourite musicians during the snack bar days (early 60s) was the Alasdair Downie SDB, and it would have been easy for him just to copy a style of a favoured musician. However, when he as an 18-year-old started accompanying many of the day’s musicians, he was told by Doug Milne, “Get a style of your own.” This he was determined to do and it was obviously good advice.
Davie has played with so many people at dances, broadcasts and recordings and has stories of them all. Jimmy Blue, Jim Johnstone, Sir Jimmy Shand, James Lindsay, Ian Cruickshanks, Doug Milne, Bill Powrie, Bobby Campbell, Harry Scott, Peter Stewart, John huband and Alex MAcArthur are just a few of them. Some of the fiddlers he mentioned were Angus Cameron, Ian Arnot, Jim Sturrock, Angus Fitchet, Ian Powrie, Ron Kerr and Hebbie Gray.
His musical life has been long and varied. He played with Rab Smillie for 25 years, “It was like being married and we did get up to mischief.” What mischief wasn’t expanded upon. Dave insists that the younger Davie Stewart was quite a quiet lad with Rab the driving force!
In the late 60s, he played with Jimmy Blue in the film ‘Country Dance’ starring Peter O’Toole and Susannah York. He played with Ian Cruickshanks in the 90s, latterly broadcasting with Wayne Robertson and Steven Carcary and lastly, until his retirement, with the Leonard Brown Band.
He did a 6-week tour with Jimmy Blue and Andy Stewart in Australia and New Zealand, something of which he still has fond memories. He has, over the years, been involved in many a TV and radio broadcast and in recordings of bands he acknowledges are too numerous to mention here.
He has played in many an Accordion & Fiddle Club – and once did overhear someone saying that he was always on stage at Perth Club. After all, second accordions are good at busking, so they often get invited to join in.
Davie owns two very different accordions: one is a Hohner Golina and one a Sano which he feels has the right tone for modern style music and which he traveled to New Jersey’s Accordion-O-Rama to buy some years ago. He still plays, but not ‘oot and aboot’ as his health isn’t the best. He also finds that his memory for names and dates etc is not what it used to be, so if he has forgotten to mention anyone, that is why.
We talked about what music he likes to play and listen to. Davie likes the strong drives in a strathspey and feels that the more airy compositions are neither here nor there and continues, “Some dance styles have lost the village style of dancing and have become deluded in what dancing is.” He also likes other styles of music, mostly the American song book style from the 30s-40s.
When asked what his thoughts are on the music of today he replies, “Fast – they don’t come up for air, do they?” He agrees with Jimmy Shand that if you hear someone whistle the tune after you have played it, you have cracked it. “Musicians today,” he says, “are all extremely talented but if it is too fast, it becomes too monotonous with not enough harmony being heard. I suppose it is vitality and you grow out of it.” The thing he feels mostly endangers the Scottish dance band scene is the closing of village halls. “It has had a terrible impact,” he says.
It was a pleasure to talk to this talented man and I can’t wait to see him again at the Celebrity Luncheon in June.
From Malcom Ross
“I’ve known Davie most of my life. He and my father went to the same music teacher, Norman C. Guild in Forfar, so the family connection goes back to the late 40s. Davie is steeped in the traditional Scots music of Angus, but with an ear and an ability firmly rooted in jazz and the classics too. His late wife Janet’s love of quality music makes it no surprise that their son, Graham, became a pro singer with the English National Opera, and in many West End shows. The many bands Davy played with over the years were enhanced by his playing and enthusiasm. To make an album at 80 years old with many different idioms of music is a huge inspiration to musicians of all ages everywhere, and could be described in the Angus vernacular and Davie’s own words as, “still hackin awa.”
From Leonard Brown
Davie Stewart is totally a one-off. His imagination, his flair, his ability to fill the gaps between the notes with his knowledge and understanding of harmony have always astounded me. I had the pleasure of Davie in my band from 2011-2016 and he added a wealth of experience. He was always able to inspire you with his thoughts and ideas. I’ve never met someone so enthusiastic towards music. I was honoured to be able to organize a very special concert at The Salutation Hotel in 2017 for Davie reaching a milestone of 65 years in show-business. Ian Cruickshanks, Steven Carcary, Wayne Robertson and myself all took to the stage with Davie on harmony accordion accompanied by Liam Stewart, John Sinton and Malcolm Ross and we played a selection of Davie’s favourite items that had been performed over the years with various bandleaders. A great day with 300 of Davie’s fans in the audience, a great day in the memory! Thanks, Davie, for your effort, musicianship and friendship.
by Pia Walker
I travelled to Kirriemuir on the last day of February to visit a very well-known person. No, he didn’t write Peter Pan, although he does live a stone’s throw from J. M. Barrie’s birth place. He has written a book with 42 tunes encompassing marches, slow airs, waltzes, polkas, reels, jigs, hornpipes, strathspeys………..and the Kilberry Samba! The first thing he did during my visit was to sit down and play a waltz in my honour – thank you so much. In his 80th year he, as a bandleader, recorded a CD. He is none other than Davie Stewart, respected and well known for his harmonies and accompaniments, and one of our deserving 2019 Guests of Honour.
Davie has been playing Scottish dance music since the early 50s. Indeed, he calls himself a dance band musician and loves just to be part of a 6-piece band instead of being the leader. He especially loves it when the lead is strong and good and without ego-trips. Asked why he never became a bandleader himself, he answered that he did on his CD although it took him 50 years to do so.
Davie was born in Forfar, as an only child, to his mother Agnes and father David Peter Stewart who passed away when Davie was three. He moved to Kirriemuir when he was 15 after his mother, a keen dancer, remarried Davie Stark who acquired a snack bar in Kirrie. Stark’s Snack Bar with its juke box was a popular meeting place in Kirrie. It was here he met Billy Craib and the ‘dynamic duo’ began a friendship that still exists.
Davie calls Kirriemuir ‘Cameron-country’ as it was teeming with musical Camerons – Angus, Alex, Scott and May to name but a few – and he played with them all. He has fond memories of the Ogilvie Arms afternoon ceilidhs. Indeed he has many memories, and I promised not to publish them in this family publication!
His grandfather James Ferguson played a 2-row button-box by ear, and when Davie was 8 or 9 years old his grandfather wanted to give ‘the young lad’ the small Rauner accordion that Davie’s uncle Jim Ferguson had brought him from Germany in 45-46. But his mother forbade him to play it until he had learnt to read music. I think Agnes was quite a force to be reckoned with, as she wanted the best for her boy. She sent him to Norman C. Guild of the Angus Occasionals who taught piano, fiddle and piano accordion as per the Scottish Bible, the Scott Skinner book of music. He also taught Lindsay Ross and Angus Cameron and so Davie’s long career began.
We had a long talk about playing by ear. Apparently, it is a good chat-up line as Davie, with a glint in his eye, told me, “I have often been asked by the ladies if I play by ear, and when I say no, they get ever so disappointed!” Davie feels it is important to be able to hear the music even if you know how to read it and in the early band days to play be ear was essential. As he says, “Especially in Scottish music, you have to interpret the music in order to play it with feeling.”
Davie’s first experience of playing was in Norman C. Guild’s Orchestra in a church hall as a young boy. What made it extra memorable was that Mr Guild passed away at that event. As Davie says, “For a musician that’s the way to go!” When he was around 13 be was part of a concert party recorded for Children’s Hour by Elizabeth Adair for whom Angus Fitchet composed a tune of the same name.
Davie was put to a trade when he finished school at 15, as an electrician, but wasn’t too keen, being to involved with music. He did his National Service in the Army in 1957-59. While he was stationed in Bahrain, he was asked to put a cabaret together. He gathered singers and other performers for the show – even a Scouser who could balance everything from toothbrushes to chairs on his nose! “He made it look too easy, so I had to tell him to ham it up – that’s stage craft!” This was also the first time he had encountered Christmas, as in Scotland Christmas wasn’t celebrated much and you still worked on that day.
He left the Army in April 1959 and in October of that year married Janet who sadly passed away in 2007. He has two sons. Graeme lives in London and sings tenor with the ENO and teaches voice, while his older son David (Fergus) lives in Spain after a stint in the Navy.
In the mid-1960s he worked front of house for a spell in the famous J.T. Forbes in the Nethergate in Dundee together with John Huband of Sound fame whom he played alongside in the 80s.
He started playing in the Dundee Festival run by Henry Forbes – the brother of J.T. Forbes – and later, when the Perth Festival began with Bill Wilkie at the helm, was a regular there. Indeed, he played at the 50th Perth Festival winning the senior accordion shield.
One of his favourite musicians during the snack bar days (early 60s) was the Alasdair Downie SDB, and it would have been easy for him just to copy a style of a favoured musician. However, when he as an 18-year-old started accompanying many of the day’s musicians, he was told by Doug Milne, “Get a style of your own.” This he was determined to do and it was obviously good advice.
Davie has played with so many people at dances, broadcasts and recordings and has stories of them all. Jimmy Blue, Jim Johnstone, Sir Jimmy Shand, James Lindsay, Ian Cruickshanks, Doug Milne, Bill Powrie, Bobby Campbell, Harry Scott, Peter Stewart, John huband and Alex MAcArthur are just a few of them. Some of the fiddlers he mentioned were Angus Cameron, Ian Arnot, Jim Sturrock, Angus Fitchet, Ian Powrie, Ron Kerr and Hebbie Gray.
His musical life has been long and varied. He played with Rab Smillie for 25 years, “It was like being married and we did get up to mischief.” What mischief wasn’t expanded upon. Dave insists that the younger Davie Stewart was quite a quiet lad with Rab the driving force!
In the late 60s, he played with Jimmy Blue in the film ‘Country Dance’ starring Peter O’Toole and Susannah York. He played with Ian Cruickshanks in the 90s, latterly broadcasting with Wayne Robertson and Steven Carcary and lastly, until his retirement, with the Leonard Brown Band.
He did a 6-week tour with Jimmy Blue and Andy Stewart in Australia and New Zealand, something of which he still has fond memories. He has, over the years, been involved in many a TV and radio broadcast and in recordings of bands he acknowledges are too numerous to mention here.
He has played in many an Accordion & Fiddle Club – and once did overhear someone saying that he was always on stage at Perth Club. After all, second accordions are good at busking, so they often get invited to join in.
Davie owns two very different accordions: one is a Hohner Golina and one a Sano which he feels has the right tone for modern style music and which he traveled to New Jersey’s Accordion-O-Rama to buy some years ago. He still plays, but not ‘oot and aboot’ as his health isn’t the best. He also finds that his memory for names and dates etc is not what it used to be, so if he has forgotten to mention anyone, that is why.
We talked about what music he likes to play and listen to. Davie likes the strong drives in a strathspey and feels that the more airy compositions are neither here nor there and continues, “Some dance styles have lost the village style of dancing and have become deluded in what dancing is.” He also likes other styles of music, mostly the American song book style from the 30s-40s.
When asked what his thoughts are on the music of today he replies, “Fast – they don’t come up for air, do they?” He agrees with Jimmy Shand that if you hear someone whistle the tune after you have played it, you have cracked it. “Musicians today,” he says, “are all extremely talented but if it is too fast, it becomes too monotonous with not enough harmony being heard. I suppose it is vitality and you grow out of it.” The thing he feels mostly endangers the Scottish dance band scene is the closing of village halls. “It has had a terrible impact,” he says.
It was a pleasure to talk to this talented man and I can’t wait to see him again at the Celebrity Luncheon in June.
From Malcom Ross
“I’ve known Davie most of my life. He and my father went to the same music teacher, Norman C. Guild in Forfar, so the family connection goes back to the late 40s. Davie is steeped in the traditional Scots music of Angus, but with an ear and an ability firmly rooted in jazz and the classics too. His late wife Janet’s love of quality music makes it no surprise that their son, Graham, became a pro singer with the English National Opera, and in many West End shows. The many bands Davy played with over the years were enhanced by his playing and enthusiasm. To make an album at 80 years old with many different idioms of music is a huge inspiration to musicians of all ages everywhere, and could be described in the Angus vernacular and Davie’s own words as, “still hackin awa.”
From Leonard Brown
Davie Stewart is totally a one-off. His imagination, his flair, his ability to fill the gaps between the notes with his knowledge and understanding of harmony have always astounded me. I had the pleasure of Davie in my band from 2011-2016 and he added a wealth of experience. He was always able to inspire you with his thoughts and ideas. I’ve never met someone so enthusiastic towards music. I was honoured to be able to organize a very special concert at The Salutation Hotel in 2017 for Davie reaching a milestone of 65 years in show-business. Ian Cruickshanks, Steven Carcary, Wayne Robertson and myself all took to the stage with Davie on harmony accordion accompanied by Liam Stewart, John Sinton and Malcolm Ross and we played a selection of Davie’s favourite items that had been performed over the years with various bandleaders. A great day with 300 of Davie’s fans in the audience, a great day in the memory! Thanks, Davie, for your effort, musicianship and friendship.