Alex ‘Toby’ Stewart
by Bill Laws
B&F July 2011
Alex ‘Toby’ Stewart from Ecclefechan was an excellent Shand Morino player who had made a couple of LPs and who appeared at The Shand Morino Gathering at Windygates a number of times. There are a number of clips of Alex on YouTube which are worth viewing. The following article appeared in ‘Travellers Times’ and is reproduced by kind permission of their Editor, Bill Laws.
Alex ‘Toby’ Stewart from Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire was 14 when he left factory work to play ‘the box’, his Shand Morino button-key accordion, at the Glasgow Metropole. He toured abroad and shared venues with the likes of Shirley Bassey, The Platters, Andy Stewart, Norman Wisdom and the king of the accordion Will Starr.
But it was a chance meeting with Glasgow’s Jimmy Logan that changed his career. Before he died late November, Alex shared a little of his musical life story with Bill Laws.
Born in 1943 to father John and mum Maggie Mullen, Alex and his seven brothers and sisters all went to school. “Father made sure we had an education, reading, writing, the whole thing. He used to make money, but he was an awful jack-the-lad. He’d go in a pub and say, “there’s £100. When that’s finished give me a call. Every summer we followed the farm work, doing piecework. You’d have your bottle of cold tea and you’d work till 5 o’clock. You’d set your snares at night for a rabbit, hare or pheasant. There was always plenty of food.” They traveled with their trailer and car or van until the winter when they would settle down in their ‘wee house’ in Ramsay Street, Montrose. “The secret is to enjoy what you’re doin’”
“One time when I was about 7 and they were away at the pictures, I took down father’s accordion, a Forbes of Dundee. I fell in love wi’ it. It was the smell and everything. My sister said, ‘You’re not to touch it’, but I started playing ‘On Top of Old Smokey’ – phuff – ‘all covered in snow’ – phuff phuff.”
It was the start of Alex love affair with ‘the box’. Although he never could read music, he had inherited his family’s musical talents. His grandfather was Pipe Major John Stewart, while his father regularly played along to the wireless, “I’d listen to him and pick up a tune – there was nae telly then.”
“One day this fellow came along and he said, “We’re short of someone in the band. Would you play?” Money was tight then so I says, “How much?” He said, “I’ll gi’ you a pound.” That night Alex earned his first music money.
News of the new, talented young musician spread around Glasgow and Alex was invited to meet the famous Jimmy Logan.
“I asked, ‘What should I say tae him?’ This feller says, ‘Jimmy Logan’s got the Swedish champion on wi’ him. Tell him you could cut two of your fingers off and still play better than the Swede.”
A year later he was in Ireland, playing the pubs. He went on to devote his life to music (giving concerts and making records and CDS) and to his wife Avril.
Undergoing chemotherapy meant Alex missed last year’s Appelby Fair. But Alex could still play a tune. Sitting in his front room, preparing for his photo to be taken he gently began to play ‘Somewhere my Love’, the Doctor Zhivago theme.
“The secret,” he says, “is to enjoy what you’re doin’.” And did he enjoy it? “Aye. Every minute.”
Alex ‘Toby’ Stewart from Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire was 14 when he left factory work to play ‘the box’, his Shand Morino button-key accordion, at the Glasgow Metropole. He toured abroad and shared venues with the likes of Shirley Bassey, The Platters, Andy Stewart, Norman Wisdom and the king of the accordion Will Starr.
But it was a chance meeting with Glasgow’s Jimmy Logan that changed his career. Before he died late November, Alex shared a little of his musical life story with Bill Laws.
Born in 1943 to father John and mum Maggie Mullen, Alex and his seven brothers and sisters all went to school. “Father made sure we had an education, reading, writing, the whole thing. He used to make money, but he was an awful jack-the-lad. He’d go in a pub and say, “there’s £100. When that’s finished give me a call. Every summer we followed the farm work, doing piecework. You’d have your bottle of cold tea and you’d work till 5 o’clock. You’d set your snares at night for a rabbit, hare or pheasant. There was always plenty of food.” They traveled with their trailer and car or van until the winter when they would settle down in their ‘wee house’ in Ramsay Street, Montrose. “The secret is to enjoy what you’re doin’”
“One time when I was about 7 and they were away at the pictures, I took down father’s accordion, a Forbes of Dundee. I fell in love wi’ it. It was the smell and everything. My sister said, ‘You’re not to touch it’, but I started playing ‘On Top of Old Smokey’ – phuff – ‘all covered in snow’ – phuff phuff.”
It was the start of Alex love affair with ‘the box’. Although he never could read music, he had inherited his family’s musical talents. His grandfather was Pipe Major John Stewart, while his father regularly played along to the wireless, “I’d listen to him and pick up a tune – there was nae telly then.”
“One day this fellow came along and he said, “We’re short of someone in the band. Would you play?” Money was tight then so I says, “How much?” He said, “I’ll gi’ you a pound.” That night Alex earned his first music money.
News of the new, talented young musician spread around Glasgow and Alex was invited to meet the famous Jimmy Logan.
“I asked, ‘What should I say tae him?’ This feller says, ‘Jimmy Logan’s got the Swedish champion on wi’ him. Tell him you could cut two of your fingers off and still play better than the Swede.”
A year later he was in Ireland, playing the pubs. He went on to devote his life to music (giving concerts and making records and CDS) and to his wife Avril.
Undergoing chemotherapy meant Alex missed last year’s Appelby Fair. But Alex could still play a tune. Sitting in his front room, preparing for his photo to be taken he gently began to play ‘Somewhere my Love’, the Doctor Zhivago theme.
“The secret,” he says, “is to enjoy what you’re doin’.” And did he enjoy it? “Aye. Every minute.”