Mystery Solved – Whatever Happened to The Currie Brothers?
by Pia Walker
B&F November 2020
During my educational tour round old copies of the B&F, it struck me that there were bands and groups on the scene that we no longer hear about. One was The Currie Brothers. Who were they, what were they and where are they now?
I put on my deer-stalker hat and with pipe in my mouth and magnifying glass in my pocket started to look for them, which proved a little more difficult than just using Google. Thanks to Gary Blair, however, I managed to get hold of Liam Currie to ask some questions about these very popular brothers. Liam kindly answered my queries in an e-mail interview, although he thinks that not many of their audiences can remember them, as he thinks it is more than 18 years since they played in Accordion Clubs! I’m sure we will prove him wrong.
From a post online I learned that The Currie Brothers were a traditional Scottish folk / country dance accordion band from Milngavie in Scotland. They were also part of the wedding / function circuit and extremely accomplished accordion players, famous for their technical skills and accordion-centric arrangements.
They certainly were very popular in club land. As they lived in Milngavie, they were frequenting the MAFIA Club, but the first Club to invite them as guests was Gretna A&F club in 1975. From then on they were on the circuit. First it was just Jim and Tom, and later the youngest, Liam, joined them.
Although their dad, who himself played the accordion and was a fan of Will Starr, wanted them to learn the accordion too, they were more interested at the time in hiding inside the accordion case. However, in 1968 they were taken to a fairground at Glasgow Green. Jim and Tom were on the carousel horses and their parents enquired who was playing the music. It was The Accordion sounds of Dermot O’Brien, and after hearing more of Dermot’s albums they all wanted to learn how to play. Other favourite accordion albums in the 1970s were those of Fintan Stanley, Jo Basile, Douglas Muir (John Ellis Band), Will Starr, Jack Emblow, Jimmy Cassidy, Marcosignori and many more.
First they had to learn to play and were given classical accordion lessons by Sylvia Wilson (twice British Champion). Sylvia wanted all her pupils to play in front of audiences, so they attended the local Accordion Clubs such as Milngavie and Balloch. They also had a few lessons from John Huband. This marked the start of 37 years of performing at concerts, weddings and dances.
In 1975, thanks to Jimmy Norman and accordionist David Bell, they were invited to be guest artistes at Gretna A&F Club. “We were still young kids (all under 14) and shared the evening with The Bon Accords, Robin and Deryn Waitt. Everyone was so kind to us. That led to other Border Clubs such as Greenhead, Rothbury and Wooler which was run by Robert Whitehead. Donald Ridley wrote a tune for us at Cumbria Accordion club. George Butler invited us to Jedburgh. Over the following years we played almost every Accordion Club around Scotland.”
Of course, they went on the competitive circuit too; Jim and Tom won All-Scotland Junior titles, including the Scottish (classical) under-8, under-10 and under-12 solos, while Jim won the under-14 solo, the Scottish Junior Traditional Championship and the Scottish Junior Classical Championship. As a duo those two played together in 1976 to win the All-Scotland Advanced Duet title at Perth and the Advanced Duet at Carlisle, Musselburgh and Straiton, as well as winning solo contests at Gretna and Blairgowrie. Jim and Tom also entered and won two of Scotland’s biggest talent hunts: The Evening times / Tennant Caledonian Starmaker and the City of Edinburgh Competition.
In 1977 Hughie Green phoned the brothers inviting them onto the TV Talent Contest Opportunity Knocks – but as they were more interested in the music rather than becoming famous, they turned it down. By then The Currie Brothers as a duo were already playing in theatres and variety shows round Scotland and entering competitions for the two older brothers was no longer an option. Liam, however, continued on the competitive circuit winning an additional 11 accordion competitions. St that time Liam was too young to join them professionally, but he told me, “At smaller venues I would wander on and off stage, disrupting their performance, to play accordion, clarinet and ukulele and to sing. I didn’t need to be good. As I was 10 years old this just amused the audience. Years later I stayed on stage playing mainly banjo and guitar.” On the same day as the Take Three album was released, Liam (aged 13) entered his last competition, winning the NAAFC Junior Traditional Championship at Musselburgh. As the B&F wrote in February 1980, “This was accordion playing at its best and the best was Liam Currie of Milngavie. Thunderous applause erupted as the results were announced. Liam was a very popular winner.”
As we normally see photos from clubs of them holding accordions, I asked if they played other instruments too? I was told that when playing outwith the Accordion Club scene they needed to be more versatile in order to entertain people. Jim began to sing a few songs and to play piano and guitar. Tom preferred to stay on accordion and played the bass lines, but occasionally he would scrape away on the fiddle. His final fiddle performance was playing one of his own compositions called The Lumberjack, where he exchanged his bow for a bushman saw. Liam believes that Fergie MacDonald has a framed photo of it on his window sill!
They recorded six albums in all starting with Hot Stuff and Take Two, produced by David Silver who wrote the lyrics for The Dark Island. Take Three was produced by Ian McCreadie of Middle of the Road. The album cover is a bit misleading as Jim plays the lead accordion on most tracks. On By Special Request a young and talented Gordon Smith joined them on drums. In 1987 The Spice of Life was recorded followed by Versatility in 1994. During their career the brothers were awarded a Scotstar for ‘Best Accordion Ensemble’ by the Scottish record industry.
They have lots of memories and I did ask for a few stories. Musicians tend to share the ones about things that went wrong, and according to Liam there were quite a few of those! “One evening we were playing at Carlisle Accordion Club. For mischief, I put on a Mexican poncho and cowboy hat and was smoking a cardboard cigar to play themes from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on accordion. Near the end. I glided my hat into the audience. It went too high and hit a glass lampshade that rattled against some others before it crashed down to the floor! Thank God, it missed everyone! Jim then said through the microphone, “What a smashing performance!” Tom followed with, “That is the only smash hit he will ever have!” Clint Currie was never seen on stage (or coach) again – unwanted, dead or alive! A rare recording of clint playing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly can be heard online at www.curriebrothers.com.
For such young people, they were incredibly busy. In the 70s they performed on Sauchiehall Street with Billy Connolly at the launch of the newly formed BBC Radio Scotland. The appeared on STV’s Thingummyjig, Grampian TV’s Welcome to the Ceilidh and in the children’s Christmas Show. In the 1980s they performed for the Queen Mother’s 80th Birthday celebrations.
Over the years, they performed in music and variety shows with Jack Milroy, Dorothy Paul, Allan Stewart, Chick Murray, Andy Stewart, Anita Harris, Lennie Bennett, Lena Martel, Jim Diamond, Lena Zavaroni, Harry worth, Kenneth McKellar, Moira Anderson, Peter Morrison, Mary Sandeman, Bill McCue, Fiona Kennedy, Callum Kennedy, Anne Lorne Gillies, Johnnie Beattie, Alastair McDonald, Alasdair gillies, Andy Cameron, The McCalmans, Anne Williamson, Bill Torrance, Jimmie McGregor, Ken Haynes, Robbie Shepherd, Art Sutter, Tom Ferrie, Scotland The What, Christian, Hector Nicol, Dean Park, The Clydesiders, Moira Kerr, John Cairney, George Duffus, The Alexander Brothers and Bill Barclay.
By the mid 90s they wanted to cut down on travelling, so they increasingly took on local weddings and dances. Jim was mostly on keyboards and vocals, Tom played lead accordion and Liam played electric guitar and banjo for the ceilidh stuff. In 2009 they decided not to take on more booking after Hogmanay 2011. There were quite a few reasons for this decision. It was time to focus on other things and they also wanted to get back to the accordion and their musical roots.
I did ask if they were intending to go back to performing on stage and was told that it seemed unlikely. “Nowadays we’re all content to remain in the background. There could possibly be some new accordion recordings – but purely just for fun, not to relaunch a musical career”.
So what are they doing now? They still have fun writing music as a pastime. They still live in Milngavie, the town where they grew up, and about two miles from each other. Jim works in the field of natural health, Liam is in property management and Tom claims he’s training to be a circus ringmaster and lion-tamer. He’s still looking for a suitable lion! (one that never gets hungry!) If anyone has such a beast, please contact your Editor.
It was great finding and catching up with Liam and his brothers, albeit not face-to-face, and I for one hope that it is not the last we will hear from The Currie Brothers.
I put on my deer-stalker hat and with pipe in my mouth and magnifying glass in my pocket started to look for them, which proved a little more difficult than just using Google. Thanks to Gary Blair, however, I managed to get hold of Liam Currie to ask some questions about these very popular brothers. Liam kindly answered my queries in an e-mail interview, although he thinks that not many of their audiences can remember them, as he thinks it is more than 18 years since they played in Accordion Clubs! I’m sure we will prove him wrong.
From a post online I learned that The Currie Brothers were a traditional Scottish folk / country dance accordion band from Milngavie in Scotland. They were also part of the wedding / function circuit and extremely accomplished accordion players, famous for their technical skills and accordion-centric arrangements.
They certainly were very popular in club land. As they lived in Milngavie, they were frequenting the MAFIA Club, but the first Club to invite them as guests was Gretna A&F club in 1975. From then on they were on the circuit. First it was just Jim and Tom, and later the youngest, Liam, joined them.
Although their dad, who himself played the accordion and was a fan of Will Starr, wanted them to learn the accordion too, they were more interested at the time in hiding inside the accordion case. However, in 1968 they were taken to a fairground at Glasgow Green. Jim and Tom were on the carousel horses and their parents enquired who was playing the music. It was The Accordion sounds of Dermot O’Brien, and after hearing more of Dermot’s albums they all wanted to learn how to play. Other favourite accordion albums in the 1970s were those of Fintan Stanley, Jo Basile, Douglas Muir (John Ellis Band), Will Starr, Jack Emblow, Jimmy Cassidy, Marcosignori and many more.
First they had to learn to play and were given classical accordion lessons by Sylvia Wilson (twice British Champion). Sylvia wanted all her pupils to play in front of audiences, so they attended the local Accordion Clubs such as Milngavie and Balloch. They also had a few lessons from John Huband. This marked the start of 37 years of performing at concerts, weddings and dances.
In 1975, thanks to Jimmy Norman and accordionist David Bell, they were invited to be guest artistes at Gretna A&F Club. “We were still young kids (all under 14) and shared the evening with The Bon Accords, Robin and Deryn Waitt. Everyone was so kind to us. That led to other Border Clubs such as Greenhead, Rothbury and Wooler which was run by Robert Whitehead. Donald Ridley wrote a tune for us at Cumbria Accordion club. George Butler invited us to Jedburgh. Over the following years we played almost every Accordion Club around Scotland.”
Of course, they went on the competitive circuit too; Jim and Tom won All-Scotland Junior titles, including the Scottish (classical) under-8, under-10 and under-12 solos, while Jim won the under-14 solo, the Scottish Junior Traditional Championship and the Scottish Junior Classical Championship. As a duo those two played together in 1976 to win the All-Scotland Advanced Duet title at Perth and the Advanced Duet at Carlisle, Musselburgh and Straiton, as well as winning solo contests at Gretna and Blairgowrie. Jim and Tom also entered and won two of Scotland’s biggest talent hunts: The Evening times / Tennant Caledonian Starmaker and the City of Edinburgh Competition.
In 1977 Hughie Green phoned the brothers inviting them onto the TV Talent Contest Opportunity Knocks – but as they were more interested in the music rather than becoming famous, they turned it down. By then The Currie Brothers as a duo were already playing in theatres and variety shows round Scotland and entering competitions for the two older brothers was no longer an option. Liam, however, continued on the competitive circuit winning an additional 11 accordion competitions. St that time Liam was too young to join them professionally, but he told me, “At smaller venues I would wander on and off stage, disrupting their performance, to play accordion, clarinet and ukulele and to sing. I didn’t need to be good. As I was 10 years old this just amused the audience. Years later I stayed on stage playing mainly banjo and guitar.” On the same day as the Take Three album was released, Liam (aged 13) entered his last competition, winning the NAAFC Junior Traditional Championship at Musselburgh. As the B&F wrote in February 1980, “This was accordion playing at its best and the best was Liam Currie of Milngavie. Thunderous applause erupted as the results were announced. Liam was a very popular winner.”
As we normally see photos from clubs of them holding accordions, I asked if they played other instruments too? I was told that when playing outwith the Accordion Club scene they needed to be more versatile in order to entertain people. Jim began to sing a few songs and to play piano and guitar. Tom preferred to stay on accordion and played the bass lines, but occasionally he would scrape away on the fiddle. His final fiddle performance was playing one of his own compositions called The Lumberjack, where he exchanged his bow for a bushman saw. Liam believes that Fergie MacDonald has a framed photo of it on his window sill!
They recorded six albums in all starting with Hot Stuff and Take Two, produced by David Silver who wrote the lyrics for The Dark Island. Take Three was produced by Ian McCreadie of Middle of the Road. The album cover is a bit misleading as Jim plays the lead accordion on most tracks. On By Special Request a young and talented Gordon Smith joined them on drums. In 1987 The Spice of Life was recorded followed by Versatility in 1994. During their career the brothers were awarded a Scotstar for ‘Best Accordion Ensemble’ by the Scottish record industry.
They have lots of memories and I did ask for a few stories. Musicians tend to share the ones about things that went wrong, and according to Liam there were quite a few of those! “One evening we were playing at Carlisle Accordion Club. For mischief, I put on a Mexican poncho and cowboy hat and was smoking a cardboard cigar to play themes from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on accordion. Near the end. I glided my hat into the audience. It went too high and hit a glass lampshade that rattled against some others before it crashed down to the floor! Thank God, it missed everyone! Jim then said through the microphone, “What a smashing performance!” Tom followed with, “That is the only smash hit he will ever have!” Clint Currie was never seen on stage (or coach) again – unwanted, dead or alive! A rare recording of clint playing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly can be heard online at www.curriebrothers.com.
For such young people, they were incredibly busy. In the 70s they performed on Sauchiehall Street with Billy Connolly at the launch of the newly formed BBC Radio Scotland. The appeared on STV’s Thingummyjig, Grampian TV’s Welcome to the Ceilidh and in the children’s Christmas Show. In the 1980s they performed for the Queen Mother’s 80th Birthday celebrations.
Over the years, they performed in music and variety shows with Jack Milroy, Dorothy Paul, Allan Stewart, Chick Murray, Andy Stewart, Anita Harris, Lennie Bennett, Lena Martel, Jim Diamond, Lena Zavaroni, Harry worth, Kenneth McKellar, Moira Anderson, Peter Morrison, Mary Sandeman, Bill McCue, Fiona Kennedy, Callum Kennedy, Anne Lorne Gillies, Johnnie Beattie, Alastair McDonald, Alasdair gillies, Andy Cameron, The McCalmans, Anne Williamson, Bill Torrance, Jimmie McGregor, Ken Haynes, Robbie Shepherd, Art Sutter, Tom Ferrie, Scotland The What, Christian, Hector Nicol, Dean Park, The Clydesiders, Moira Kerr, John Cairney, George Duffus, The Alexander Brothers and Bill Barclay.
By the mid 90s they wanted to cut down on travelling, so they increasingly took on local weddings and dances. Jim was mostly on keyboards and vocals, Tom played lead accordion and Liam played electric guitar and banjo for the ceilidh stuff. In 2009 they decided not to take on more booking after Hogmanay 2011. There were quite a few reasons for this decision. It was time to focus on other things and they also wanted to get back to the accordion and their musical roots.
I did ask if they were intending to go back to performing on stage and was told that it seemed unlikely. “Nowadays we’re all content to remain in the background. There could possibly be some new accordion recordings – but purely just for fun, not to relaunch a musical career”.
So what are they doing now? They still have fun writing music as a pastime. They still live in Milngavie, the town where they grew up, and about two miles from each other. Jim works in the field of natural health, Liam is in property management and Tom claims he’s training to be a circus ringmaster and lion-tamer. He’s still looking for a suitable lion! (one that never gets hungry!) If anyone has such a beast, please contact your Editor.
It was great finding and catching up with Liam and his brothers, albeit not face-to-face, and I for one hope that it is not the last we will hear from The Currie Brothers.