J. Scott Skinner was one of Scotland's great fiddle composers, known as "The Strathspey King". Active through the 19th century, his influence on both fiddling and piping is immesurable. Recently, in the beginning of our repertoire survey, Elke has been introducing me to some of Skinner's strathspeys, and to the Northeastern style in which they are now played. Two weeks ago, she also commented, "We know Skinner didn't play his tunes like that, because he lived into the recording age." An interesting footnote, I thought. "I've got to find some of those old recordings someday".

Today in the Borders bookstore, I found (in their impressive Celtic music section) a CD of J. Scott Skinner's music, played by J. Scott Skinner himself, remastered from recordings made from 1905 - 1925, two years before his death. Wow. Three weeks ago I might have dismissed the CD as collection by various performers, and not looked closely to see it was Skinner himself.

The recording quality is poor, and he's often on a Stroh fiddle, which has its own unique sound. But the playing itself is brilliant.