John Wilson’s Finest Tune: Tom Kettles

April 30, 2023 on 3:59 pm by Michael Grey | In Music, Score & Sound File, Stories | Comments Off on John Wilson’s Finest Tune: Tom Kettles

In his autobiography, “A Professional Piper in Peace and War” (1979), John Wilson wrote that he considered his composition, the six-parted reel, Tom Kettles, his “finest composition”. It’s a technically tricky tune, full of interest – and original melody. As I’ve mentioned before, for me it straddles the line between hornpipe and reel, with maybe the reel vibe edging out that of the hornpipe by a hair. It’s a happy-sounding tune with a bright and lyrical – almost song-like – quality to it.
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Tunes from John Wilson (1906 – 1979)

May 29, 2019 on 4:51 pm by Michael Grey | In Audio File, Solo Piping, Stories, Video | Comments Off on Tunes from John Wilson (1906 – 1979)

There aren’t a lot of easily available recordings of great players of the past – especially the long past. Here are a few samples from the great John Wilson. I no longer assume people know of him, or, for that matter, almost any of the greats of the not-so-distant-past.

John Wilson was born in Edinburgh. He came from a piping family, his Uncle John, for instance, was “The Baldooser” (how’s that for a nickname). You can find the jig named “The Baldooser” in Willie Ross’s first book. John Wilson took to the pipes very young and, even then, was a good player. His life changed forever when as a kid in Edinburgh he was playing on the beach with a detonator (as one did) and blew off big parts of his left hand. He always noted in the story’s telling that this happened the day before the Great War’s Armistice in 1918; the irony appealed to him, I’m sure.
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