History of the Fishermans Session
A Potted History
This session has been running in Broughty Ferry for the best part of 30 years, every Thursday. Originally it started in the "Old Anchor Inn" in King street. The old proprietor appreciated the music, but not so much the clientele! The story goes that if a bus of tourists pulled up outside, the owner would shut the bar, as they looked far too much like work. I can empathise with that. After a few years the session moved to the upstairs bar in "The Ship." This was very much a Golden period for the session. It was packed every week (obviously the owners were very different from in the Anchor!!) Regulars in those days were the likes of Mike Ward, Arthur Gibb and other members of Ceolbeg, with other notable worthies including Kenny Hadden and Pete Forbes.
The Usual Suspects - Musicians
Paul Campbell - Guitar
I use an open tuned guitar which is fairly unique DADDAD. er ehm thats about it really...I try to fingerpick some tunes, but fortunately nobody can hear that. How I came upon DADDAD is a long story which might bore anybody! Needless to say "the Thief of Dadgad", Pierre Bensusan is a major influence, as is Tony Mcmanus, check them out in the links section. Another man that gets a nod from other regulars is Nic Jones. His Penguin eggs album of 23 years ago is a seminal album without a weak track. To cheer you up here is picture of me with a bad case of hat hair.
About the Fishermans Session
About the Session!
This old mariner sits on the wall above the session. He's watched over us for such a long time now, we'd be lost without him!
The session is just a very informal gathering of local musicians every week. The music played is generally celtic - predominantly Scottish and Irish. That's not exclusive however; Breton, Galician, bluegrass, cajun and Scandinavian also often appear. Nobody gets paid here, we play because its fun. Visitors are extremely welcome. The music usually starts around 9:30...... but hey we're speaking musicians here!! The bar staff put a "reserved" sign on the table for us, and we are very rarely not there. Sometimes, however, there are paid gigs going on and we might be elswhere (but you should be know when this is happening from the forum here). Usually, we would also warn the staff if we have all done a runner somewhere else.