Arthur Watson, Tom Spiers and Peter Shepheard have known each other and worked together for many years. After playing sessions, festivals and other gatherings in Scotland, they started to work officially together under the name of Shepheard, Spiers & Watson in 2003. Two years later they released their first album, They Smiled as We Cam In.

Shepheard uses Hohner and Castagnari accordions, Spiers has fiddles from fiddlemakers in Aberdeen, and Watson plays a variety of whistles. All three sing and the lead vocals alternate from one song to the other.

The CD features 15 traditional Scottish songs from whaling songs to farmer's songs and standard folk songs, and a small booklet provides interesting information along with the lyrics. My absolute favorite song is the somewhat frivolous story of "The Nutting Girl," an a cappella performance led by Watson. Another highlight is the 200-year-old song of a young miner gone to fight for the king and now longing for his sweetheart, "Calder's Clear Stream," on which Shepheard sings and Spiers plays the fiddle. Spiers sings lead on the great crofting song "Rhynie" from Aberdeenshire, and Shepheard leads the wonderful final Kintyre song "Ye Boys o Callieburn."

Shepheard, Spiers & Watson sing and accompany the traditional songs as they were and are performed by ordinary people. They don't make sophisticated arrangements or use any technical tricks, they just make original and fine folk music from Scotland.

by Adolf Goriup
Rambles.NET
19 August 2006