Perhaps you read my review of The Fiddletree Manuscript, a small collection of Scottish fiddle tunes collected or written by John Turner. (If not, please do. I'll wait.) I'm not sure why I never did this before, but after recently consulting my antique copy of Turner's collection, I found myself wondering if he'd ever recorded an album and, if so, if it's still available. Fortunately, I found several, and my parents (who you already know, if you read the previous review, bought me the tunebook in the first place) decided to buy me one for nostalgia's sake.

Fiddling Rogues & Rascals is as fun as I imagined it would be. Many of the tunes I had never heard performed before -- except by my own hand, based on the sheets in Turner's manuscript -- so I was delighted to hear them brought to life by John Turner himself.

The liner notes provide little information on the tunes besides the titles themselves, but each track comes with a brief description of the fiddler who wrote the music within. Included here are Patrick Birnie, James Macpherson, Johnny McGill, John Bruce, John Riddell, Niel Gow, Alexander McGlashan, Daniel Dow, Robert Mackintosh, William Marshall, Isaac Cooper, Nathaniel Gow, Robert Petrie, Abraham Mackintosh, Capt. Simon Fraser, Niel Gow Jr., J. Scott Skinner, Charles Glendinning and himself, John Turner.

The album includes nearly 70 tunes spread over 26 tracks lasting more than 75 minutes. I wish the titles were all listed on the back for ease of reference, but if you want to check the titles you'll need to page through six pages of liner notes to find them buried within.

The strength of the recording is its simplicity. The arrangements are straightforward, clever without being complicated, allowing the music to shine without unnecessary embellishments. This is probably what you'd hear if you went to see Turner and a few musical friends performing live in a nice, low-key setting.

Besides Turner -- who plays fiddle, recorder and mandolin, as well as providing a few vocals -- the album features Peter Bahler on bass fiddle, Bill Burdette on percussion and rocking chair (?), Charles Glendinning on fiddle, bagpipes and parlour pipes, Tom Marshall on harpsichord, virginal (which is a lot like a harpsichord), hanging man (I have no idea) and piano, Bill White on fiddle, flutes, hammered dulcimer, mandolin and huich (not sure), and Cliff Williams on guitar.

Fiddling Rogues & Rascals is a wonderful listening experience for anyone who enjoys Celtic (or American Colonial) music. It's also a great opportunity to learn a bit more about some of the great Scottish tunesmiths of a bygone age.

[ visit John Turner online ]