0:00:09 > 0:00:12These wonderful fingers belong to an old friend of mine.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Aly Bain grew up in Shetland
0:00:18 > 0:00:20and came here to Edinburgh
0:00:20 > 0:00:23in his early 20s to try to make a living as a musician.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25He's lived here ever since.
0:00:29 > 0:00:30In a 50-year career,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34he's travelled all over the world and won international recognition
0:00:34 > 0:00:38as one of the finest fiddle players of his or any other generation.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47In celebration of Aly's 70th birthday,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51we're taking a look back at the ground-breaking TV programmes
0:00:51 > 0:00:52he did in the 1980s,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55which took him from Kentucky and North Carolina
0:00:55 > 0:00:57to Texas, Louisiana and Nashville,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01meeting and playing with some of the all-time greats
0:01:01 > 0:01:03of American traditional music.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23'It's easy to get sentimental and overstate the connection
0:01:23 > 0:01:25'between American country music and Scotland.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27'We've each of us, after all,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29'got 16 great-great-grandparents,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31'and each one of them has 16, too.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38'An important part of the American tradition IS Scottish -
0:01:38 > 0:01:41'The fiddle tunes, ballads and so on that Scottish emigrants
0:01:41 > 0:01:43'took with them across the Atlantic -
0:01:43 > 0:01:47'but that 3,000 miles of sea two or three hundred years ago
0:01:47 > 0:01:48'was only the start of it.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50'There was a long way to go.'
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Aly, when did you first visit the States?
0:01:56 > 0:01:59In about 1970.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02It was an amazing experience. Aye.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05We just drove around in this old Volvo all around the East Coast
0:02:05 > 0:02:07and went up as far as Canada.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10It was the experience of a lifetime, really.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13And you played the college circuit, didn't you,
0:02:13 > 0:02:15when you went with the Boys of the Lough?
0:02:15 > 0:02:16We did, yeah.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18And what...was that a deliberate choice?
0:02:18 > 0:02:23I mean, did you kind of deliberately snub the St Andrews Society circuit?
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Absolutely. We didn't want to get involved in the expat thing. Aye.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32We wanted to play for Americans and so we played the college circuit
0:02:32 > 0:02:36and folk clubs and not the St Andrews kind of things
0:02:36 > 0:02:39that people would come in a kilt and say, "Guess my name".
0:02:39 > 0:02:42I would say, "Is that the McBucket tartan?"
0:02:42 > 0:02:44THEY LAUGH
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Aly's decision to avoid tartan nostalgia brought opportunities
0:02:58 > 0:03:02to explore and learn from the range and richness
0:03:02 > 0:03:04of what we now call Americana.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06From the Appalachian hill country,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10JP Fraley was known as the dean of East Kentucky fiddle music.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47Yeah, that's a beautiful tune.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49The Wild Rose Of The Mountain. Thank you.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52JP, you've been collecting music from around this part
0:03:52 > 0:03:54for years, haven't you, off and on?
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Well, I didn't actually realise it, Aly,
0:03:57 > 0:03:58but when I started to play the fiddle,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02that day I started collecting fiddle tunes,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06which all fiddlers know, and I was lucky, I guess,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08to grow up in a part of Kentucky
0:04:08 > 0:04:11where that I grew up at that particular time,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14cos there were several fiddlers around close
0:04:14 > 0:04:18that was fiddling East Kentucky fiddle, we called it,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22but it was fiddling, er, distinctly different styles.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Yeah, I was talking to Mike Seeger earlier on
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and he was saying that around about the late '50s,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31there wasn't much of this music being played around here.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33In fact, he made a kind of a strange remark.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37He said that actually, people were ashamed of it sometimes.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Why would that be?
0:04:39 > 0:04:46Well, they were, because after World War II, the Kentucky...
0:04:46 > 0:04:50the backwoods or backland part of Kentucky was opened up -
0:04:50 > 0:04:55the roads were better and so forth and the advent of television,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57better radio, better communications,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02and the people, they begin to hear and see done, you know, other music,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06other than what they grew up with - their heritage or tradition,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10and they were ashamed of the music,
0:05:10 > 0:05:15because, seemingly, some places that was well-known for country music,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18or mountain music as we called it,
0:05:18 > 0:05:23they satirised the fiddler as a drinking, fighting roustabout
0:05:23 > 0:05:28and, er, you know, various things that wasn't...
0:05:28 > 0:05:29didn't have too much character.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34He became a person that was not very well educated,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36played what I call gum-stop fiddle -
0:05:36 > 0:05:39you know, a bunch of squeaks and cracks and carrying on
0:05:39 > 0:05:43which we've heard on some of the old records that was... Yeah.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46..actually some of the people thought
0:05:46 > 0:05:49that that was really the way it all was.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57And JP Fraley, what was his story?
0:05:57 > 0:05:58JP was a miner.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02He'd worked down the mines and educated himself
0:06:02 > 0:06:06out of down the mines into selling equipment and so on
0:06:06 > 0:06:10and he was a guy who loved old-time music.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Did he write these? No, he collected.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13He just collected them?
0:06:13 > 0:06:16But they're beautiful tunes and they would have been lost without JP.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21Exactly. So, it was just great to meet him and play with him.
0:06:21 > 0:06:22Aye, aye.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56There was this revival of music,
0:06:56 > 0:07:01of Americans finding out who they were... Uh-huh.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04..and it was getting away from Doris Day into the new America.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Right. And boy, was it some revolution!
0:07:08 > 0:07:11All this music - JP Fraley, all these people -
0:07:11 > 0:07:14they came out of the folk revival.
0:07:14 > 0:07:15They were almost forgotten.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17People wanted to know who they were
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and what their roots were and where they came from. Aye, aye.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23And it wasn't just this house with a garage
0:07:23 > 0:07:25and a TV and a washing machine.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28It was something else. They wanted to find out who they really were.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30BANJO PLAYS
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Aly had one memorable encounter that took him almost beyond music
0:07:40 > 0:07:43and right to the heart of the American South.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47When Aly met her, Elizabeth Cotten was 92 years old.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54That's Georgie Buck.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Yeah, that was lovely.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58Where did you, um...
0:07:58 > 0:08:00did you learn your music at home when you were growing up?
0:08:00 > 0:08:03I learned my music in my home.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08When I was 11 years old, I went to work and bought myself a guitar.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11When my mother would leave home to go to work,
0:08:11 > 0:08:15after mother was gone, I'd get up and put my dress on
0:08:15 > 0:08:18and go down among where the white people lived,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20and I'd knock on the door.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Someone would come to the door,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26and I'd say, "Miss, would you like someone to work for you?"
0:08:26 > 0:08:30And they sometimes said, "No, nothing."
0:08:30 > 0:08:35I knocked on one lady's door, and when she opened the door, she says,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39"What could a little girl like you do?" She hired me.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41I said, "Miss, I can sweep your kitchen.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45"I'll help with the vegetables. I can set your table."
0:08:45 > 0:08:48I say, "You know, I can make a fire in your woodstove."
0:08:48 > 0:08:51She cooked on a iron stove then.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Y'all know about them?
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Yeah. No, you don't. You heard about them - but I did.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00I knew how to make a fire in this iron stove,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02to make it draw, so she could cook.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04So she says to me, "Come in."
0:09:04 > 0:09:08When I went into her house, I started to work for her that day.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13And I worked for her until she left Chapel Hill.
0:09:13 > 0:09:19And she paid me 75 cents a month.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Well, I didn't know 75 cents wasn't much money.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26It was a lot of money to me. I'd never worked before.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29So one morning, she came in the kitchen, she says,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31"We're going to give you more money,"
0:09:31 > 0:09:36and she gave me, then, after that, one dollar a month.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39And I gave that to my mother, and I said, "Buy me this guitar."
0:09:39 > 0:09:41So she bought it to her sorrow.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44She didn't get no more rest. SHE STRUMS
0:09:44 > 0:09:46See, I was just playing this all the time.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49I couldn't play it - just making a noise.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52She stormed to me, and tell me to...
0:09:52 > 0:09:57She called me babe. "Babe, put that thing down and go to bed."
0:09:57 > 0:09:59I said, "Momma, I'm learning a new song."
0:09:59 > 0:10:02I weren't learning no song, cos I didn't know one then.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04I didn't know no song then.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07That was wonderful, wasn't it? Oh, something else.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10I have to say, when I first watched the series back in the '80s,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12I completely fell in love with her.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Yeah, she... It's not difficult. Cos one of the things I found
0:10:16 > 0:10:19very moving about watching her was actually watching somebody
0:10:19 > 0:10:25who had a physical connection back to the days of the slave trade.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26Yeah, her grandmother was a slave.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Aye, so presumably, she would have been alive
0:10:28 > 0:10:29when her grandmother was alive.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Yes, and known slavery.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33I can't imagine what life must have been like,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36the things that she saw growing up. No. I mean, her music,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39she learned herself when she was young and then,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43she got married and didn't play for years and years
0:10:43 > 0:10:47and, really by accident, got a job as a housekeeper
0:10:47 > 0:10:49for Pete Seeger's family,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51cos she found a little child once,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53it had run away one day and she found it,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and they liked her so much that they gave her a job.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58But they didn't know that she was musical. No.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02They had no idea and then, when they found out, of course,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04that was the start of her new career.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07If she is remembered for anything,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09it's going to be one folk song in particular.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Yeah. Freight Train. Yeah, Freight Train.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14I mean, most people who don't know much about folk music
0:11:14 > 0:11:16will probably have heard Freight Train,
0:11:16 > 0:11:17because it's been so widely recorded.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Oh, it's sold millions of records. Yeah.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Such a simple, beautiful, simple... Isn't it?
0:11:23 > 0:11:25And she's a great guitar player. Lovely.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28I mean, really beautiful guitar playing. Oh, yeah - the expression,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31the hesitations, the little bluesy notes.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35But she's written these songs and she was performing all over America.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37She won a Grammy.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39We got nominated for a Grammy and she won it.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Wow! We didn't mind that! Wow!
0:11:46 > 0:11:56# Freight train, freight train run so fast
0:11:57 > 0:12:02# Please don't tell what train I'm on
0:12:02 > 0:12:07# They won't know what route I'm gone
0:12:07 > 0:12:13# When I am dead and in my grave
0:12:13 > 0:12:18# No more good times here I crave
0:12:18 > 0:12:23# Place the stones at my head and feet
0:12:23 > 0:12:27# Tell them all that I'm gone to sleep
0:12:38 > 0:12:44# When I die, Lord, bury me deep
0:12:44 > 0:12:49# Way down on old Chestnut Street
0:12:49 > 0:12:53# Then I can't hear old Number Nine
0:12:53 > 0:12:58# As she comes rolling by
0:12:59 > 0:13:10# Freight train, freight train run so fast
0:13:10 > 0:13:14# Please don't tell what train I'm on
0:13:14 > 0:13:19# They won't know what route I'm gone. #
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Largely thanks to you, it has to be said,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Appalachian music, or Americana, as it's now called,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12is now hugely popular.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14But its roots are Scottish and Irish.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16How did that come about?
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Well, the early settlers down in that part of the world
0:14:19 > 0:14:21were Ulster Scots and Scots
0:14:21 > 0:14:24and of course, the Ulster Scots were really Scots,
0:14:24 > 0:14:25just slightly removed.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Uh-huh. The same music, the same...
0:14:28 > 0:14:32They all ended up down in the southern states there
0:14:32 > 0:14:36and the musical influence is there for everyone to hear.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41Jean Ritchie there - her family were major collectors of music
0:14:41 > 0:14:45in Kentucky and I think she moved to New York in the '40s,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48and she knew Bob Dylan and all these guys
0:14:48 > 0:14:51who were starting to revive music,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and she became a huge part of American music,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57and they call her the mother of American folk song,
0:14:57 > 0:14:58which she probably is.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01# Yes, I want to go to heaven just the same as any man
0:15:01 > 0:15:03# I want to go to heaven just the same as any man
0:15:03 > 0:15:05# I want to go to heaven just the same as any man
0:15:05 > 0:15:07# but I can't go to heaven with a possum in my hand
0:15:07 > 0:15:12# Hop up, my ladies, three in a row Hop up, my ladies, three in a row
0:15:12 > 0:15:14# Hop up, my ladies, three in a row
0:15:14 > 0:15:17# Don't mind the weather when the wind don't blow. #
0:15:50 > 0:15:53That was a great old tune called - Uncle Joe, you call it?
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Uncle Joe, in the mountains here. Yeah, we call it McLeod's reel.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59I suppose it's had a long journey over here. Yeah.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Found a home in the mountains here in Kentucky.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03You're the only one of us here today
0:16:03 > 0:16:06that's from this area, from Perry County. Mm.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09You were born and raised here, weren't you?
0:16:09 > 0:16:14Yes, I always tell people I live in Viper, seven miles north of Hazard.
0:16:14 > 0:16:15It's a dangerous country!
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Your family and yourself have been collecting songs here
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and, you know, ballads from around this area for many years.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Yes, we saved them, actually, from when we...
0:16:24 > 0:16:29when the ancestors used to live in Britain.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32They just came over with the great-grandfathers,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35the great-great-grandfathers, I guess,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37and they've been in the family since, most of them.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Now, the banjo player there, was Mike Seeger. Yeah.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45Why is he important? Well, he's Pete Seeger's brother, if you like.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49The Seeger family are, of course, huge in American folk music,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and Mike Seeger played the banjo,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53he played the fiddle, he played guitar,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56a singer and they were involved in all kinds,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58all kinds of American folk music.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Very important people, if you like, in the revival.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Mike, I was going to talk to you about...
0:17:05 > 0:17:07I suppose, the revival of old-time music,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09which you are instrumental in.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12My parents, well, they were trained, classically trained musicians,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15but they...discovered, I guess you'd say,
0:17:15 > 0:17:16this kind of music in the '30s
0:17:16 > 0:17:20and they brought me and Peggy and Barbara and Penny up
0:17:20 > 0:17:21on this kind of music.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Got Pete interested, too. Yeah.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27You formed the New Lost City Ramblers - when, in the late '50s?
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Yeah, there was a bunch of people from the cities, like myself,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32mostly in the north,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34who got interested in this kind of music in the '50s
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and started playing the music then,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and just it widened out and widened out
0:17:40 > 0:17:43to where there was thousands of people playing fiddles and banjos.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49# Wake up, wake up, darling Corey
0:17:49 > 0:17:53# What makes you sleep so sound
0:17:53 > 0:17:57# The revenue officer coming
0:17:57 > 0:18:01# They're going to take your stillhouse down
0:18:09 > 0:18:13# Well, the last time I seen darling Corey
0:18:13 > 0:18:17# Was on the banks of the deep blue sea
0:18:17 > 0:18:20# A few pistols around her body
0:18:20 > 0:18:25# And a banjo on her knee
0:18:37 > 0:18:41# Wake up, wake up, darling Corey
0:18:41 > 0:18:45# And go get me my gun
0:18:45 > 0:18:49# I ain't no man for trouble
0:18:49 > 0:18:52# But I'll die before I run
0:19:00 > 0:19:04# Oh, dig a hole in the meadow
0:19:04 > 0:19:08# Go and dig a hole in the ground
0:19:08 > 0:19:11# Go dig a hole in the meadow
0:19:11 > 0:19:15# Gonna lay darling Corey down. #
0:19:24 > 0:19:27That's a lovely song. Oh, yeah. I love it - I love the banjo. Yeah.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29And I love the thing that Mike Seeger was doing there,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31when they play it up the neck,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34because it gives it a very, very soft tone. Yeah.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Not that kind of plunky thing, but a really soft, mellow tone.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Yeah, I know. But all that came out of the same revival.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43It all flourished after that. Aye, aye, aye.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Why is the fiddle so important?
0:19:46 > 0:19:50How did it become so important in Appalachian music?
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Well, I think, first of all, it was portable. Right.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54You could stick it under your arm -
0:19:54 > 0:19:57and when people emigrated, they took fiddles with them.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00They played on the boats on the way over... Right.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01..which took weeks.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03They had ceilidhs and there was fiddle...
0:20:03 > 0:20:05You always see on these old emigration boats,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08you could see guys...there's always somebody playing the fiddle.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18One of the grand old men of the American folk revival
0:20:18 > 0:20:22when Aly got to know him, North Carolina's Tommy Jarrell
0:20:22 > 0:20:26was a master of the clawhammer banjo style as well as the fiddle
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and he had a voice that came straight out of the backwoods.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33# Can't stay here if you can't shuck corn
0:20:33 > 0:20:35# Susannah
0:20:35 > 0:20:37# Can't stay here if you can't shuck corn
0:20:37 > 0:20:39# Susannah gal
0:20:39 > 0:20:43# It rained all night the day I left the weather it was dry
0:20:43 > 0:20:44# The sun so hot I froze to death
0:20:45 > 0:20:47# Susannah, don't you cry. #
0:20:58 > 0:20:59That's fabulous!
0:20:59 > 0:21:03I think it's safe to say that as far as Americana music goes,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Tommy Jarrell's the real deal.
0:21:05 > 0:21:06Would you agree? Oh, he's the man.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Aye. There's no question about it. Tommy is the real thing.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I'd met him in, I think, Asheville, North Carolina.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18We played down there many years before and they told me this fiddler
0:21:18 > 0:21:21was going to play for the dance after, a guy called Tommy Jarrell.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25We heard him then, and he was a lot younger then,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and, boy, when he was in his 40s,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32I would have loved to have heard him playing then, cos he was a natural.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00That's great, Tommy. The Arkansas Traveller.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03You've been playing the fiddle around here all your life, then?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Well, ever since I was 13 years old.
0:22:05 > 0:22:06I've been trying!
0:22:06 > 0:22:08And you learned it from your father?
0:22:08 > 0:22:09That's right.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13And you had an uncle? Uncle Charlie. Yeah.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Well, I've learned a few tunes from other fellas, you know,
0:22:16 > 0:22:17but I started out with them.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21And what did your daddy do around here?
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Well, he was a farmer and a moonshiner and a store owner and...
0:22:25 > 0:22:26HE LAUGHS
0:22:26 > 0:22:28There seems to be a lot of moonshine down here. Is that right?
0:22:28 > 0:22:33Well, the land was so poor up where I was raised
0:22:33 > 0:22:37that you had to do something besides trying to farm to make a living.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40I made a crop of tobacco and it, like,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43two dollars and a half pound to fertilise, and I said,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45"Well, I'll never make no more tobacco,"
0:22:45 > 0:22:47and I went to moonshining there.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50And my daddy, he got a contract to go out to South Dakota
0:22:50 > 0:22:52to make some whisky and he backed out
0:22:52 > 0:22:54and he asked me if I wanted to go do the job.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57I said, "Yeah, I'll go." Was it good stuff? Yeah!
0:22:57 > 0:22:59As good a whisky as you ever drinked. Yeah.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04But it was right after World War I,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Them folks was all broke out there.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08I made 600 gallons of whisky out there.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Of course, I got the most of it stole. Our partner stole it!
0:23:11 > 0:23:12THEY LAUGH
0:23:12 > 0:23:16I had his brother-in-law, too.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20I, like, never got enough money to get home on.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23THEY LAUGH
0:23:23 > 0:23:27And I stopped out in West Virginia and made some out there -
0:23:27 > 0:23:29before I got home!
0:23:29 > 0:23:33You were leaving a trail of whisky all across this country! Oh, Lord!
0:23:33 > 0:23:39I left home with 100 dollars and a ticket and I got off the train
0:23:39 > 0:23:41with 16 dollars and a half
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and I was gone, like, in eight days, six months.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45That's how good I done at moonshinin'!
0:23:50 > 0:23:55I was thinking, you know, to go from tobacco, supplying tobacco,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58to moonshine, to playing the fiddle as a career,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00d'you think there's a connection there somehow,
0:24:00 > 0:24:01do you think there's a link?
0:24:01 > 0:24:04It's all bad for you, that's it!
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Fiddlers always... Illicit pleasure!
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Aye, bad for you! Aye, aye!
0:24:08 > 0:24:13But Tommy, well, as you saw, he was in his 80s there
0:24:13 > 0:24:16and he's full of beans and we had a great day with him.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Just a great day and he's just a pleasure to be with,
0:24:20 > 0:24:21and to play with.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30Away 1,000 miles to the west of the Appalachians is Texas,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33home of a very different style of fiddle playing.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35They call it Texas swing.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37In Austin, Aly had a session
0:24:37 > 0:24:41with one of its greatest swingers - Johnny Gimble.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Now, I like the kind of back porch,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07down homey stuff we've been watching up to now.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11You're in a room where the walls are covered
0:25:11 > 0:25:14in silver, gold, platinum discs.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Yes. Tell me about Johnny Gimble.
0:25:17 > 0:25:23Johnny Gimble is a Texas swing fiddler who played with Bob Wills.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27To play with Bob Wills, that's Texas swing.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31And they toured all over America in a bus, these guys,
0:25:31 > 0:25:33and played for dances.
0:25:33 > 0:25:34They didn't play concerts. They played for...
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Thousands of people would come and they would play these massive dances
0:25:38 > 0:25:40and that's how they made their money -
0:25:40 > 0:25:44but Texas swing and that kind of fiddle playing
0:25:44 > 0:25:47meant that he was in huge demand in Nashville,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50so he played sessions with everybody,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52from George Jones to whoever he wanted.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56They would have Johnny Gimble on their album.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58And he never stopped smiling. Really?
0:25:58 > 0:26:01He just smiled all the time we were there. He would just smile.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03He just loves the music.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35That's beautiful. Did you write that?
0:26:35 > 0:26:37I made it up. You made it up?
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Yes. I can't write music but I can make it up.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46I'd like to talk to you a little bit about I suppose your forte in music,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48which is swing music on the fiddle.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Would I be right in saying that that's what you like?
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Well, I guess so - I like all of it,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58but I grew up listening to Texas dance music, I think you'd call it.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00I couldn't...
0:27:00 > 0:27:03My mother didn't believe in going to dances
0:27:03 > 0:27:05but we got the records and listened to them.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Cliff Bruner was an old hero of mine
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and then JR Chatwell was a fiddle player with Adolph Hofner.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Then about 1940, I think Bob Wills really turned me on
0:27:16 > 0:27:18with the fiddle players he had.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21As much as anything else was the beat for dance music.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23It swings, you know?
0:27:23 > 0:27:25And you actually played with Bob Wills for a while?
0:27:25 > 0:27:29'49 and '50 and then '51. I played about two and a half years with him.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31It must have been quite an experience.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Mm-hm. On the road...
0:27:34 > 0:27:37They used to say, "Join the Navy and see the world,"
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and they used to say, "Join Bob Wills
0:27:40 > 0:27:42"and see the world through a windshield!"
0:27:43 > 0:27:47# Right or wrong I'll always love you
0:27:48 > 0:27:51# Though you're gone I can't forget
0:27:52 > 0:27:57# Right or wrong I'll keep on dreaming
0:27:57 > 0:28:01# Still I wake with that same old regret
0:28:02 > 0:28:07# All along I knew I'd lose you
0:28:07 > 0:28:12# Still I prayed that you'd be true
0:28:12 > 0:28:17# In your heart girl just remember
0:28:17 > 0:28:21# Right or wrong I'm still in love with you. #
0:28:21 > 0:28:22Look, now!
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Oh, Johnny!
0:28:30 > 0:28:33I love the guy who's doing the singing. What's his name?
0:28:33 > 0:28:35Alvin Crow. Alvin Crow.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Yes, he's a...pretty redneck outfit.
0:28:38 > 0:28:39But...
0:28:39 > 0:28:42You know, all this dance hall stuff
0:28:42 > 0:28:45with a bottle of beer in the back pocket smooching around.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Do you think it's harmed his career,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49the fact he looks a wee bit like Jerry Lewis?
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Yes, he does! He does, doesn't he?!
0:28:59 > 0:29:04# Well, right or wrong I'll always love you
0:29:04 > 0:29:09# Though you're gone I can't forget it
0:29:09 > 0:29:14# Right or wrong I'll keep on dreaming
0:29:14 > 0:29:19# Still I wake with that same old regret
0:29:19 > 0:29:23# All along I knew I'd lose you
0:29:23 > 0:29:28# Still I prayed that you'd be true
0:29:28 > 0:29:33# Oh, Lord, in your heart please just remember
0:29:33 > 0:29:38# Right or wrong I'm still in love with you. #
0:29:41 > 0:29:42Woohoo!
0:29:42 > 0:29:45That was fantastic. Great.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49I mean, he's from Austin, and Austin was a hotbed of music.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52I mean, music shows all over Austin. Why is that?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Why did that happen in Austin in particular? I don't know.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Willie Nelson was there, Waylon Jennings, all these guys.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Austin was the sort of centre of that whole musical thing.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05That's where we filmed this.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08There was an amazing amount of musicians down there.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Was it a style you admired? Yes, I just love it.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14There's a lot of improvisation in it
0:30:14 > 0:30:16and that's what these guys are good at.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19They never played a tune for very long.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22They would sort of leave and go off and do their own thing,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24which is a very jazz thing.
0:30:30 > 0:30:31Yeah!
0:30:33 > 0:30:35Part Irish and part Cherokee,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Junior Daugherty had come to music relatively late in life
0:30:39 > 0:30:42as a safer option to working the rodeos.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Wow! That's hot!
0:31:24 > 0:31:26That was real toe-tapping stuff.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30How would you describe Junior Daugherty's style of playing?
0:31:30 > 0:31:34He's from New Mexico, close to Texas.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Very much influenced by the Texas swing music -
0:31:38 > 0:31:41but a bit old-timey in there, as well.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Junior played all kinds of music. He's a good singer, as well.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50Junior used to be in the rodeos and had some kind of an accident
0:31:50 > 0:31:53and took up fiddle music seriously.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57He made his living playing in competitions.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Junior, I was going to talk to you about...
0:31:59 > 0:32:01You're the expert here on competitions.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05You've been playing in competitions for years and years.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10Yeah, I've been... Well, seriously since about 1970, I guess.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14I went to Nashville in 1970.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17And these competitions are all over the place?
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Right. They've got a bundle of them here in Texas
0:32:20 > 0:32:22but I don't come down here very often.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25They've got too many good fiddlers down here!
0:32:26 > 0:32:30You're from New Mexico which is pretty close to the Texas border.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33It is. I'm about 45 miles north of El Paso.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38You're a real cowboy because you did all the rodeo stuff way back.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41At one time, yes. How did you do that?
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Just sort of move around different rodeos
0:32:43 > 0:32:46like you move around fiddle competitions?
0:32:46 > 0:32:49Yes. Only I didn't make as much money!
0:32:50 > 0:32:53I finally had a horse fall on me and crushed my foot and I quit.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55You quit? I said, "That's it."
0:33:00 > 0:33:04# As I look at the letters
0:33:04 > 0:33:08# That you wrote to me
0:33:08 > 0:33:15# It was you that I'm thinking of
0:33:17 > 0:33:20# As I read the lines
0:33:20 > 0:33:24# That to me were so dear
0:33:24 > 0:33:30# I remember our faded love
0:33:33 > 0:33:36# I miss you darling
0:33:36 > 0:33:40# More and more every day
0:33:40 > 0:33:47# As heaven would miss the stars above
0:33:49 > 0:33:52# With every heartbeat
0:33:52 > 0:33:56# I still think of you
0:33:56 > 0:34:03# And remember our faded love. #
0:35:39 > 0:35:43Back east from Texas into Louisiana, home of Cajun music,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Aly got together with Marc Savoy
0:35:45 > 0:35:48and renewed his friendship with Dewey Balfa.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53Dewey was the man who at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival
0:35:53 > 0:35:56had first brought the Cajun sound to a world audience.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10You were quite unique in that you had a whole family playing music.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13That was what was really wonderful about your band, wasn't it?
0:36:13 > 0:36:19Yes, Aly. You see, we were brought up on a farm as a sharecropper.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21My Daddy was a sharecropper.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24And, erm... We were very close.
0:36:24 > 0:36:31There was a family of nine and we only had one fiddle in the family
0:36:31 > 0:36:35so we would kind of switch it from one to the other
0:36:35 > 0:36:40and that's why there were so many fiddlers in the Balfa family.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Personally, I liked the accordion.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46But the fiddle talks,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50the fiddle cries, the fiddle turns the key.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02What made you choose Dewey Balfa for the series?
0:37:02 > 0:37:06It was Dewey and his brothers who took Cajun music out of Louisiana
0:37:06 > 0:37:07and into the rest of America -
0:37:07 > 0:37:11and, of course, it took off, because it's infectious.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14They were really sincere about what they were doing.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16They loved Cajun music.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18They wanted to share it with people
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and they wanted to revive it in Louisiana itself.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25They wanted to make the local population proud of what they had.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27And we were trying to do exactly the same thing.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31When Britain took over Canada,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34they got dumped out and then went to Louisiana because it was French.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36An incredible place to end up.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39To make a living in the swamps if you weren't born there
0:37:39 > 0:37:41and you just got transported there,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43and everything that can kill you that's down there -
0:37:43 > 0:37:45the alligators and snakes.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47But what it made was great people.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49They are really down-to-earth. I just loved them.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54We spent almost a month there and it was just a big party.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56Really? Yes. How did you find the food?
0:37:56 > 0:37:58The food, I just loved it.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03This is supposed to be good?
0:38:03 > 0:38:05It's good.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10That's brilliant. Hooves from all the pigs.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13That's really good.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Take more. You're not supposed to quit on a little bit!
0:38:18 > 0:38:21So the whole pig's gone? Everything? The whole pig's gone.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25The only thing the Cajuns lose when they kill a pig is the squeak!
0:38:28 > 0:38:31It's just a tradition that we try and keep alive
0:38:31 > 0:38:33so it's an annual event.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37We do it to have a party, it's just an excuse to have a party,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39but what it represents is a way of life
0:38:39 > 0:38:41for the old people many years ago.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44The way they survived and preparing all their food during a boucherie.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48The killing of a steer, or a pig, like today.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51We just try to keep that practice alive.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Maybe one of these days, who knows, the world might make a big circle
0:38:54 > 0:38:58and come back and we'll have to learn that way of life again.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02What is it they say down there? "Laissez les bons temps rouler".
0:39:02 > 0:39:06And none better to get the good times rolling than Michael Doucet.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Jongle a moi by Michael Doucet
0:39:32 > 0:39:34It's always evolving.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38What really matters to me is why are people doing this, you know.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40I mean, I like the old songs.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44You have to be able to play the old songs the way they should be played
0:39:44 > 0:39:47because there's nothing like sitting with an older musician
0:39:47 > 0:39:50who just perfectly dissects time.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54In that he plays a song just at the right rhythm it should be played,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56the right notes, no more than is needed
0:39:56 > 0:39:58and just does everything the way it should be done.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01There's something you can really learn about there.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14Michael, there, he was then one of the young ambassadors for the music.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17A great singer. You can tell he's a real Cajun. He loves it.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20He loves the music, he sings beautifully. Aye.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23That high voice that he always had. I love that.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45MUSIC: Midland Two-Step by Michael Doucet
0:41:48 > 0:41:53In America, it can seem that all musical roads lead to Nashville.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58There, Aly met with the father of bluegrass himself - Bill Monroe.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Monroe started recording in the 1930s
0:42:01 > 0:42:03and went on to become a living legend.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42I love that. Bill Monroe, yes. Bill Monroe.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Would it be right to call him the father of bluegrass music?
0:42:46 > 0:42:48Undoubtedly, yes. Why?
0:42:48 > 0:42:50He invented it. He really invented it.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54He literally invented it? Yes. He made it popular.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57He kind of moulded it into what it is today. He's revered.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Every bluegrass musician thinks that he's the best.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02He's the father of everything.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04When you were playing with him
0:43:04 > 0:43:07did you have a sense that you were playing with a living legend?
0:43:07 > 0:43:10Absolutely. Really? I was really scared.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14It was 90 degrees and to be honest I had a kind of a hangover that day!
0:43:16 > 0:43:18Should you be telling me this?!
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And he was getting about deaf. Was he?
0:43:21 > 0:43:25And I kept asking him questions and he kept saying, "What did you say?"
0:43:25 > 0:43:28And I had to shout again and the heat was overcoming
0:43:28 > 0:43:32and Kenny Baker was playing with us that day, the great fiddler.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41That's a great tune.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43Bill, your family came over here from Scotland,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45didn't they, originally?
0:43:45 > 0:43:47The Monroes come from Scotland.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51And is it because your link with Scotland that you named that tune?
0:43:51 > 0:43:54I always loved the way the Scottish music was played
0:43:54 > 0:43:56and the sound and going way on back
0:43:56 > 0:44:00and the way the tones hundreds of years ago, I loved that part of it.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04And I'd heard some Scottish bagpiping over in this country
0:44:04 > 0:44:09and I just wanted to make a number like that and call it Scotland.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11How did you get started in the music?
0:44:11 > 0:44:14To start with, my mother she liked to play the fiddle
0:44:14 > 0:44:17and my uncle Pen Vandiver on my mother's side of the family
0:44:17 > 0:44:19was a wonderful fiddler,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21and he would come and visit us once in a while
0:44:21 > 0:44:24and I would get to listen to him play the fiddle.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26And you learnt lots of tunes from him.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29He did a really nice album called Uncle Pen.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Would you like to play one or two of his tunes?
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Yeah, that would be fine. Why don't you do that?
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Pick out one, Kenny.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Yeah. Let's do Jenny Lynn. Jenny Lynn, that's fine, yeah.
0:45:37 > 0:45:43You hear the word legacy bandied about an awful lot these days.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46What do you think is the legacy that Bill Monroe will leave?
0:45:46 > 0:45:51It's changing all the time and in many different directions.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54It's into country music, it's into old-time music.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Bluegrass music infects everything.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00It's like a virus. It goes through all music.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05You can see what has all been put in there like the feeling of the music
0:46:05 > 0:46:08and the sound and the drive to it.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11There's a lot of different ideas been put in bluegrass music.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16Like the blues, the jazz, the timing of it matters.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18The whole singing in it.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21The sound of old-time fiddlers coming out of Scotland...
0:46:22 > 0:46:24..built on how many years ago.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26And that's in this music.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28I think it's the greatest music in the world.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14It's here to stay, I think. I just think it's wonderful.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19Did you get the impression that he was very much aware of his status?
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Oh, yeah. That he was musical royalty?
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Absolutely. He knew exactly who he was.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30I remember when we did 20 years of Boys of the Lough
0:47:30 > 0:47:33we played at Carnegie Hall in New York
0:47:33 > 0:47:35and he came and opened for us.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38He opened for you? Yes, our concert.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Garrison Keillor was the compere.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46But if we went one minute over, we had to pay $13,000 to the union.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48And Bill Monroe...
0:47:50 > 0:47:52I've gone a bit quiet thinking about that!
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Bill Monroe wouldn't come off once he got going!
0:47:55 > 0:47:57We were literally going on the stage and dragging him off
0:47:57 > 0:47:59so as we could finish on time!
0:47:59 > 0:48:02We're glad to have all you folks with us here today.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05We have a number here that I hope you folks have heard it
0:48:05 > 0:48:07and will like here tonight.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10The title is Blue Moon of Kentucky.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23That song, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Elvis Presley recorded that.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26That was Bill made for life, I guess.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29# Blue Moon of Kentucky
0:48:29 > 0:48:31# Keep on shining
0:48:33 > 0:48:36# Shine on the one that's gone
0:48:36 > 0:48:38# And proved untrue. #
0:48:39 > 0:48:42He had, like, three careers.
0:48:42 > 0:48:461946 or '47 he started a band with Flatt and Scruggs
0:48:46 > 0:48:48and Chubby Wise on fiddle.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50Chubby Wise was a great fiddler.
0:48:50 > 0:48:56That was his first band - and what a band. Absolutely. It's mind-blowing.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00# The stars were shining bright
0:49:00 > 0:49:04# And they whispered from on high
0:49:04 > 0:49:07# Your love has said goodbye
0:49:07 > 0:49:11# Blue Moon of Kentucky
0:49:11 > 0:49:12# Keep on shining. #
0:49:12 > 0:49:15In the end, he died a hugely popular man.
0:49:15 > 0:49:21But almost every great bluegrass player came up through his band.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39The Grand Ole Opry is maybe Nashville's showcase
0:49:39 > 0:49:41but it's in places like The Station Inn
0:49:41 > 0:49:44where you'll find musicians' musicians.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Aly went along there on a night when Mark O'Connor was playing.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50It was to turn into a bit of challenge.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58Mark O'Connor is rightly regarded
0:50:58 > 0:51:01as one of the greatest American musicians living.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03Is that something you would agree with?
0:51:03 > 0:51:05I absolutely agree with you, yes.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08I ran into him in 1976.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10I was at the Bicentennial in America
0:51:10 > 0:51:13and we were playing there in Washington.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15I went into this hotel and I was going up the stairs
0:51:15 > 0:51:17and I heard this guy playing the fiddle.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20And I said, I have to find out who that is.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23I got my way through the crowd and here's Mark O'Connor
0:51:23 > 0:51:27at about 15 years old standing in there playing to these people
0:51:27 > 0:51:29and it just blew me away.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32I thought, "Wow, this is going to be something else."
0:51:32 > 0:51:34And you knew immediately.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36I knew on my way up the stairs, really,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38that this guy could play the fiddle.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00Mark's from Seattle and by some chance Benny Thomasson,
0:52:00 > 0:52:02a great Texas swing fiddler, was living in Seattle
0:52:02 > 0:52:05and Mark went to him for lessons.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09So that's where he learnt the Texas swing and the jazz in his playing.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12And of course, he has the technique to play anything -
0:52:12 > 0:52:15classical music or any kind of music he wants.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18He's just a genius. Aye.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22I watch him play and his fingers just fall down the fiddle.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24I have to reach for things. His just fall down.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27Right, right, right. He's in a different league.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31He's the kind of guy that makes you sick if you're a fiddle player,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33really, what he can do. Aye.
0:52:33 > 0:52:34I was going to say,
0:52:34 > 0:52:39traditional fiddle and classical violin seem worlds apart.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42How unusual is it for somebody to have a foot in both camps
0:52:42 > 0:52:44and be successful at both?
0:52:44 > 0:52:46It is very unusual -
0:52:46 > 0:52:49but he can do that, and he has the technique to do it.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51He developed that himself.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55It all flows from inside him and he can play what he wants.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58He's a remarkable guy. Aye.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00And you duelled with him on the stage?
0:53:00 > 0:53:03No. We did... It was like the usual thing.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06We arrived and he was there and, "What are we going to play?"
0:53:06 > 0:53:08I said, "Play Old Molly Hare",
0:53:08 > 0:53:10because that's what they called the Fairy Dance
0:53:10 > 0:53:15and he knew it and I knew it and so we just got up and started to play
0:53:15 > 0:53:17and it just went where it went.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19No rehearsal? No.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21It just went where it went. Uh-huh.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25And I did this little bit of dancing bow that I made up.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29It's kind of my own bow thing. It's not a classical thing.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33He can see I'm looking at my bow and smiling because he couldn't do that.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34Is that right?
0:53:34 > 0:53:37It's one of the only things in the world he couldn't do.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39But five minutes later he could do it!
0:53:42 > 0:53:44He was great -
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and he's so big, you know, and I'm so small. Aye, aye.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48I almost had to stand on a stool!
0:56:31 > 0:56:33APPLAUSE
0:56:37 > 0:56:41Aly, it's been absolutely wonderful talking to you, as always.
0:56:41 > 0:56:42Nice to talk to you.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Just watching yourself, your younger self on that, what do you think?
0:56:48 > 0:56:50I thought I was actually quite good looking, you know.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54When I look at that I realise what a great life I've had. Aye.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57What an absolute privilege it's been to meet all those people
0:56:57 > 0:56:59and to play with them.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02And to have a life and 48 years on the road
0:57:02 > 0:57:04playing music - and still doing it.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07Did you always think you would make a living as a musician?
0:57:07 > 0:57:10No. Not for a moment when I was young. Really?
0:57:10 > 0:57:12It was a pure accident.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15But it's the best accident that ever happened to me.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18No, I've had a great life, a really great life.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20I've lived lots of lives in one.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22Aye. And how would you sum it up?
0:57:23 > 0:57:28I was looking in a record shop window one day in Chicago
0:57:28 > 0:57:34and I saw a CD and I thought the name of it suits me just fine.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38It was called 'The Older I Get The Better I Used To Be'.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41That's pretty much it!
0:57:41 > 0:57:44I'll drink to that! OK. Cheers, Aly. Good, Alex. Cheers.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51All right, can I get everybody's attention just for a second?
0:57:53 > 0:57:57This is a fiddle that I've played since I was 11 and 12 years old.
0:57:57 > 0:58:02A great fiddle player from America, Benny Thomasson, gave it to me.
0:58:02 > 0:58:03It's not playable any more,
0:58:03 > 0:58:04but through the years
0:58:04 > 0:58:06I've got famous fiddle players
0:58:06 > 0:58:07to sign it -
0:58:07 > 0:58:09and a few of them have passed on, like Joe Venuti.
0:58:12 > 0:58:13And people like this.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Yehudi Menuhin signed it and Stephane Grappelli.
0:58:17 > 0:58:23And I would like to get the great Aly Bain to sign it tonight.
0:58:23 > 0:58:25APPLAUSE