Scotland VI: Jamming

Wednesday evening I went up to the Settle Inn, Stirling's oldest pub (1733). Coming down from the castle earlier that day I'd spotted a sign promising live music from 9PM, so I was there around 8, to grab me a good spot. Around 8:45 the first musicians started to arrive, and I figured the first 3-4 to be the band members. Luckily, I had misunderstood the setting; this was no mere band performance but a weekly jamming session with local musicians.

During the night I think almost 20 people must have been playing something, and the rest of the crowd were happily singing along, stomping their feet and clapping their hands. It was folk music heaven and as authentic as you can get it. Five or six fiddlers playing at a time, one or two putting down their instruments in the middle of the tune to take a sip of beer... that kind of gathering.

Some of you know that I like to sing, and that my voice ain't too shabby. For the first hour or so they were mainly playing Scottish stuff I'd never heard of or at least didn't know the words to. As I was sitting there, pondering what tunes I might sing along to,one of the women started in with the Irish ballad "The Fields of Athenry", one of my favorites. I chimed in with my best barytone, and when we were done I noticed several of the musicians pointing, nodding and talking amongst themselves.

A few minutes later, one of the women asked me if I wanted to sing a song; I said maybe later (I was still trying to come up with appropriate tunes I actually knew), but some of the guys fixed me with a grin and said "yer noo gettin oot'a here until ye sing us one"... At that moment some guy (I think he was French) asked the question of the evening: "Do you know a song that starts danny boy, danny boy..." When the laughter and shouts of "never heard it before" had died down, he started playing and humming it, while I put on my most operatic voice and did a pretty damn good rendering I'm happy to say. Afterwards several of the musicians actually asked me if I sang professionally! (They also thought I was American, another bonus).

Later, towards the end, when the session was breaking up, I also got so sing a tune none of them knew, called "Sgt McKenzie" (some of you may have heard it used in Mel Gibson's Vietnam war movie We were soldiers). Another success, and we rounded it off with me leading a singalong of the old tune " The Bonnie Ship the Diamond". A wonderful night of great music, great fun and great companionship. I'm definitely going back there some day, and if you should ever happen to be in Stirling on a Wednesday night, do visit the Settle Inn and say a warm hello from the Norwegian with the American accent.