SPOILER WARNING! THIS MAY OFFEND SOME PEOPLE.

Rick,

I have a theory about why the Corries weren't/aren't taken seriously. Folk Music snobbery. Self appointed purist cops who feel that it better have bad diction and barely understood lyrics or it ain't folk music, peat ash in the bottom of the bottle or it ain't Scotch.

The are/were primarily vocalists. Although the late Roy Williamson was a fine musician, listen to what goes on in the background of No Man's Land, there work was a vocal history lesson. They were singing an oral tradition and telling the tale of Scotland at the same time.

There is a large contingent of people out there who views Celtic Music as strictly instrumental or if vocal, unaccompnaied. What tripe. There are great bands out there like the Battlefield Band, Silly Wizard, De Dannan, The Tannahill Weavers. But none of them are as near purely vocal as the Corries.

The Corries came about around the same time as the Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem ( also roundly ridiculed in Mudcat by some.) And if they were a little commercial I am not concerned. Without the Clancys and The Corries much of the Irish and Scottish music would either have been very late in coming to the U.S. or nevermade it here at all.

If I hadn't read of Tom Clancy's enjoyment of Joe Heany's singing, I probably would never have listened to Joe or known what Sean Nos singing was.

My first introduction to good vocal harmony was The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell. Listen to their version of The Jug of Punch from Their first Electra album to see what I mean. Listen the Corries do Jacobites By Name then Compare it Clan Na Gael's or Silly Wizard's (I think) and you'll find no comparison. Blazing instrumentality and mediocre voices are just that. But The Corries had the potential for both solid instruments and very fine vocals.

Ultimately their job was to entertain which they did quite well. Mugg to the crowd sing crowd pleasers and sing alongs, dress well and be consistent. Loch Lomond was something I heard my Mom sing and it was justa chestnut till I heard Roy Williamson do it on video. It became a new song to me and now its in my rep. Sing it with Fire In The Glen and its magic.

I am now called to dinner so my rant is done. I hope we are all still pals and I can be in your various gangs on your various playgrounds. If I am a fan boy geek it is only in regards to The Corries and Jack Kirby, King of Comics. Later all.

Don