As a student in the late 70's I used to go to the "folk club" at Aberdeen uni to watch Bill Hill. He was well known by one of the guys I shared student digs with, hence I was able to hang out with him before and after performing - or maybe it was because we bought him a pint.... To correct some of the earlier statements, he came around from the Borders and had a wicked sense of humour. Much of his act was very funny parody of other material. Bill was, at one point, signed to Corries Music - a deal which, I understand, meant he could write all the music he wanted and they - the Corries - got first pick of his material, hence they performed and recorded the Portree Kid and some of his other works. They had a similar deal with other "young" writers, including one called Ian Richardson who my room-mate also knew well as they both came from Largs in Ayrshire. Ian was blessed with an amazing vocal range however he was unable to record any of his own material due to his contract - but that's another story...

Bill released a couple of albums - I managed to obtain a copy of one called Miscellaneous Dross - which was, from memory, live a recording from a gig. A lot of his humour is now a bit dated - the song above mentioned driving through Glenfarg at 15 miles an hour whereas Glenfarg is now bypassed by a motorway, and the price of his coffee would now be far inflated beyond 20 pence - but the humour of the man was the thing that made me go to see him at least 4 times in a year. He also broadcast on a "folk" programme called "Haven't heard a Horse Sing" hosted by a local broadcaster named Robbie Shepherd. Robbie still broadcasts traditional dance music every Saturday nearly 40 years later.