Well-known, both as a singer and as a storyteller, on this album, Davie tells us the story of his own life on the roads of his native Scotland and his adventures in Ireland too. He also includes the cattle-drovers song, I'M OFTEN DRUNK, and a version of the classic JOLLY TINKER ballad. This album provides an interesting insight into the philosophies of a man of the road as well as into the secrets of his survival.

1. Talk about birthplace & both parents - 1'19"

2. Talk about his boyhood: begging & learning tunes on the road - 0'39"

3. Talk about schooling in Aberdeen - 0'24"

4. Talk about leading his cousin, Blin' Robin, piper, to fairs & learning songs - 0'44"

5. Talk about being off on his own, hawking, & still able to do it today - 0'41"

6. Talk about being a tinker -0'21"

7. Talk about the present time, living in Dundee, his age - 0'21"

8. Talk about going away busking at weekends - 0'28"

9. Talk about his liking to perform for farm servants, in bothies and the bothy ballads - 0'43"

10. Talk about it being a hard life but happy & not giving up till he dies -0'44"

11. Talk about the Stewart family of Buchan mentioning Alex of Blairgowrie - 2'42"

12. Talk about his brothers & sisters mentioning Fetterangus & Jeannie Robertson - 3'54"

13. Talk about tobacco errand for his father & getting belted - 2'27"

14. Talk about drink & his father fighting in the house with McEwan - 2'47"

15. Talk about cheekiness of kids while busking in Dundee - 1'23"

16. Talk about playing games with children & singing in farmhouses - 1'41"

17. Talk about girls at school & courting a Musselburgh lassie - 2'42"

18. Talk about his first sexual encounter & wondering about it afterwards - 1'14"

19. Talk about not being left alone with a woman in the house - 1'59"

20. Talk about leaving home with Blin' Robin - 0'59"

21. Talk about upsetting a cart-load of dishes & paying for them - 3'42"

22. Talk about learning to read newspapers & story books - 0'44"

23. Talk about where he has travelled - 0'36"

24. Talk about Ireland in 1932, forgetting Scots songs & love of Irish pipes & music - 2'57"

25. Talk about Puck Fair at Killorglin, Co Kerry & buying a pony there - 1'54"

26. Talk about searching for the pony who preferred women - 5'00"

27. Talk about pub-fight & being respected by Irish for his music - 1'06"

28. Song: I'M OFTEN DRUNK & SELDOM SOBER (DROWSY SLEEPER, THE) - 1'56"

29. Talk about how to pitch camp with a bender tent & its merits - 5'28"

30. Song: THE JOLLY TINKER, THE -1'35"

Recorded by Alan Lomax & Peter Kennedy. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1975.

DAVIE STEWART (1901-1972) born April 1st, at Windmill Street, Peterhead. His father, Robert, and his grandfather too, were general hawkers and tinsmiths, so Davie was brought up as a "traveller", spending the better part of a year on the road. Between the ages of 4 and 9 he spent only the winters at school in places such as Aberdeen and Fraserburgh.

He started to get known as a singer from the age of 10 when his family were working in the farm bothies. Davie was just 13 when the 14-18 War began. Twice he tried to join the Gordons but he was called back by his father. The third time, at the age of 16, he was sent to France where he was wounded on 3 occasions. However he joined a pipe band and was tutored by the great Scottish piper, John MacLennan. When he came out of the Army, at the age of 20, he resumed his travelling life, singing and hawking, combining farm-life in the Aberdeenshire bothies with playing the accordion and singing. 2 years later he fell in with another great travelling man, Jimmy McBeath (who is featured on FTX-058, FTX-059, FTX-060).

Other recordings of Davie Stewart:-

FTX-180 THE DOWIE DENS O YARROW Davie sings some lowland Scots Songs and Bothy Ballads accompanying himself on accordion and plays some Scots bagpipe tunes.

FTX-461 THE STOLEN PIPER Johnny MacPhee was stolen away by fairies near to the town of Pitlochry in Perthshire. Although he was later returned to his wife, he was no longer remembered by his children. On Side B is a "Burker Story", so- called because of the Edinburgh doctors, Burke and Hare, about which tinker parents still warn their children. An old widow woman is stolen away, this time by the body=-snatchers and carried off in a silent coach.

FTX-023 BARNYARDS OF DELGATY (or TURRA MARKET)

FTX-027 THE DAY WE WENT TO ROTHSAY-O

FTX-031 THE BEGGAR WENCH, I BINGED AVREE, McPHERSON & TRAMPS & HAWKERS