Friday, August 5, 2011

Bonny North Tyne: Northumbrian Country Music (1974)


Topic 12TS239

Topic Records made many great "World Music" LPs back when the genre consisted of mostly ethnographic field recordings. I always pick up any LP I see on the Topic label (as well as other great "world music" labels, such as Original Music or the LPs in the Nonesuch Explorer Series).

This was a thrift store find (99¢), in beautiful shape, except for the red tape along the top of the cover. It sounds near new. It is not on CD.

From the LP:
"John Armstrong: fiddle, Billy Atkinson: mouth organ, Billy Conroy: whistle, George Hepple: fiddle, Joe Hutton: small-pipes, Donald Ridley: accordeon, Recorded and produced by Tony Wilson and Tony Eagle"

John Armstrong & Joe Hutton: The Rowan Tree/Jock Of Hazeldean

Additional tracks, by request:

Billy Conroy: Green Castle/Spot On/Corn Rigs

Billy Conroy: Jenny Bell Polka

Billy Conroy: Napoleon's Grand March/Untitled March

Billy Conroy: Liverpool Hornpipe/Steamboat Hornpipe

John Armstrong & Joe Hutton: Sir Sidney Smith's March

From the LP: "The Billy Conroy tracks were taken from tape recordings originally made by Pete Knowles for the North-East Folk Federation"
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11 comments:

  1. tonyFebruary 14, 2011 at 10:02 AM

    Kurt Rocks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. alison pringleAugust 5, 2011 at 4:54 AM

    I know this LP from being a child my Grandfather was Billy Conroy who played the whistle this brings back fond memories .I wish you had posted one of his tracks as I would love to have heared him once more...

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  3. KurtAugust 5, 2011 at 9:37 AM

    I'm glad you found this post, Alison. I'll put some of your grandfather's tracks from the LP up today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlisonAugust 5, 2011 at 3:54 PM

    THANK YOU So much for posting the tracks of my grandfather Billy Conroy you dont know how many happy memories hearing him play bring back to me and how much it means thank you!!`

    ReplyDelete
  5. KurtAugust 5, 2011 at 5:07 PM

    Glad to be of service.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gloria SturgeonAugust 5, 2011 at 11:51 PM

    simmilar record with billy conroy and others is canny newcastle dont know if you would have come across that one on your search would be very interested to know as Billy Conroy was my grandfather

    ReplyDelete
  7. KurtAugust 6, 2011 at 5:08 AM

    Most of the records posted here were found at thrift shops. Great records like this one are rare finds. I would buy any record on the Topic label that I came across.

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  8. john conroyAugust 6, 2011 at 1:01 PM

    I was delighted to find the Billy Conroy tracks through alison pringle's facebook page .Billy was my father and I lost track of his recordings. I have some other recordings of his on tape ,very rough but material that was not on any of his lp's if you would like to copy any of this material contact me at my email address nhojyornoc@yahoo.co.uk John Conroy

    ReplyDelete
  9. KurtAugust 7, 2011 at 7:01 AM

    John - I'm glad you enjoyed the tracks of your father. I appreciate your offer to send me a copy of your personal tape of your father. I would be happy to post the recording on Not On CD and make it available to others if you like.

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  10. UnknownMarch 13, 2022 at 1:58 AM

    Hello Kurt,
    Have been attempting to download the tracks by Billy Conroy from ‘notoncd’ website.
    No success so far – can you help.
    My wife, Sandie, and I knew Billy when he was a regular at Sunderland Folk Centre at the George & Dragon around 1970.
    Billy made a number of whistles for Sandie.

    With best wishes – Ken and Sandie Hudson.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KurtMarch 13, 2022 at 6:08 AM

      It appears the links aren't working anymore, I'm not sure why. Leave a comment with your email address and I'll contact you (I won't publish the comment).

      Delete

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