Annotation:Willy McKenzie's

Back to Willy McKenzie's

---

WILLY McKENZIE’S. AKA and see “Greetings to the Beatons of Mabou,” “Highlander's Rant (The),” “Mabou Reel (2),” “MacLaine of Loch Buie's Reel,” “Wildcat Reel.” Canadian, Reel. Canada, Cape Breton. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. A popular pipe reel among Cape Breton fiddlers. Barry Shears finds that “Willy McKenzie,” as played by blacksmith and fiddler Donald Angus Beaton (1912–1981), is a mixture of two pipe reels: “Willy McKenzie’s Reel” from Robert MacKinnon’s Collection of Pipe Music (c. 1890's) and “MacLaine of Loch Buie's Reel” from Ross’s Collection of Pipe Music (1885).

Source for notated version: Donald Angus Beaton (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg].

Printed sources: Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; p. 52.

Recorded sources: Celtic SCX 57, Donald and Theresa MacLellan (Appears as “Wildcat Reel/MacLaine of Lochbuie’s”). DAB4-1985, Donald Angus Beaton - “A Musical Legacy” (1985. Appears as “Mabou Reel”). Rounder 7003, John Campbell - (Appears as “Traditional Reel” on side two). Rounder Records 7052, Buddy MacMaster – “The Cape Breton Tradition” (2003). RLP 107, Joe MacLean - “And his Old Time Scottish Fiddle” (c. 1967. Appears as 1st reel after “Ca' the Stirks”). Smithsonian Folkways Records, SFW CD 40507, The Beaton Family of Mabou – “Cape Breton Fiddle and Piano Music” (2004). STEPH 1-94, Stephanie Wills - “Tradition Continued” (1994. Appears as “MacLean of Lochbouie” but is Donald Angus Beaton’s setting of “Willy McKenzie”).

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]

---