Annotation:James F. Dickie's Delight

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 JAMES F. DICKIE'S DELIGHT. AKA - "J.F. Dickie's Delight," "James F. Dickie." Scottish, Slow Strathspey or Air. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed in 1932 by Aberdeen fiddler and composer John Murdoch Henderson (1902-72) in honor of James Fowler Dickie (b. 1886) of New Deer, Buchan, were he was a "weel-kent and respected player" for over fifty years, and whose forte, according to Hunter (1979), was playing his own 'florid' variations to many famous tunes. Alburger calls him "a player of great taste and polish," and notes the melody appears in Henderson's The Flowers of Scottish Melody (1935). Henderson himself remarked: "Jim is a player of great taste and polish. In the rendering of slow strathspeys and E flat airs his style is inimitable.". Dickie admired the playing of J. Scott Skinner, who influenced his somewhat idiosyncratic style. Paul Cranford says the first Cape Breton fiddler to record the tune was Winston Fitzgerald.  Source for notated version: Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford].  Printed sources: Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 114, pp. 202-203. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 95, p. 40. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 129. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 142.  Recorded sources: Beaumex BMCD 571, John Regan - "Let Down the Blade." Breton Books and Records BOC 1HO, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald - "Classic Cuts" (reissue of Celtic Records CX 40). Celtic CX 40, Winston Scotty Fitzgerald - "Its New." Green Linnett GLCD 1087, Seamus Connolly - "Notes From My Mind" (1988). Greentrax CDTRAX 9009, Hector MacAndrew (1903-1980) - "Scottish Tradition 9: The Fiddler and his Art" (1993). HCD 008, Tommy Peoples - "Traditional Irish Music Played on the Fiddle" (appears as the lament of track 5, "Lament and Strathspey"). Rounder CD 11661-7033-2, Natalie MacMaster - "My Roots are Showing" (2000). Tartan Tapes CDTT1004, Paul Anderson - "Heat the Hoose" (1998).  See also listings at: Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources Alan Ng's Irishtune.info Hear Hector MacAndrew's 1960 recording of the tune at Tobar an Dualchais

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