The fisherman who caught the blues
As Long Gone Lonesome, the story of Thomas Fraser, a Shetland fisherman and country music legend, begins its tour of Scotland, Your Weekend spoke to the musician’s grandson Karl Simpson, to find out a bit more about the intensely private man
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THIS week sees the premiere of the National Theatre of Scotland’s latest tour, Long Gone Lonesome.
The new production brings to life the music and story of Thomas Fraser, a Shetland fisherman who sang, played and lived the blues.
Thomas Fraser, of Burra Isle, Shetland, a fisherman and crofter, died in 1978, aged 50, following an accident at sea.
Thomas was dedicated to his art, mastering the styles of his heroes – especially pioneering country singer Jimmie Rodgers, America’s Blue Yodeller – and making the songs his own.
During his life, Thomas recorded thousands of songs at home using a reel-to-reel recorder. His tapes were discovered 25 years later by his grandson Karl Simpson, who compiled and released them as the album Long Gone Lonesome Blues in 2002. The critics called it “one of the most remarkable stories in recording history” and “some of the greatest American music you will hear”.
Since then, a further three compilations have been released, and the Thomas Fraser Memorial Festival is held in Burra Isle each November.
Lone Gone Lonesome is written by Duncan McLean, an acclaimed writer living in Orkney, and through the use of live music and storytelling, Duncan and his band, The Lone Star Swing Band, will explore Thomas’s life.
Of course the music of Thomas would never have been rediscovered had it not been for his grandson Karl.
Having done some research on his grandfather, Karl can now understand the appeal of Thomas’s music, and why he never enjoyed the limelight.
“My grandfather was an exceptionally busy guy,” said Karl.
“He was a fisherman first and foremost, and he worked on a small boat. But when he came home, he would have a quick tea, then he’d work with the croft, looking after sheep and crops. Then when he was done, like most Shetland families, he and my grandmother would sit at the knitting machine and make jumpers until late at night. Only after that would the guitar come out.
“Folk used to hear him singing on the boat. He’d be practising singing all day and on calm days the sound carries farther. Even when he was working, he was constantly thinking about music.”
Thomas had been given hand-me-down instruments as a child, and as a teenager had enjoyed playing at friend’s houses. As he grew older, he started playing at events, but never felt comfortable with the attention.
“Thomas kept himself to himself,” said Karl.
“He would play at dances, but was never billed as a performer in his own right. He would just turn up and folk on stage would invite him up for an informal tune. It was totally informal, but I suppose through word-of-mouth and the grapevine he became quite well known in Shetland, but most folk probably wouldn’t have seen him or heard him in the flesh. When he had his first child, he never really left the house much at all or played or sung in public again. Anyone coming along to the house might have heard him singing and playing at night, but it was very rare and very private.”
Then, while researching blues music, Karl came across tapings of his grandfather’s music and was blown away at the quality of his performances.
“A lot of folk would hear a song on the radio they liked and ask Thomas to do his own version of it for them. That happened a lot. He always obliged them and he’d also add on maybe 15 or 20 other takes on the same tape and send it back to them,” said Karl.
“That’s one of the reasons that so much material has survived – because he did this so often there were lots of duplicate versions of songs we could draw on to put on the CDs.
“The first time I heard these tapes I was really amazed, I really was. I’d been exposed to old crackly blues recordings before, but when I heard this I couldn’t believe it was someone in my own family. I saw the tape and the state it was in: it was starting to get tattered, starting to break and I thought I’d have to try to get it preserved.
“Initially, it was a project just to have the music available and easily accessible to the family. I wanted something almost like an audio photo album, so I figured I might as well make a CD or something and then present that to the family, make a hundred copies, or something like that. But the further I went into the tapes, the more I realised other folk might want to hear it, so I thought, why not make 1,000.
“By that point, a lot of folk were calling and asking about it and it was getting some publicity. I don’t know how many I ended up making – it’s probably about 12,000 CDs now. So it has gone from being a small family project to a huge thing that’s taken on a life of its own.”
Long Gone Lonesome is the latest event to celebrate Thomas’s life, and Karl couldn’t be happier with the production.
“It’s something I never expected would happen, and yet here we are,” he said.
“It all snowballed. We started getting orders from country music fans and blues fans all over the world. The first concert of his music worked out really well, and this year it’s a mini-festival in its own right.
“Thomas Fraser has become an important figure in Shetland’s history, which is something I’m very proud of. A lot of the critics have raved about how great he is, but in Burra, folk are quite quiet and reserved, they don’t say much about anything, really.”
Long Gone Lonesome is touring village halls and arts centres until Saturday, October 24. The production will visit Orkney, Dornoch, Lochinver, Thurso, Applecross, Tarbert, Craignish, Stirling, Perth, Boat of Garten, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen, Lossiemouth, Dingwall and Ullapool. For more details visit www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
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