WHEN Thomas Fraser bought a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder shortly after electricity arrived at his small croft on Burra, Shetland, in 1953, he could not have envisioned the fame and acclaim it would one day bring him.
The thousands of songs he taped during his lifetime lay largely untouched at a relative’s house before finally reaching the audience they deserved more than 20 years after his death.
Thomas, who was born in Outterabrake, Burra, on March 20, 1927, became interested in music at an early age and taught himself to play first the fiddle and later the guitar, banjo, mandolin and piano. He was also a gifted singer.
His love for country and blues music developed through listening to stars like Hank Williams on American forces radio broadcasts during the 1940s and 50s.
Jimmie Rodgers, the Mississippi singer widely regarded as the father of country music, was his particular favourite and Thomas bought every record he possibly could, picking up his style of playing and singing – particularly the famous yodel – note for note.
But Thomas was painfully shy and went to great lengths to avoid playing in public.
In fact, he agreed to play at his sister’s wedding only if he could do so from the confines of a closet where no one could see him.
Although he did appear on stage in dance halls around Shetland during his 20s, his shyness only increased with age and he preferred to play and record his music at home.
This did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of Shetland music lovers, however, who often asked Thomas to do his own version of a song they liked or had heard on the radio.
Thomas and wife Phyllis’s home in Setter became a real magnet for musical people from all over Shetland, who would visit regularly to play with and listen to Thomas.
It was a busy life. Thomas was a fisherman first and foremost, working off his own small lobster boat, and he also worked the croft, minding the sheep and crops. When that was done, he and Phyllis, like many Shetlanders of the time, would sit at the knitting machine and make jumpers until late at night.
Any free time was spent learning and recording his own versions of his favourite artists’ songs.
When Thomas died at the age of 50, in 1978, following an accident at sea, his tape reels were left in the keeping of his wife until her death in 1985, when they went to his nephew Bobby.
This is where Thomas’s grandson Karl Simpson steps into the story.
One night in the late 1990s, Karl was visiting Bobby when they dug out one his grandfather’s reels and put it on the tape recorder.
Karl was amazed by what he heard and decided to go about copying the reels on to CD.
What started as a project to restore a collection of his favourite songs as a family memento soon turned into something beyond his wildest dreams.
The first album, Long Gone Lonesome Blues, was released in 2002, followed quickly by You and My Old Guitar, in 2003, Treasure Untold in 2005, and That Far Away Land, in 2008.
Annual tribute concerts also started and developed into the Thomas Fraser Memorial Festival, which takes place on Burra each November.
There has also been a BBC television documentary – Shetland Lone Star – and the National Theatre of Scotland has taken his story to stages throughout the land with a show called Long Gone Lonesome.
Karl was even invited to take part in a country conference in Nashville, in the US, in 2004, where his grandfather’s music was described as “some of the greatest recordings of American music you will hear”.
It was there that the Fraser family met and befriended Rick McWilliams – grand-nephew of Thomas’s old hero Jimmie Rodgers – who visited Shetland and performed at a Thomas Fraser tribute concert in 2004.
Looking back, Karl said: “If you had told me what would happen when I first set out, I’d never have believed you. It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”
This year’s memorial festival – at which the fifth CD, Just Call me Lonesome, will be released – kicks off at Burra public hall, Hamnavoe, tonight and features performances from Nashville musician Chris Scruggs – grandson of bluegrass virtuoso Earl Scruggs – who also played at the festival in 2009, and John Lilly, who last appeared three years ago.
Thomas’s daughter, May, her husband, Mackie, and May’s daughter, Rhonda, who is Karl’s sister, will also perform.
Others included in the line-up are Shetland musician Robbie Cumming, Arthur Pottinger and Eddie Williamson, who used to visit and play alongside Thomas at his home in Setter.
Thursday’s seated concert starts at 7pm and the Friday and Saturday concerts begin at 7.30pm, when the ticket price includes supper.
Tickets, priced £10 for tonight and £12 for tomorrow and Saturday, are on sale at Halcrow’s shop, Hamnavoe, the Peerie Shop, Lerwick, and Hunter’s fish shop, Main Street, Scalloway.
On Sunday, John Lilly will lead a gospel concert in Bridge End Church of Scotland, Burra.