Shepheard, Spiers
& Watson


Pete, Tom and Arthur bring together a wealth of song repertoire accompanied on melodeon, fiddle and whistle and gleaned directly from the many traditional singers they have known. Tom who plays fiddle and Arthur who plays whistle were members of the well respected Aberdeen based group The Gaugers along with founder member the late Peter Hall, noted folk song collector and folklorist. For several years Tom lived in Auchtermuchty in Fife but is now back in the northeast near Turriff. Arthur is originally from Aberdeen but now lives in Perth. Pete has lived many years in Fife, plays melodeon and sings many songs that he has collected directly from traditional singers both in rural Fife and among the traveller community. The three have been sharing their enthusiasm and playing together for the last several years.

They have been guests at the great Whitby Festival (one of their favourite events) where they have taken part in the usual range of concerts and have presented Workshops on Ballads, Maritime Songs, Bawdy Songs etc. In 2005 Pete presented two workshops on song collecting from the Smith and Brazil traveller families of Gloucestershire. They have also performed at various festivals, clubs etc in Scotland (Stonehaven, Celtic Connections, Auchtermuchty, Montrose, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Girvan etc) and at Vic Smith's club Folk at the Royal Oak in Lewes, Sussex and Peta Webb's, Ken Hall and Dan Quinn's Musical Traditions Folk Club in London amongst others. In November 2006 they were guests at the New York Eisteddfod. They are also involved in running the annual Fife Traditional Singing Festival at Collessie in Fife.

Their first CD issued in 2005, Shepheard, Spiers & Watson: They Smiled as we Cam In, received excellent reviews and their second CD Over the High Hills is newly released in May 2012.

www.springthyme.co.uk