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158:. He composed melodies in his head on the way home after a day of herding sheep. He attributed his musical style in part to the time he spent with Geordie Armstrong, a shepherd who was also a fiddler. He walked miles through hilly country to perform at dances and festivals in nearby villages.
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Dumfriesshire. He was also one of the leading members of the Alnwick Pipers' Society, who published several of his compositions in their two tunebooks.
187:. This group, known as The Shepherds, travelled widely, playing at clubs and folk festivals across Britain. They also made some broadcasts, often with
147:. When he was a boy, he learned the fiddle. He lost the first finger of his left hand while preparing food for sheep, and he temporarily switched to
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Many of his songs are named after members of his extended family. "The Dene" refers to
Middleton Dene, the last farm he worked before retiring.
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He won competitions at
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He was a founding member of the Border
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was born 5 January, 1916 –and died on 2 November, 2000. He was a
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for the BBC in 1954, playing both fiddle and melodeon.
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Interview with Willy Taylor and Will
Atkinson on FARNE
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154:For most of his life, he was a shepherd in the
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108:Learn how and when to remove this message
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183:player Will Atkinson and the piper
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410:20th-century English musicians
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420:Musicians from Northumberland
231:"Kerry's Welcome to the Dene"
199:Partial list of compositions
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357:Bert Feintuch's notes to
228:"Christine Taylor's Jig"
395:English folk musicians
234:"Farewell to the Dene"
263:(Common Ground, 1990)
213:"Nancy Taylor's Reel"
175:In 1983, he recorded
351:Reg Hall's notes to
322:(15 November 2000).
271:Smithsonian Folkways
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359:Northumberland Rant
353:Ranting and Reeling
296:www.folkradio.co.uk
273:, 1986, 1994, 1996)
267:Northumberland Rant
261:Welcome to the Dene
245:Ranting and Reeling
225:"Neil Taylor's Jig"
207:"The Pearl Wedding"
193:Welcome to the Dene
415:People from Wooler
376:Farne Folk Archive
320:Anderson, Alistair
222:"The Shining Pool"
189:Alistair Anderson
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331:. Retrieved
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299:. Retrieved
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135:Music career
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40:Please help
35:verification
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405:2000 deaths
400:1916 births
333:13 December
301:17 February
292:"StackPath"
257:(MWM, 1983)
239:Discography
181:mouth organ
179:, with the
389:Categories
380:RealPlayer
278:References
185:Joe Hutton
68:newspapers
170:Langholm
149:melodeon
98:May 2020
346:Sources
125:fiddler
82:scholar
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