Legendary Scottish singer/songwriter Archie Fisher will be appearing April 9th at the Gower Street United Church in an intimate evening of original and traditional songs. This will be Archie’s first time in Newfoundland and a concert you certainly won’t want to miss.

Fisher has been a father figure to an entire generation of Celtic musicians; his career has spanned forty years and touched every major figure in the British Celtic traditional music scene. Known to listeners across Scotland and the Borders for twenty years as a beloved radio host on his local station Radio Tweed, as well as on Radio Scotland’s flagship folk and Celtic music show “Travelling Folk, he has also worked as a producer on albums by Silly Wizard. But he is best known as a vocalist and songwriter.

Archie Fisher has a reputation in Scotland equivalent to that artists like Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot have here. Reviewers consistently comment on his “warm, sensitive voice, light and beautiful touch on the guitar and impeccable taste in songs, many of which are his own.” His haunting ballads and evocative songs reach back into Celtic myth to tell tales that are memorable and moving. You may be aware of him as the composer of The Witch of the Westmerland, made popular by Stan Rogers. Over the years, his songs have been covered by many other performers including the Tannahill Weavers, and both Stan and Garnett Rogers.

Archie Fisher spans the gulf separating traditional performers from modern ones. Influenced equally by traditional Scottish balladeers and North American folk minstrels like Woody Guthrie and the Weavers, he has never considered himself a true traditionalist because of his urban upbringing; instead, he sees himself as interpreter of a long-standing folk tradition.

Fisher was born in Glasgow, and still makes his home in the Scottish borderlands. The only son in an intensely musical family of seven, he was introduced to music early. His father’s love for all styles mingled with the influence of his Gaelic-speaking mother (who came from Vatersay in the Outer Hebrides) to produce a songwriter and performer well aware of his roots and possessed of outstanding lyrical gifts.

He first performed with his sister Ray on the BBC Hootenanny series; the two then joined their parents and sister Cilla to form The Fisher Family. Since recording his first solo album in the 1960s, he has played with Robin Williamson and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, with guitarist Bert Jansch, and with John McKinnon and John Doonan. He and Allan Barty toured and performed as backup musicians for Tommy Makem and Liam Clancey during the 1970s. His inventive and influential guitar styles, which include open tunings and ingenious yet simple picking, made him a perfect match for John Renbourn, with whom he toured in the early 1980s.

As a solo artist, Fisher interweaves voice and guitar, exploring the deep resonances between melody, accompaniment and lyric. His return to the recording studio in the 1980s followed the most creative song writing period of his life. Garnet Rogers toured with him and produced Archie’s album Sunsets I Have Galloped Into for Red House Records; they continue to collaborate on new recording projects. More recently Archie’s earlier albums have been re-released on CD. He has toured in Europe, North America and Australia, and plans further North American and European tours; currently he is working on two new albums for Red House and has revived his solo career.

Archie Fisher is a consummate performer. We are very lucky to have him here for a St. John’s solo appearance as part of his upcoming Canadian tour with Raylene Rankin. His warm voice and elegant guitar styling will delight old fans and win him new ones. He will draw on his broad repertoire of traditional and original material to present a full evening of music and story on April 9th.

Tickets in advance are $16, available from Auntie Crae’s, O’Brien’s Music and Fred’s Records. Tickets at the door will be $22. Seating is limited to 250. SJFAC members and friends are advised to get their tickets early.

For more information, or to reserve advance tickets, call Dan Rubin at 335-7007.

ARCHIE FISHER (Partial) DISCOGRAPHY

Archie Fisher (with John MacKinnon and John Doonan) Transatlantic 1968*

The Man with a Rhyme Folk-Legacy 1976*

Off the Map (in concert with Garnett Rogers) Red House Records 1995

Sunsets I’ve Galloped Into… Red House Records 1996

*both these early LPs have now been re-released on CD