Strathspey Players - Past & Present by William C. Honeyman (1845-1919)
The life and legends of Niel Gow and an evaluation of traditional strathspey playing. First published in 1922.
Strathspey Players - Past & Present is divided into two parts, the first concentrating on the life and legends surrounding the famous Perthshire fiddler Niel Gow. In the second part of the book, entitled The real Strathspey Style the author persuasively argues against the dilution of the traditional style of strathspey playing of which Gow and Scott Skinner were such notably fine exponents.
The work of William C. Honeyman , one of the most perspicacious and influential writers on the Scottish fiddle scene, is now less well known that it deserves to be.