The Corries

Early Years

Roy Williamson was born in 1936 in Edinburgh. His mother played the piano. At school he learned to play the recorder by ear, pretending to read music. The teacher found out and banned him from music lessons. He went to Wester Elchies School, then Aberlour House and Gordonstoun in Moray. He taught seamanship and navigation at Burghhead before going to Edinburgh College of Art. It was there that he met Ronnie Browne in 1955. The partnership lasted over thirty years.

Roy teamed up with Bill Smith and Ron Cockburn to form the "Corrie Folk Trio" in 1962. Their first performance was in the Waverley Bar in St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks Ron Cockburn left. They had already accepted an engagement at the Edinburgh festival so Roy suggested that Ronnie Browne should be brought in to make up numbers. They also added female Irish singer Paddie Bell to become the "Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell". The audience was only eight people for the debut of this line-up but by the end of the festival it was house full at every performance. A corrie is a circular dip in a highland mountain. They chose it to evoke the Scottish landscape.

Television success

Within a year they appeared on television. Roy and Ronnie were art teachers, Bill was an architect and Paddie was a secretary. In 1964 they topped the bill at a show with the Dubliners at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. The BBC began a television series set in a folk club. The resident group at the "Hoot'nanny Show" was the Corrie Folk Trio. This meant they became full-time professionals. Within two years Paddie Bell and Bill Smith left. Roy was a talented multi-instrumentalist and Ronnie was the singer. They cancelled all engagements for a few months to practice intensively. Under the new name the Corries they performed in Angus. The response encouraged them to continue.

Another BBC series "The White Heather Club" begin in 1965. It featured Andy Stewart, Jimmy Shand and his Band, Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor and the Corries. While the rest of the show was set in a studio, the Corries were filmed in location. Sea songs were sung in a harbour, "The Pass of Killikrankie" was sung at the Pass of Killiekrankie, and so on. They were effectively pioneers of the music video.

The two Combolins

Roy was a skilled woodworker. In the summer of 1969 he combined a mandolin and a guitar into a single instrument which he dubbed the combolin. It was then possible to play guitar or mandolin and simultaneously use the thumb to pluck the bass lines. It had 28 strings, some of which were designed to resonate, in the same way as a sitar. He made another, slightly different one in the same summer. The Corries next album "Strings and Things" (1970) was specifically designed to showcase the new instrument. Many consider it to be their best album. An instrument repairer, David Stinton, was sometimes asked to maintain the combolins, but he found them too difficult to play well. After Roy's death, Stinton was bequeathed the two combolins. He has since issued a CD of tunes played on them. It was two or three years before heavy metal guitarists adopted a similar tactic by using multi-neck guitars.

Commercial success

The early 1970 were the Corries finest hour. They had several albums in the top 50 album charts in Scotland, and released their only single: - "Flower of Scotland" (1974). It was quickly adopted by supporters of rugby football. At international matches Buckingham Palace officially granted permission for the tune to be used as Scotland's national anthem. It is also heard at football matches, especially against the England national team. Their concerts frequently had the audience joining in with the chorus of songs, even without prompting. The Corries became closely identified with Jacobite songs, celebrating the final years of clan loyalty and military courage. In 1977, one of their best albums "Peat Fire Flame" was released. This saw a move towards love songs and celebrations of the landscape. They never achieved much acclaim outside Scotland, and even today are viewed as too populist to be classed alongside Ireland's Planxty or England's Martin Cathy.

As a young man, Roy Williamson played rugby for Edinburgh Wanderers. However he suffered from asthma and before a series of concerts he would deliberately cease treatment in order provoke attacks and gain temporary immunity. His brother, Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band achieved more success, but they never toured together or collaborated on projects. From 1987 Roy's health went into decline and he spent his last years living in Forres, close to where he spend his school years. He died in 1990.

Ronnie Browne has continued recording, and Paddie Bell also made albums. There have been very many "Best of" albums and recordings of live concerts.

Discography (original studio recordings)

- The Corrie Folk Trio (1965) - The Promise Of The Day (1965) - Those Wild Corries (1966) - Bonnet, Belt and Sword (1967) - Kishmul's Galley (1968) - Scottish Love Songs (1969) - Strings and Things (1970) - In Retrospect (1970) - Sound The Pibroch (1972) - A Little Of What You Fancy (1973) - Peat Fire Flame (1977) - Spotlight On The Corries (1977) - Stovies (1980) - A Man's A Man (1980) - The Dawning of the Day (1982) - Love From Scotland (1983) - Scotland Will Flourish (1985) - Barrett's Privateers (1987)