7. The North Side of the Grampians / Jack Webster’s Reel / Souris Breakwater

I fell in love with North Side of the Grampians after hearing it played on a recording by Scottish fiddler Hector MacAndrew; it first appeared in print in Fraser’s Airs & Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands (1816). The title refers to a mountain range in Scotland. Jack Webster’s came from a home-made recording of fiddler Jack Webster, the most prominent dance fiddler in southeastern Prince Edward Island from the 1930s to the 70s. It may be a local variant of the 18th-century strathspey, “Rothiemurchus Rant”; and is also related to the Irish reel, Graf Spee, named for a German battleship of the 1930s. I got Souris Breakwater from Carl & Jackie Webster of Cardigan, but I have also heard the tune played on Cape Breton. The title refers to Souris (pronounced SOO-ree), the largest town in northeastern PEI. (Key: C throughout)