File: mcpheehugh-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers
HM – Hughie McPhee
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP How old were you before you started playing a lot?
HM Oh I must've been 25 or so. Like I said before, there was nobody to play for dances and they were putting on benefits in the Hall, and that's what I got started on, to build a church.
KP Which church was that?
HM St. Columba. Well, they wanted fiddlers from the community to donate the music. Some came, some didn't and the last of it I used to be there all by myself. Sometimes I played the fiddle alone, no accompaniment. I had this fiddle at that time. I got this overseas.
KP Whereabouts?
HM Holland.
KP Were you there in the war?
HM Yeah. And I went up then around the town, this was in Rotterdam, and this [points to his fiddle] was sitting in the window. I went in and I bought this one, or stole it or something. I didn't pay much for it (laughs). It was 110 guilders, $110: the fiddle and the bow. And I sold three packages of tobacco for 120 guilders (laughs). I didn't put the price on it. The fellas that bought it [from] put the price on it, so don't call me crooked. I said, "If that's the price of it, OK."
