Stroma inspiration as Gordon releases first album at 76
Gordon Shearer’s abiding respect for the people of Stroma is encapsulated in his newly completed debut album.
Gordon (76), from Canisbay, has been playing and performing in Caithness for many years but Stroma Road – featuring mostly his own compositions – is his first CD.
He plays lead accordion on the album and is accompanied by Addie Harper on second accordion, Neil Macgregor on drums and Gordon Gunn on piano and bass. It was recorded and produced at Gordon Gunn’s studio in Wick.
Gordon Shearer took up music at the age of four and became a multi-instrumentalist, playing fiddle and piano as well as accordion. “I’ve played in several bands over the years and enjoyed every minute of it,” he said.
A retired fisherman, he built up a high regard for the seamanship of the islanders. Gordon composed the title track after listening to a Stroma exile talking about her love for the island and how she longed to go back.
“I was fishing for a lot of years around Stroma and around our coast here from Dunnet Head to Keiss,” Gordon said. “I got it firmly in my mind that I had to do a tune for Stroma, because I had acquaintances there. Stroma people were, to my mind, very fine folk.
“When I had my first boat, the Stroma boys used to give me a lot of assistance and advice and they used to take my lobsters into Wick. At that time the lobsters went off by train to Billingsgate.
“They were very helpful and would never leave you in the lurch. The Stroma folk, I couldn’t fault them in any way.
“I’ve had long experience of the sea here and the tides. I fished around Stroma.
“A lot of Stroma people left that island and it really was quite a wrench. However hard it was, it was their home and they had to adapt to other ways.”
Gordon is delighted with how the album has turned out.
“I’m very pleased with it,” he said. “There’s nine sets of tunes and seven of them are my own compositions,
“I was encouraged by Gordon Gunn and I got great encouragement from Addie Harper. They’ve been a tremendous help to me, and Neil Macgregor was very good.”
On the sleeve notes Gordon says he has been greatly supported by his wife Marilyn over the years – and also by their dog, Mary. The West Highland terrier features on the front of the album and is evidently one of Gordon’s biggest fans.
“It doesn’t matter where about or when I play, she has got to be at my side,” Gordon explained. “If I go to the other room to play and leave my wife at the TV, she just makes a fuss until she gets through.
“She is 10 years old and has done that since she was a pup. It doesn’t matter what I play, she has got to be in on it. She sits and looks and her ears go back.”
Gordon has strong connections with fellow musicians in Shetland.
“I’m a member of the Shetland Fiddlers’ Society and I play with them on the fiddle every time I’m up in Shetland,” he said.
“I’ve played in various places with them, I’ve played on a cruise ship with them in Shetland, I’ve played in various halls... They’re a great crowd. I love the fiddle.”
Stroma Road is available at a price of £12 in First and Last and the post office at John O’Groats, the Kiln Store and Riverside Interiors (both Thurso) and Gail’s Gift Box (Wick).
The album artwork is by Dave Milligan, who has links to Watten, Wick and Canisbay.