Listen, if I had a spare £4500, I wouldn’t be writing this, nor pointing you in the direction of Roger Bucknall’s Fylde Guitars newsletter. There you will see that Archie Fisher’s lovely 2006 Fylde Falstaff is for sale.

https://www.fyldeguitars.com/news.html

Archie has retired from professional gigging, and is presumably rationalising his guitar collection. Though he once told me that (at the time) he only possessed two “as you can only play one at a time.” According to Roger Archie is keeping his trusty Fylde Orsino, a model of guitar I once owned simply because it was the one the great Nic Jones played, prior to the road crash that robbed him, and us, of his wonderful skills.

I no longer have that Orsino, as it didn’t suit my rather ‘strum und drang’ approach. And there are too many guitars, not to mention a banjo and a mandolin, at home for me to acquire another without causing some domestic interrogation. On the other hand, I have just sold two guitars (for a profit!) on eBay, which only leaves , let’s see…nine. Including the most recent, and youngest: a wonderful hand-made-in-Quebec ‘Art & Lutherie’ prototype which cost a fraction of a Fylde and sounds like a million (Canadian) dollars.

Archie played his (so far) final professional show last October in the Ardersier Folk Club last October – appropriate because he has been a champion of folk clubs since pioneering the movement in early 1960s Edinburgh. His musical importance and influence is incalculable. From the Incredible String `Band to Barbara Dickson, John Martyn and far beyond – he played guitar on record for Tom Paxton – he’s been a great encourager and mentor, accompanist, producer and of course broadcaster. I first met him when we were both presenters on BBC Radio Scotland, and then every so often I would bump into him in Lerwick during his frequent trips there in the early years of the century.

As a songwriter, interpreter and rescuer of of traditional material and performer he remains unsurpassed. That incredible voice and superb guitar technique reflect an in-person ease and self-effacing warmth that has made him countless friends across the world, notably in Canada.

And a pioneer in all kinds of ways. There is his early work with the Fisher family, the duo with his sister Ray; his solo recording of the traditional Reynardine in 1968, on which he played sitar (having brought one back from a previous trip to India) pipped at the post the Beatles and other would-be adopters of Asian influences. And along with the likes of Davey Graham and Bert Jansch he brought the steel-strung guitar to the forefront of British folk music. He co-wrote (with Norman Buchan and my old friend and colleague the late Bobby Campbell) the famous song The Shipyard Apprentice.

Back to that guitar. As its maker, Roger Bucknall says, it’s fascinating to ponder the songs that have been played on it over the years. Where it’s been, what it’s seen. The video below has Archie and Barbara Dickson, and the instrument in question.

I’ve taken two liberties here. One is to compile a wee personal playlist/sequence of songs that includes Archie-related and performed material, and spirals off into tunes and songs that may or may not have anything to do with him. It’s uncompromisingly folky, features a lot of traditional stuff and music some of you may not associate with me. But there you go. I’m a kind of folk club veteran, thanks to the Eglinton in Irvine, back when I was 17. And I particularly remember Bobby Campbell’s wake in Edinburgh, watching Owen Hand play and sing, and Lord Gus MacDonald shaking his head in wonder. And seeing Archie perform at Aberdeen Folk Club is a memory to treasure. Was he playing the Fylde Falstaff? I can’t remember that.

I’ve uploaded the hour or so of songs to Mixcloud, which you can access here or here:

https://www.mixcloud.com/tom-morton2/an-hour-of-folk-music-tentatively-and-sometimes-obscurely-related-to-the-great-archie-fisher/

And the Spotify playlist follows.

The other liberty is the song you can hear below which is, with a few pieces of poetic licence, the story of an incident that occurred in Edinburgh way back in them crazy 1960s. It’s related in gleeful and forensic detail in record producer Joe Boyd’s terrific memoir White Bicycles. I asked Archie about the tale live on air once and he nonchalantly confirmed that it all actually happened. So I hope he won’t be too offended. Played on a Takamine, which I hope won’t offend Roger Bucknall…

Here’s the Spotify playlist:

Archie’s Leap

He discovered his lover in flagrante delicto

He feared the man she was with had a banjo

In a tenement building, he was on the third floor

Had to get out, could not find the door

The window was open, the air was fresh and clean

He sobered up quickly if you know what I mean

As he was descending through the Edinburgh Air

He wondered if he ought to have taken the stairs

Or hoped for a lock in at Sandy Bells

How long he was falling it’s quite hard to tell

Then he decided he knew how to fly

If he just moved his arms, but it was too late to try

They called it Archie’s Leap

That learning curve was steep

Better to jump than it is to creep

Better make Archie’s Leap

The woman he loved owned a wee MG

Or an Austin Healey, witnesses disagree

It had a soft top convertible roof

Parked under the window – he’s the living proof

That from the third floor a man can survive

Though my advice is not to drink and dive

Would he do it again? Well, that’s hard to say

Though a broken arm is a small price to pay

The car was a write off, the suspension was broken

As for its owner, not one word was spoken

Except to insist that everyone should know

She’d not tolerate someone who played the banjo

They called it Archie’s Leap

That learning curve was steep

Better to jump than it is to creep

Better make Archie’s Leap

Copyright Tom Morton 2025

Dick Gaughan box set

One additional thing. There’s a Kickstarter campaign underway to produce an 8-CD box set of unreleased and unavailable Dick Gaughan material, with all profits going straight to Dick himself. He’s not been well and is unable to perform, and his contribution, never properly rewarded, to music k/p—pppin Scotland beyond is absolutely vast.

I’m pleased to note that the Kickstarter target has been surpassed, indeed doubled, but if you want a copy of the box set or the accompanying live double CD, it would be worth getting involved.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2121905920/dick-gaughan-r-evolution-1969-84-an-8-disc-box-set