The Folk Archive Resource North East (FARNE) website has lots of great recordings of Northumbrian musicians, most notably the great smallpiper Billy Pigg, solo and playing with various others, including piccolo player John Doonan, who plays a couple reels on his own. Also there’s a home recording with a highly amped up Paddy Tunney (Ulster singer), Paddy sings a couple songs including the Green Fields of Americkay, which you might recognize from one of those Planxty albums.
Years ago I learned an air from a recording of Billy, the Lark in the Clear Air. Played in G this is a wonderful tune to harmonize on, you can play a lot of it with just the left hand, leaving the right hand free to strike the keys. I’ve read that Johnny Doran and Leo Rowsome both played this tune as well, although I’ve never come across a recording of either playing it. Billy had influences from Scottish and Irish piping and was just a marvelous musician, he really put his soul into what he played, and by all means you should hear some of his music.
I think they must be having a temporary problem with the archive website. I got there earlier with no problem, and I can get to the FARNE homepage and other pages. I was going to post a photograph and needed to back and I couldn’t. Anyway, it is really a very interesting website for a number of reasons----broadside ballads, photos, all sorts of things. Thanks!