Angus Campbell

“Angus Campbell” is a “concert reel” composed by Scottish fiddler J. Scott Skinner (1842-1927), who set the tempo at 136 BPM. Skinner created it as a companion piece to his strathspey “The Laird o’ Drumblair,” using the same melodic motif fashioned into reel form. The melody quickly found its way into traditional repertory on both sides of the Atlantic and can now be heard played by American Mid-West fiddlers as well as Canadian and New England musicians. The tune was probably first published in Skinner’s “Harp & Claymore” (1903-4) and re-published in “The Scottish Violinist” (c. 1910). Skinner recorded the tune several times between 1899 and 1922. The tune has been circulating on Prince Edward Island for at least a few generations, with the melody undergoing subtle evolution in different regional interpretations.