John (Dancie) Reid

b. 1869    d. 1942

Influencial musician, teacher, dancing-master and band leader from Newtyle, Angus. His dance band consisted of members of his family, and was one of the earliest Scottish dance bands to broadcast on the radio, in 1933.

According to the CD Scottish Tradition 9: The Fiddler and his Art “Dancie Reid (1869-1942) was the last of the old fiddler-dancing masters and practiced his art up to the very end, for he died shortly after collapsing, fiddle in hand, while leading the Sean Triubhas at an assembly ball for his Kirriemuir pupils in October 1942… By the time of his death the fiddle in many parts of Scotland was giving was to accordions and melodeons as the prime instruments for the dance.”

The liner notes suggest that Reid made only one record (Edison Bell Winner 5436) which is disproved by the music included here.