About the Dreg Song Project
In the nineteenth century, Scotsmen fished for oysters in the Firth of Forth by dragging dredges over the oyster 'scalps'. To maintain a steady speed they sang as they rowed. Overfishing brought the industry to a close near the turn of the twentieth century and with it, the use of the dreg songs. In the 1930s James Madison Carpenter gathered some of these songs on wax cylinders and typewritten pages. For years the songs were hidden away - lost. Now, with the work of the James Madison Carpenter Project these songs have come back to life first at Mystic Seaport Museum and, this summer, in their home waters of the Firth! Three Scottish Coast Rowing Clubs: Rowporty, Newhaven Coastal Rowing and Boatie Blest brought the songs home to the Firth at 7:30 pm on 20 June, 2012 near the Dalriada Bar. It was a memorable and historic evening!
Ale Art Alert
Bob Hogg from Inveralmond Brewery sent this artwork for the Dreg Songs Ale pump clip. For those not familiar with real ale (my preferred style of beer, as it happens), the beer is pulled from the cask using a pump with a long handle to which a clip identifying the beer is attached. Here is Bob’s artwork:
And, for a lark, here is a photo of my cellar ‘pub’ showing a pump clip in use. My hand is on the pump handle and the pump clip is right at the bottom of the image.
Serving a pint of homebrew
CARPENTER PROJECT SPONSORS
University of Aberdeen
American Folklife Center
American Folklore Society
The British Academy
Elphinstone Institute
Greentrax Recordings
National Endowment for the Humanities