Jimmy MacBeath was a Scottish Traveller and Traditional singer of the Bothy ballads from the north east of Scotland.
12 Facts About Jimmy MacBeath
1.
2.
Jimmy MacBeath was both a mentor and source for fellow singers during the mid 20th century British folk revival.
3.
Jimmy MacBeath had a huge repertoire of songs, which were recorded by Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson.
4.
Jimmy MacBeath was born to a family of Scottish Travellers in the fishing village of Portsoy, Banffshire, Scotland.
5.
Jimmy MacBeath learned songs such as "Lord Randall" from his mother.
6.
Jimmy MacBeath was a bachelor all his life and learned many songs in the bothies, or farm huts where the male farm workers lived.
7.
Jimmy MacBeath was to be a traveller for much of his life; in 1908 he took his first long walk, from Inverness to Perth.
8.
Jimmy MacBeath tended to wander during the summer, and spend the winter in Elgin.
9.
Jimmy MacBeath died in Tor-na-Dee Hospital in Aberdeen and was buried in his native Portsoy.
10.
Jimmy MacBeath was part of the last generation to sing traditional songs in bothies, along with John Strachan, and Willie Scott, In the 1920s he travelled the roads with Davie Stewart, who was a singer, and who played the bagpipes and accordion.
11.
Jimmy MacBeath lived in "model lodging houses", government-run houses for homeless men, slightly better than "flophouses".
12.
Jimmy MacBeath describes the initiation ceremony of "The Horseman's Word", a kind of Masonic organisation for horsemen wanting to control horses using secret words.