James Hill

James Hill was born in Scotland at some time between 1813 and 1818. Oral tradition says that his family came from the Dundee area. He was most active musically in the 1840's and 1850's as a highly influential urban virtuoso fiddler and tunesmith in the Tyneside area of the UK, around Gateshead and Newcastle. It is supposed that he died at or just beyond the end of the 1850's. The most important collection of his tunes and summary of his life and times is the currently out-of-print book:- The Lads Like Beer, The Fiddle Music Of James Hill; Dixon,Graham; Midlothian; Random Pub.; 1987