Walter Bulwer
Walter Bulwer was born in 1888 in the village of Shipdham where he lived all his life, and worked as a self-employed tailor and barber amongst other things. His father had taught his two sons Walter and Chamberlain, to play the violin and read music from a very early age, and music was at the centre of Walter’s life for the next sixty-odd years. Walter played the banjo, viola and mandolin as well as the fiddle, could knock a tune out of an old ten-key melodeon, and had also played clarinet and trombone in the village band. Before the First World War, Walter played with a piano player at servants’ parties in the big houses in the locality. In 1916 he and Daisy married, and for the next forty years they played for weddings, Walter on fiddle and Daisy on piano or banjo.
Read the rest of this article by Reg Hall on the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust web site http://www.eatmt.org.uk
Mustrad article MT185 by Chris Holderness at http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bulwer.htm
Discography:
English Country Music, Topic TSCD607. The greatly expanded CD reissue of the original LP Record No 1. Recorded 1959-66. Walter and Daisy with Billy Cooper, Reg Hall, Russell Wortley, Mervyn Plunkett, Scan Tester and Mr Hawkins.
Heel and Toe, Veteran VT150CD Four tracks: Recorded 1959-62 Walter and Daisy, with Billy Cooper and Edna Wortley. (Two tracks also available on Veteran cassettes: I Thought I Was the Only One: Dulcimer Players From England Veteran VTVS07/08
Rig-a-Jig-Jig: Dance music of the South of England , Topic TSCD659 (The Voice of the People Series, No 9) Walter plays Old Mrs Cuddledee on the mandolin-banjo and a medley of hornpipes on the fiddle, recorded 1959
We've Received Orders to Sail, Topic TSCD662 (The Voice Of The People Series, No 12) Walter plays The Sailor Cut Down in his Prime on the fiddle.
Scan Tester: I Never Played to Many Posh Dances, Topic LPs 12TS455/6 and Veteran cassettes VTVS03/04 Three tracks: Recorded 1966 Walter and Daisy with Reg Hall and Scan Tester.