DANCE TUNES, SONGS and FIDDLE TUNES written by TOMMY MURRAY in 1930s-1950s
DANCE TUNES and SONGS Tommy, my father, born in 1905, learned the violin in his teenage years. By the late 1920s, he had formed a small dance band – the OKAYS – which played in many venues across the North East of England. Tommy wrote many of the dance tunesplayed by the OKAYS. The lyrics and sentiments are of their time – but the melodies are strong and memorable.
FIDDLE TUNES He also wrote a good number of fiddle tunesshared with other musicians. Though many have been lost, several can be found in a variety of fiddle and piping tune books in the UK and beyond, often labelled as “traditional Northumbrian”, which is a compliment to him.
We hope that this website will help put some of his lesser known tunes back into circulation
