Thomas Fraser - For The Sake Of Days Gone By: Final Selections From The Thomas Fraser Recordings - CD

Thomas Fraser (1927-1978) was a Shetland Islands fisherman. Since childhood, he had an obsession with country and blues music which he had first heard from a relative who had brought back records from Canada. He was further exposed to the music via the US Armed Forces Network broadcasting from Germany following WW2. In 1953, when electricity came to his remote island, he bought a reel to reel tape recorder and began recording his own unique takes of his favorite songs. Up until his untimely death in 1978 it is estimated he recorded around 2,000 tracks. Being very shy, Thomas rarely performed in public and after his death, his music was largely forgotten. In 2002, after discovering the recordings in a relatives house, Thomas’s Grandson Karl Simpson embarked on a project to restore and release his Grandfather’s music. 10 years and 6 albums later, Karl is nearing the end of what has become a phenomenon, spawning visits to Nashville, a BBC documentary and a touring National Theatre of Scotland play.

This new release is designed to close off the series of recordings by releasing into the public domain all the remaining nuggets in the Thomas Fraser archive. This new double disc album features 50 tracks and ensures that every facet of Thomas Fraser’s musical work is represented in the overall series of recordings.