Grey's notesDunaber MusicGoodiesMichael GreyPiping Today MagazineShopJohn Morrison of Assynt HouseAugust 6, 2019 on 6:30 pm by Michael Grey | In Stories | No CommentsI was talking to Glasgow piper, Craig Turnbull, a little while ago. He had been travelling in the Western Isles and the subject of the famous reel. “John Morrison of Assynt House” came up.  Craig had passed by Assynt House in Stornoway. I always had it in my mind that Peter MacLeod, Senior, the composer of this reel – a piece of music that is without doubt, one of the greatest music compositions of all time – named it for a place in Ross-shire, north of Inverness (Scotland).  Our discussion ended with me committing to do a little research to find out what was what. Because. I was sure I was right.Continue reading John Morrison of Assynt House…The best advice a boss ever gave meJune 17, 2019 on 4:01 pm by Michael Grey | In Random Thoughts | No CommentsIf the word leadership could be instantly removed from the English language the internet would have almost 4 billion fewer traces of Linkedin’s favourite noun. Four. Billion. People love “leadership”. We may not always be especially charmed by local political leaders but for leadership as a notion, an idea – there’s a lot of love.Continue reading The best advice a boss ever gave me…Tunes from John Wilson (1906 – 1979)May 29, 2019 on 4:51 pm by Michael Grey | In Audio File, Solo Piping, Stories, Video | Comments Off on Tunes from John Wilson (1906 – 1979)There aren’t a lot of easily available recordings of great players of the past – especially the long past. Here are a few samples from the great John Wilson. I no longer assume people know of him, or, for that matter, almost any of the greats of the not-so-distant-past. John Wilson was born in Edinburgh. He came from a piping family, his Uncle John, for instance, was “The Baldooser” (how’s that for a nickname). You can find the jig named “The Baldooser” in Willie Ross’s first book. John Wilson took to the pipes very young and, even then, was a good player. His life changed forever when as a kid in Edinburgh he was playing on the beach with a detonator (as one did) and blew off big parts of his left hand. He always noted in the story’s telling that this happened the day before the Great War’s Armistice in 1918; the irony appealed to him, I’m sure.Continue reading Tunes from John Wilson (1906 – 1979)…Reservoirs for the heartMay 7, 2019 on 10:47 am by Michael Grey | In From Piping Today Mag, Solo Piping, Stories | Comments Off on Reservoirs for the heartIt was a bleak, frosty, light-starved January day in Edinburgh about twenty years ago that it found me. The kind of day where the only cure for quaffing a little too long – and often – from things in Glasgow connected to things Celtic called for a long walk in cold. Oddly, it’s that special kind of lugubrious, fr