ARCHIVE DISCOVERY!
While clearing out under the seats in the hall the other night, we uncovered a dusty bundle of old Rowlin Stane magazines.
For younger followers, Rowlin Stane was the legendary Ulster-Scots music magazine published in Galgorm from the late 1950s until the late 1980s (maybe).
It was published three times a day during the week and five editions every Saturday. Nobody really knows why. It just was.
This particular issue stopped us in our tracks...
BOB’S ELECTRIC LAMBEG!
Most music fans know about the famous moment when Bob “went electric at Newport in 1965”.
What many don’t know is that, several years earlier, he had quietly attended the 1962 Galgorm Folk Festival, where he became fascinated by Lambeg drums and their dynamic acoustic potential.
Within weeks, he was reportedly working alongside Galgorm drum makers to produce the world’s first Electric Lambeg™.
Unlike modern electronic drums, this beast featured a proper valve amplifier, industrial-grade cabling and a volume control with only two settings:
LOUD and WHY?
THE EVIDENCE
Naturally, historians remain divided.
However...
A third cousin of Arlo Guthrie allegedly lived at the top end of the Sand Road for several months in the early 1970s.
According to a man whose granda once fixed his bicycle, this third cousin claimed that Arlo personally saw an Electric Lambeg backstage at Woodstock.
This evidence has yet to be checked.
WHY GALGORM?
Bob was apparently very fond of Galgorm.
He loved the fishing.
He appreciated the scenery.
And he quickly realised there was only one place on earth capable of building an instrument powerful enough to drown out an entire folk audience.
WHERE IS IT NOW?
Some believe it belongs in a museum.
Others think it should be displayed beside the greatest instruments in folk music history.
Personally...
...we suspect it’s behind three paint tins, an old lawnmower and a broken freezer in a shed somewhere outside Los Angeles.
ONE THING IS CERTAIN...
They don’t make magazines like Rowlin Stane anymore.
Perhaps it’s time for a relaunch?
(Three editions a day, of course. Five on Saturdays.)