Fire captain charms station, community with bagpiping

BY MORGAN JOSEY, The Gaston Gazette

Ride by Gastonia Fire Station No. 7 on Gaston Day School Road before the sun sets, and you may hear the earthy, high-pitched warbles of a bagpipe.

 The wind instrument belongs to Capt. Tony Clanton, a lifetime musician and budding bagpipe aficionado.

 "All my life as a little kid my dad always bought me instruments, whether it was a trumpet, a bass guitar, a mandolin, whatever," said Clanton, 49. "Then he would take it and sell it and buy me something else."

 Clanton fell in love with the bagpipe after hearing a friend play it at a funeral two years ago, he said.

 "The bagpipes just sort of touched me," Clanton said. "And being a musician already, I just decided to buy me a set."

 A Gastonia firefighter for 25 years, Clanton keeps a busy schedule. He makes home repairs for real estate companies and also plays acoustic guitar for Bethlehem Baptist Church. He and friend Jeff Wiggins are building a concert hall and recording studio at Jeff’s Amazing Music Store on East Franklin Boulevard.

 Clanton finds time to practice his bagpipe at work, pacing in front of the fire station, pushing air from his lungs through the blowpipe and tapping his fingers over the chanter. The loud, shrill sounds transform to traditional tunes such as "Amazing Grace," "Sweet Hour of Prayer" and "Scotland the Brave."

 Sometimes, Clanton gets a chance to perform for a crowd. He joined the Ceol na Gael Irish pipe band in Charlotte last year and has played in two St. Patrick’s Day parades in Charlotte and Cornelius and a Fourth of July parade in Waxaw, he said.

 He also plans to join the Gastonia Fire Department’s Honor Guard, which attends funerals of former employees and family members. The Honor Guard is about six years old and has about 15 members, said Capt. Kerr Foy with Fire Station No. 3 on Wellons Drive.

 "Tony is very talented," said Michael Holian, pipe major for Ceol na Gael. "He’s very involved in playing for his church so he picked up the bagpipe a little quicker."

 Beginners typically need eight months to a year to learn the bagpipe, Holian said, which can be difficult because they must memorize the notes to play.

 "It’s a lot to it really," Clanton said. "It’s very hard."

 And expensive, he said. His black and gold McCallum bagpipe cost about $1,500, he said, and he plans to spend another $1,200 or so on his kilt outfit.

 The instrument appeals to many people because of its Irish and Scottish roots, Holian said.

 "I’m not Irish. I’m not Scottish,"

Clanton said. "I got into it for the music."

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