He learned to play the instrument from the Clough family, and studied pipemaking with John E. Baty.
Mowat, like Tom Clough, had studied the pipes with Thomas Todd, but he had a very different style from the Cloughs' close-fingered playing.
At the end of his life, 'Young Tom' recalled piping sessions at the 'Willow Tree' in Newsham, with his father Tom, grandfather Henry Clough, and Richard Mowat all playing - Henry's and Richard Mowat's playing would get more furious and inaccurate as the evening progressed; Tom was teetotal.
Tom Hanks | Tom Waits | Tom Jones | Tom Jones (singer) | Tom Cruise | Tom and Jerry | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Tom Petty | Tom Stoppard | Tom Clancy | Tom Wolfe | Tom Selleck | Tom Baker | Tom Brokaw | Tom Robinson | Tom Mix | Tom | Tom Paxton | Tom DeLay | Tom Sawyer | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Tom Joyner | Tom Harkin | Tom Green | Tom Brady | Tom Ridge | Tom Berenger | Brian Clough | Tom Robbins | Tom Harrell |
In another tape, he talked in detail about pipemaking, and in a third he recalled Tom Clough, Richard Mowat, G.G. Armstrong and 'Kielder Jock' Davison.