Browse Content (338 total)
Grover Jones' Waltz
The great Appalachian fiddle player Alan Jabbour recorded this tune for me with Ken Perlman on banjo and Pete Sutherland at the piano. Alan told me that Grover Jones loved to play this tune on his fiddle, and even when in the company of other…
Waltzing Down the Aisle
Another tune from the pen of Kathleen Boyle from Glasgow in Scotland. She wrote this waltz for her sister's wedding, for her to walk down the aisle to. Here we hear 'K.T.' beautifully playing her own composition on piano and piano accordion.
Just Because It's You
My dear friend Cindy Polo wrote this lovely tune in memory of her Dad. In her own words she tells us how it came to be: 'My first attempt at Irish fiddle playing was at a music camp in 2008, a violin novice, where I had the opportunity to learn from…
Homecoming, The
Kathleen Boyle, a great musician from Glasgow, composed this tune for her mother and father. They had returned home to County Donegal after living for forty-seven years in Scotland. Kathleen, who plays her composition on this track, travels back and…
O'Carolan's (Number 174)
Turlough O'Carolan's eighteenth-century compositions have attracted the attention of musicians all over the world. His music occupies a unique and permanent place in the repertoire of Irish traditional music. I learned this tune from the guitar…
Summer's Waltz
A beautiful waltz played by its composer, Eliza Mette, from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, with Kimberley Fraser at the piano. Eliza made up this tune for her friend Summer, another young and talented musician. Eliza generously took the time (from doing her…
Cruca Glás na hÉireann
The music lives and breathes in the soul of Tara Lynch. Tara, daughter of Jerry Lynch (accordionist in the 1950s with the celebrated three-time All-Ireland champion Kilfenora Céilí Band), was born in New York. She learned her music from…
Keith Corrigan's
I learned this tune from accordionist Keith Corrigan. Keith had a wonderful repertoire of fine old Irish and Québecois tunes. On one memorable visit to his home in Valcartier, north of Québec City ('God's Country', as he called it), we…
Come to the Fair
'Come to the Fair' was a very popular waltz/song played by The Kilfenora Céilí Band in the 1960s. I have always enjoyed listening to the band's singer Mary Higgins performing the song on a recording made at a céilí in…
Dogwalker, The
Cindy Polo, my good friend, phoned me one night and lilted part of this melody to me. I loved the sound of it and suggested to Cindy that it might fit naturally on the fiddle in a minor key. We talked about 'doing something with it', and so we began…
Drumnagarry Strathspey
Tommy Peoples played this tune for me at a recording session at Boston College. The tune may also be found on Tommy's fine albums Traditional Irish Music Played on the Fiddle and Waiting for a Call.
Fiddlemaster, The
During one of his short visits to Boston from his native County Donegal, the great gentleman Tommy Peoples took time out of his busy schedule to record this tune for me at The Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. It was a thrill and an honour…
Follies of Youth, The
Another young player who contributed to this project is Sean Gavin from Detroit, son of fiddle player and teacher Mick Gavin from Meelick, County Clare. Here Sean plays the flute on one of his own compositions, a strathspey that somehow must have…
Trip to Moultonborough
Meghan Mette was one of the musicians featured on 'A Polka for Matt'. She is the younger sister to Eliza Mette, who can be heard on 'Summer's Waltz'.
Here Meghan plays one of her own compositions and, below, she tells us in her own words how the…
Buddy MacMaster's
Cape Breton fiddle legend Mr. Buddy MacMaster gave this tune to our mutual friend, piano player Barbara MacDonald Magone. Barbara graciously passed it along to me when she recorded it for this collection in Portland, Maine, almost ten years ago.
Ballykinler Reel
Here, Larry Redican introduces and then plays a reel he composed to memorialise his friend, the Dublin fiddle player Frank O'Higgins. Ballykinler, in County Down in the North of Ireland, was an army base used as an internment camp during the War of…
Parting Glass, The / The Peacock's Feather
The majestic vocals of the one and only Len Graham bring us near the end of this collaborative collection as he sings 'The Parting Glass'. His is an old County Antrim setting of the song, one that he and Joe Holmes sang together in the Guild Hall,…
Lament for Mick Mackey
Poet Críostóir Mac Gearailt penned the words of this song in tribute to one of Ireland's greatest sportsmen, the mighty Mick Mackey from Ahane, County Limerick. Mick Mackey played hurling for his native county in the 1930s and '40s, and…
Edward on Lough Erne's Shore
There are a number of songs that mention Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, and much has been written about this beautiful spot. Rita Gallagher's performance of this song is a dream. Listen as one of Ireland's great singers tells the story.