Browse Content (338 total)

Achonry Lassies

10-05_Achonry_Lassies-Reel.pdf
Yet another great old tune that was given to me by Chicago fiddle player Johnny McGreevy. The young fiddle player Tina Lech, one of my favourite musicians, plays the tune for us on this track.

Part of:

Aftermath of the Ice Storm

07-08_Aftermath_of_the_Ice_Storm-Slow_Reel.pdf
New England is known for its ever-changing weather patterns, and for snow, rain, sleet, and ice. In 2008, the New England states were badly hit with an unforgettable ice storm. People were stranded and without heat in their homes for weeks. Trees…

Part of:

Ah, a Simple Little Yoke

04-26_Ah_a_Simple_Little_Yoke-Jig.pdf
When I visited the accordion master Finbarr Dwyer at his home in County Clare, he played this jig, which he had composed when he was about ten years old. Finbarr did not think too highly of the tune: he can be heard on the recording describing it…

Part of:

Ambrose Moloney's

06-06_Ambrose_Moloneys-Reel.pdf
Joe Burke, my lifelong friend, was leader of The Leitrim Céilí Band, named not for the county of Leitrim, but for a townland in east County Galway. I was honoured to have been a member of that musical group when we won the Senior…

Part of:

Ancient Stones

06-08_Ancient_Stones-Air.pdf
My long-time friend Margaret Lawrie from Birmingham, England, composed this lovely air. The tune was the title track on her latest CD recording, which was dedicated to ten-year-old Rose Cronin, who died of leukemia. Meg told me that she took pictures…

Part of:

Any Auld Thing At All

02-13_Any_Auld_Thing_At_All-Jig.pdf
My brother Martin learned this version of 'The Victor's Return' from fiddle player Johnny Cronin from County Kerry. When Martin asked Johnny for the tune's title, Johnny told Martin to call it 'any auld thing at all'! Martin was reluctant to play the…

Part of:

Around Lough Graney

06-25_Around_Lough_Graney-Reel.pdf
Who better to perform this tune than Martin Hayes, whose home place in County Clare is close to Lough Graney? This reel was shared back and forth across the Shannon among musicians from counties Galway, Tipperary, and Clare. Martin's treatment of the…

Part of:

Ashcraft-Fraser House

05-07_Ashcraft-Fraser_House-Reel.pdf
Barbara MacDonald Magone is the composer of this happy reel. She plays it for us in her own beautiful style. Barbara is admired by musicians for her solo piano playing and her sensitivity when performing with others. She composed 'Ashcraft-Fraser…

Part of:

Ballina Lassies, The

08-15_The_Ballina_Lassies-Reel.pdf
I can picture Jimmy Noonan with his eyes closed and his shoulder going up and down as he plays this tune with accordionist Dan Gurney. When Jimmy moves like this playing his flute, it is a visible sign that he is 'in the groove', giving the music the…

Part of:

Ballykinler Reel

02-33_and_02-34_Ballykinler_Reel.pdf
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…

Part of:

Banks of the Shannon, The

10-21_The_Banks_of_the_Shannon-Reel.pdf
The reel played on this track by Catherine McEvoy was one that Paddy O'Brien and I had considered recording with Charlie Lennon for The Banks of the Shannon mini-LP that we made in the 1970s. I'm not exactly sure why we did not record it. Then,…

Part of:

Barney's Jig

08-09_Barneys_Jig.pdf
This track comes to us courtesy of Kathleen Boyle from Glasgow. Kathleen recorded it in Donegal in 2011 in the county where her grandfather, the great Néillidh Boyle, lived. Kathleen carries on her grandfather's tradition of composing as she…

Part of:

Bells of Congress, The

07-29_The_Bells_of_Congress-Planxty.pdf
The Bells of Congress were presented to the United States by the Ditchley Foundation of Great Britain in 1976. A replica of the bells in London's Westminster Abbey, they are rung in honour of the opening and closing of Congress, and on state…

Part of:

Biddy from Sligo

10-23_Biddy_from_Sligo-Jig.pdf
The fiddle master Néillidh Boyle recorded this tune as part of a two-jig set in Dublin in 1937. That recording happened to be the very first record of Irish fiddle music that I had when I was growing up. It is performed on this track by…

Part of:

Biddy from Sligo / The Connaughtman's Rambles

10-29_The_Connaughtmans_Rambles-Jig.pdf
And as we present this last selection, we come to the end of a long musical journey. It is my hope that whoever reads my stories, anecdotes, and ramblings will get some insight into the tunes' histories, and some new information about them.…

Part of:

Bill Sullivan's Jig

07-34_Bill_Sullivans_Jig.pdf
Accordion player William Sullivan immigrated from Clifden, Ireland, to New York City in the 1920s, later settling in Parlin, New Jersey. He recorded this tune on Sampler Records in the late 1980s in a duo with Mitzie Collins, a hammered dulcimer and…

Part of:

Billy Caples' Barndance

06-32_Billy_Caples_Barndance.pdf
This barndance is another tune from the repertoire of Boston accordionist Billy Caples. I am joined by Nicole Rabata playing flute and Kevin McElroy playing the tenor banjo. Gabriel Donohue later added his piano playing to the track.

Part of:

Bird's Nest, The

04-19_The_Birds_Nest-Reel.pdf
Tina Lech, a former fiddle instructor at Boston College, performs this tune for all of us to hear. Tina learned the reel from a tape I gave to her of Larry Redican, the Dublin fiddle player who lived in New York. The tune's title was given to me by…

Part of:

Blue Ribbon Polka, The

06-23_The_Blue_Ribbon_Polka.pdf
Another tune popular in Boston during the days of the Dudley Street dance halls was this polka. It is played here on uilleann pipes by Jerry O'Sullivan from New York.

Part of:

Blue-Eyed Rascal, The

05-32_The_Blue-Eyed_Rascal-Set_Dance.pdf
A tune not often heard is this set dance. I am grateful to Mr. Larry Redican Jr. for giving me permission to present his father's performance of it in this collection. I have fond memories of Larry Sr. playing it for me in my home when I lived in…

Part of:

Output Formats

atom, csv, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2