Browse Content (338 total)
Old Schoolmaster, The
'Maestro' Seán Maguire played this tune in the key of A major at a concert in Kilfenora, County Clare, many years ago. My friend Sally K. Sommers Smith Wells reminded me that it somehow was like the song 'Love Will You Marry Me?' Brendan…
Old Mill Road, The
As I travel throughout the country, I have a compulsive habit of looking at street signs in the hope of discovering a good name or title for a new musical composition. I have seen a few variations on the above title and often wondered what road…
Old Man in the Hob
In this song, the old man sitting by the fireside calls his sons together to relate to them what it was like living and surviving in days gone by: true stories of tough times. Running somewhat parallel with the words of this song are words spoken to…
Old Blackbird, The
Looking back in time, one of my special memories of working on this project was the visit I made to Finbarr Dwyer. As I was setting up my recording machine he was playing this, his very own version of 'The Old Blackbird'. I have always loved this…
Old as the Hills
Jack Coen gave me the name for this jig, which can be found as a two-part tune in A major in the O'Neill's 1001 collection. I first heard the tune played by 'The Man of Many Tunes', Larry Gavin. I also heard a version of it performed by Mr. David…
Old 78 Record, An
Geraldine Cotter liked this tune the first time she heard me playing it. 'Let's try and record it', she said, and as I played the jig a second time she followed right along. This track is the result of our efforts. I do not have a name for this jig,…
O'Reilly's Fancy
My friend in Tulla, Larry Gavin, sent me this reel thirty-five years ago. I love Larry's accordion playing and I am grateful to him for supplying many wonderful tunes to me during all the years that I have lived in America. Larry, as they say, you…
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…
O'Brien's Tower
Paddy O'Brien, the learned and beloved accordionist from County Offaly who now lives in Minneapolis, recorded 'O'Brien's Tower', one of his many compositions, for me while on a visit to the home of Sally K. Sommers Smith Wells and her husband Paul…
O'Brien the Blacksmith
Another song from the pen of Robbie McMahon. I first heard him sing it at a County Clare Fleadh Cheoil over fifty years ago, and it has stayed with me down through the years. Robbie sang it again for me the afternoon that I visited his home in 2009,…
North Road, The
My young friend Meghan Mette composed this reel. I was delighted that she asked me to play it with her, along with Nicole Rabata on flute and Kevin McElroy on mandolin. She tells us how the tune came about: 'I wrote this tune for Séamus first…
North Clare Jig
Paddy Kierse, as Ciarán Mac Mathúna said on his Radio Éireann program A Job of Journeywork, was a lovely old musician. Ciarán recorded his playing of this tune on a visit to north County Clare. Mr. Kierse, from Kilnaboy, near Kilfenora, had…
Night Above the Abbey, The
A tune composed by Sean Gavin when he was nineteen years old. The tune is in honour of good musical times that were had at the famed Abbey Pub in Chicago, a traditional music hub for many years. Sean plays his creation on flute (he is a…
New Road to Sligo, The
David Reiner composed 'The New Road to Sligo'. It is played for us by Liz Carroll. David told me that he composed this tune 'to tell the story of a musical road trip, from the bold beginning in G minor, to the detour into B flat, to the simpler and…
Ned and Dan O'Connor
Another tune from the playing of Máire O'Keeffe. Ned and Dan O'Connor, two musicians from the Scartaglen area of Sliabh Luachra, were often heard playing this slide.
My Meitheal Class
A week-long Irish music school known as Meitheal is held every year in Limerick. The five-day immersion in Irish music is directed by flute player Garry Shannon. As a teacher at the summer school, I had an assignment to work with a group of students…
Mug of Black Tea
Growing up in Ireland, and while practicing my fiddle in the home of my grandmother, Elizabeth Collins (née Rochford), I drank many's the mug of black tea. I remember her tea being very strong and having to drink it without milk. I questioned…
Mrs. Ryan's
Ciarán Mac Mathúna from Radio Éireann recorded this tune from concertina player Mrs. Ryan from Ballinaclough, Nenagh, County Tipperary. Although this tune is played as a slide, the area around North Tipperary and Limerick is…
Mrs. Galvin's Barndance
The fiddle playing of Mrs. Ellen Galvin, who was born in the 1880s, certainly did sound as though it were from an earlier time in history. I remember seeing her perform in a concert in West Clare in the late 1950s. I was enthralled with her music…
Mr. and Mrs. Ted McGraw
I have known Ted and Bridget McGraw of Rochester, New York, since the 1980s. I have great memories of playing with Ted in The Village Coachhouse, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a veritable musical institution that was owned by the Varian family of…