Browse Content (32 total)
- Collection: Hornpipes
Men of Ulster, The
Seán Maguire recorded this tune and gave it the above title. It may be found in Ryan's Mammoth Collection in the key of G-major under the name 'Norfolk'. The beginning of the tune always brings to mind the hornpipe 'The Wily Bachelor'. Laurel…
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…
Queen of May, The
Leo Rowsome recorded this intricate hornpipe many years ago on a 78 RPM record. I recorded it with master piper Liam O'Flynn in 1988 on my record Notes From My Mind. On this track flute player Kevin Crawford joins me in keeping the tune alive.
Séamus Connolly's
I was honoured when Mrs. Matilda Murdoch from New Brunswick composed this hornpipe for me on her ninetieth birthday. After a night of playing music together at her daughter's home in Massachusetts, Matilda presented me with this very recording of…
Silver Slipper, The
Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band from Boston recorded this tune in 1929 on a 78 RPM record. I came to befriend the band's banjo player, Neil Nolan, back in the '70s, and we had many good times playing music. Neil played his instrument left-handed and was…
Tom Turkington's in A Major
Here is another tune from the playing of Tom Turkington of County Tyrone. I searched for its name, and I asked a number of reliable sources for a title, but I have come up empty-handed. So, what better name than 'Tom Turkington's in A Major'? Tom's…
Tom Turkington's in B Flat
Tom Turkington's performance on my fiddle that night long ago in County Clare featured this hornpipe in B flat. I don't have a title for this tune, so I pay tribute to Tom Turkington by naming it for him. Listening to the great Kimberley Fraser's…
Turn of the Season
I have had the great pleasure of living in New England for many years, first in Massachusetts, and now in Maine. When I reflect on the beauty of the region, I picture its snow, its mountains, rivers, and lakes. I think of springtime when everything…
Tyrone Among the Bushes
Another tune from the playing of Tom Turkington from County Tyrone. This hornpipe is one of the tunes that he played on my fiddle so long ago at a concert at a Fleadh Cheoil in County Clare. Séamus Duffy, the traditional singer and…
Wee Folk, The
David Curry was born in 1899 in Belfast, where he worked as a conductor, arranger, and broadcaster. He also played violin. I have always enjoyed listening to his music, which included his own arrangements of traditional melodies. I recorded some of…
West End, The
I recorded Mrs. Galvin playing this hornpipe at a concert over fifty years ago in County Clare. Jerry O'Sullivan plays it on this track with a slightly different arrangement. This tune is sometimes attributed to the nineteenth-century Newcastle…
Willie Week
The memory of legendary piper Willie Clancy from County Clare continues to be immortalised with this fine hornpipe. A composition of County Tyrone's All-Ireland champion fiddle player Jimmy McHugh, the tune is played here for us by Jimmy's son Benny.…