Browse Content (34 total)
Any Auld Thing At All
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…
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…
Bobbie Lawrie's
Roberta (Bobbie) Lawrie comes from the musical Lawrie family from Birmingham, England. On one occasion when I was visiting her home, Bobbie recorded some of her compositions for me. At that time, nobody in her household knew that she was composing…
Brendan McCann's
Accordion player Brendan McCann lived near Hartford in the state of Connecticut. He had many fine tunes in his repertoire, including this hornpipe which he first heard in his hometown of Moate, County Westmeath, many years ago. I was thrilled when…
Bridie's Joy
Peadar O'Loughlin's name seems to be eternally present in the world of Irish music. His music brought much joy to the Connolly household when I was growing up in County Clare. It was such a heartwarming pleasure to have him visit the home of…
Clare Glens, The
If ever you get a chance to visit The Clare Glens you will not be disappointed. They are a beautiful wooded area, very picturesque, with walkways on both sides of the Clare River. The Glens are very close to Newport, County Tipperary, and are only…
Fiddler Around the Faerie Tree, The
On the aforementioned occasion some forty years ago, Kathleen Lawrie played 'The Fiddler Around the Faerie Tree' for me as a set dance. Kathleen had learned the tune from dancing master Brendan de Glin from Derry. A shorter version of this tune may…
Fleadh at Tulla, The
At a county Fleadh Cheoil in Tulla, County Clare, in the late 1950s, I recorded fiddle player Paddy Canny and accordionist Mattie Ryan playing this tune in a duet competition. Here, Kevin Crawford joins me in playing this single jig.
Fleadh Down in Ennis, The
In 1956, Robbie McMahon from Spancilhill in County Clare composed this song about the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil held in Ennis that year. When it is sung today, it is a wonderful piece of musical history, as it is also a litany of the names of…
Freddy Kimmel's
As the howling winds from the Atlantic Ocean blew into Kinvara Harbour, Máire O'Keeffe continued to play her fiddle into the night without interruption (see 'Maurice O'Keeffe's'). The tune that she plays here was learned from the playing of…
Gentle Mother
During those trips Mulhaire's Céilí Band made to Lixnaw and other towns in County Kerry in the 1960s (see 'Tart ar an Ól'), ballad singer Josephine McNamara was another artist who made the long journey – in her case from…
Gráinne Murphy's
The first time that I saw Gráinne Murphy was when her mother and father, Joan and Dan, brought her to a music session in Watertown, Massachusetts. Gráinne did not have a fiddle with her then because she was just a little baby in a…
Hairpin Bend, The
This tune is named for a winding part of the road leading into Lisdoonvarna, County Clare. Try pedalling a bicycle up or down those hills! This single jig was very popular with The Kilfenora Céilí Band during my tenure with them. It is…
Jimmy Hogan's (Number One)
Jimmy Hogan from Liscannor in County Clare loved to play his whistle and batter out the County Clare set dances on the floor. Jimmy was an icon in Boston and he was loved by everyone who met him. This tune from north County Clare was one of his…
John Doherty's
I loved the times that I visited with John Doherty, the fiddle master from County Donegal. Playing music with him was an inspiration. Hearing his stories and listening to him play made me ask myself why I even bothered to play the fiddle. Mr. Doherty…
John Egan's
John Egan from County Sligo lived in Dublin, and he had a distinctive West of Ireland style of playing the flute. He and his musical colleagues formed a music club in that city, made up mostly of fiddle and flute players. John Egan's repertoire was…
Kathleen Lawrie's
Kathleen Lawrie, Bobbie's sister, recorded this reel for me when she visited me in Limerick in the early '70s. When Kathleen and her husband Tommy Boyle visited Sandy and me in Maine just a few years ago, I played the tune for her on the fiddle and…
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…
Larry Lynch's
This next tune comes from the playing of another fiddle player from County Kerry, the great master Paddy Cronin. When Paddy lived in Boston he always had his fiddle on the dining room table next to one of O'Neill's collections of music. Most every…
Larry Redican's in F Major
I am delighted to feature the fiddle playing of composer Larry Redican, who lived in New York City. This music comes to us from a recording he made for his friend Roger Casey, an Irish dancer from New York. Both of these gentleman would get together…