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Like a Gig in Heaven

Here’s a few little bootleg recordings from a gig I did on Garnish Island..

One of the nicest days ever. Organised by The Good Room. Photos are by Bríd O’Donovan.

There was a walking tour of the Island with little stops for 25 minute musical performances.

I was taken to my spot and setup my amp and guitar. As I was warming up I put my recorder in front of my amp.

These are some recordings from both my gig and a few tunes I played for some people who decided to listen to me warming up..

It was a nice bill to be on. There was the amazing David Murphy doing material from his recent album of traditional melodies on pedal steel guitar, Brian Leach was doing his celtic experimentalism with his home made hammer dulcimer. Sorcha De Roiste sang sean nós songs. I did my bog jazz stuff.. Myself and Sorcha did two duets which I didn’t record but here’s one of the songs that we did in 2019.

Here’s a few pic form the day and like I said above all photos are by Bríd O’Donovan

I did a few on the fiddle
Sorcha De Roiste and myself
Sorcha singing
Sorcha again
David Murphy on the pedal steel guitar
Brian Leach
Sorcha & Myself having a tune in the boat

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Duchas 24

Duchas 24 is a CD I worked on for Kerry Comhaltas. It a very nicely put together collection of all sorts of tunes and songs performed with great skill and style. Many great young musicians are recorded here for the first time and I think several of them will proceed to make their mark on Irish traditional music in the coming years.

kerrycce.bandcamp.com/album/duchas-24

I’m really proud of my work on it. We recorded most of it at the Duchas building in Tralee over a day and a bit. The musicians and singers showed great competence, confidence and you could really sense the work that had been put in to their arrangements. As usual I tried my best to make the recording sound as natural as possible and I have to compliment the room at the Duchas Centre for being an amazing venue to record in. The only thing I could only say that I wish there was more Sliabh Luachra music on it. I’m duty bound to say things like that but you won’t even notice as it is a very entertaining album from start to finish.

The album is the brainchild of John Stack of Kerry CCE and it was envisioned as an homage, update and tribute to the original Duchas record that came out in 1978. That is a much treasured and rare to find record now but you might learn more about it here:
rushymountain.com/2021/04/11/duchas/
Well done to John for his dedication and foresight. I hope it inspires young and old.

Anyway I thought some of you might be interested in collecting the Duchas 24 album and if you do I hope you enjoy it.

I should be back soon with new release on the Sliabh Luachra label and another digital rerelease of a classic from a few years ago on the Scullys Fest page.

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Dan Herlihy Albums Digitised

I’ve digitally reissued two of the late Dan Herlihy’s albums through the Scullys Fest label. I’m delighted to have gotten permission to do this because I think it’s really important for Dan’s music to get an audience and go on to inspire and teach another generation. I also digitised the sleeve notes and they can be downloaded with the albums.. #sliabhluachra🙂 Please support it and tell people.
https://scullysfest.bandcamp.com/

Dan was a great champion of Sliabh Luachra music and he also published books of tunes. This is a short bio of Dan from the World Fiddle Day Scartaglin website:

Dan Jas. Herlihy. (Accordion).Born in Ballydesmond in 1942. Early tuition from his grandmother Kate, a concertina player, his mother Molly, a fiddle player, and Jack O’Connell of Lighthouse was also a big influence. Emigrated to London 1960 and played with Michael Gorman, Raymond Roland and many more great players. Returned home 1977 and played at all the sessions,féiles and festivals around the locality. He recorded a cassette tape,’Traditional Music from Sliabh Luachra’, 3 CDs and a DVD: ‘The night of the Fair’; ‘The Ballydesmond Polka’; and ‘The Millstream’. The DVD was also called ‘The Millstream’. He also published two music books: ‘Sliabh Luachra Music Masters, Vols. I and II’. He spent eight years collecting music and collected c. 900 tunes. He also taught music for about 10 yrs. in Ballydesmond. He died in 2019

https://worldfiddledayscartaglin.ie/?page_id=5
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Up for the Ball!!

Some dusty copies of the Monks of the Screw Trio CD have surfaced. There’s only three available.
It’s a very special album, full of great music. It a recording of three friends having fun playing together in the Paudy’s Scully’s back kitchen – great music’s natural habitat. It was recorded in the simplest way and it has been an inspiration for the recordings that have been made in Newmarket since then.

The 15% discount code below can still be used on any music on the Scully Fest and the Sliabh Luachra Bandcamp pages until the end of September.
Code: sept15

scullysfest.bandcamp.com

sliabhluachra.bandcamp.com

If you’re around Cork for the Folk Festival watch out for gigs featuring two of the greatest bands of all time… That’s the Ceili Allstars in the Spalpin Fanach on Fri 29th
tickets.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/11159012/C%C3%A9il%C3%AD-Allstars-&-Paul-Walker-&-Karen-Pfeiffer-/Fri-29-Sep-2023
and Tionól supporting Muireann in the Triskel on September 28th