Culturlann March 28th
Author: admin
Getting Lost [a consideration]
Getting Lost is the B-side of Soft Storm.
Bandcamp
Add it to your account by downloading a code from this page https://dlcm.app/stan
Upcoming Show
Playing at the Culturlann, Newmarket on Saturday March 28th. Tickets here!
The Tune
I hadn’t planned to release it — but then… 🙂
It was recorded live at our Cork Folk Festival show in Coughlan’s Live. We’ve started calling the more modified tunes we play “Considerations.” Getting Lost is always a consideration — whether it’s heading off on a trip or simply beginning a sentence.
I first noticed the tune years ago at a session in the Spailpín Fánach in Cork.. It was played by an American- maybe Canadian – flute player – I can’t remember his name but he was friends with a nice American fiddle player called Alice and he was in Cork for a Hammer Dulcimer festival. Anyway I didn’t catch the name of the tune until a few years later driving back from Waterford it came on the radio. I pulled in and luckily I had a dictaphone to record it. It was a recording by Kevin Burke and he was playing the end of the third part a bit different. So then I got the name of the tune and I was able to go away and learn it. I used to play it at sessions with Ceili Allstars and later with the piper John Byrne of Arundo. The tune is the Roscommon Reel. When I put it on guitar I changed the first part to a major setting, left the second part alone and only bring in the third bit every second round. I love the tune but it’s one of the ones I’d hope no one would recognise. It’s the contrast between the fist two sections that gave me a cold sensation that reminded of getting lost.
A Soft Storm
Add it to your Bandcamp collection for free here: https://dlcm.app/stan
Soft Storm is the new single from Eoin Stan O’Sullivan & Shane Murphy, aka Bog Jazz. We’re releasing it to coincide with our Listening Project gig at Skibbereen Town Hall on December 19th, 2025.
Soft Storm is based around two jigs, Ellen O’Leary’s and The Rolling Wave.. The Bandcamp release also includes a second track Lost in the Fog is also derived from a popular traditional tune. Both tracks were recorded during the Cork Folk Festival 2025 at a sold-out show in Coughlan’s Live.
It’s available on streaming services after 12/12/2025.
Is it a Tour? :)
It’s feast or famine for the Bog Jazz Duo [if you’ve any suggestions for a new band name post them to us]
| Date | Venue |
|---|---|
| Aug 17th | Love is a Stranger Festival The bootleg |
| Sept 6th | The Island Drift, Glengarriff https://theislanddrift.com/ |
| Sept 19th/20th | Clonakilty International Guitar Festival https://clonguitarfest.com/ |
| Oct 3rd | Cork Folk Festival Tickets |
Bad Duck Blues
The next instalment of Bog Jazz from Stan & Shane.
It’s based on two wild jigs: The Ducks in the Oats and another called I’ll Never Wean Her (?). The first is associated with the famous fiddler Julia Clifford, and the second with Molly Myers Murphy.
It was recorded in St Luke’s — again — and mixed and mastered at Abbeyfeale Road Studios, Newmarket — again.
If you’d like to buy it, we’d be delighted!
Get it on BandCamp
But if you’d prefer to just add it to your Bandcamp account for free, grab a code here:
👉 dlcm.app/stan
Do You Know Bog Jazz?
My new single Do You Know Bog Jazz? is now available everywhere 🙂
Do You Know Bog Jazz? Is the secret child of Sliabh Luachra fiddle music and a misspent youth playing electric guitar in biker bars.. the unexpected offspring of two very different worlds.
sounds like Tinariwen and Television having sex.
JINX LENNON
The recording is from a gig with the great Shane Murphy on drums at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival back in October 2024.
If you’d like to buy it, I’d be delighted but if you’d just like to add it to your Bandcamp account for free get a code here:
https://dlcm.app/stan/do-you-know-bog-jazz
The name of the track is a tongue in cheek attempt to categorise this music after someone said it was like Desert Blues.
The piece is based on three reels: Within a Mile of Dublin / Johnny Allen’s / Tom Billy’s
Eoin Stan O’Sullivan – guitar.
Shane Murphy – drums.
Engineer Keith O’Connor.
Recorded by Colm Hinchion.
Mixed & Mastered by Oscar at Abbeyfeale Road Studios, Newmarket, Ireland.
Original photo by Jacqui Scully
Now tell all your friends and loved ones and please get them to play it loudly in their cars with the windows open.
Ceilí Allstars on Geantraí
It was lovely to be asked to do another appearance on Geantrí.. It was recorded in September [I think] and I remember having a lovely evening listening to all the other guests doing their bits.. They got a nice sound for us.. even though the rest of the gang liked our polkas the best, I think the set of slides rock the most.
How we go the name..
It’s more like a gang of friends than a band, but if we didn’t have a name, we might be harder to book for gigs, sessions, concerts, etc. Over the years, the lineup has been a cast of thousands, but for the last twenty years, it’s mostly been the gang you see on the Geantraí programme—except for Karl Nesbitt on the flute. He’s been joining us for the last seven or eight years on flute and drum as well.
The name originated way back in the late ’90s. I was playing fiddle with a tin whistler, Rebecca Daly, and a guitar player called Roy O’Driscoll. We had a few engagements every week in Cork City—Thursday and Sunday evenings at Snotty Joe’s and Sunday from 5 to 7 at the Hairy Lemon. We were probably advertised as Trad Session, and that was all fine until we got asked to play a mini-festival run by the CMRC (Cork Music Resource Centre). We needed to give them a name for the poster.
At that time, I was only known for playing guitar in a rock band called The Shanks. When I tried to explain to Cork City people what traditional music was, I was often met with puzzled looks. As far as I could tell, most city people understood traditional music to be ballads or Country & Irish. One day, after telling someone I was gigging, they asked cautiously, “Is it the ceili stuff?” After that, anytime I used the term ceili, it was to make sure that anyone expecting to rock out didn’t get ambushed by a diddly-eye nightmare they weren’t prepared for.
The Allstars part came from another Cork band called The Jammy Dodger Allstars. It was a sort of supergroup featuring Rory Looney (drums), Sandy Hyland (bass), Fergus Ryan (guitar), and the late Aidan O’Connell (vocals). They were really, really good, and I was very, very jealous of their name. I had seen them around the time we were booked for the mini-festival.
I was also obsessed with Joe Cooley’s music at the time. I was listening to the Omós do Joe Cooley album by Paul Brock and Frankie Gavin and trying to learn all the tunes on it.
So when I was asked for a name for the poster, I thought—When people hear us, they’ll think of the times they danced at a ceili. And to make sure they know they’re hearing the best of music, we’ll be Allstars. And let’s mention Joe Cooley as well.
We were billed as The Cooley Ceili Allstars.
The little festival gig was mad. We were joined by a conga player, Mark Wilkins. It was a bit of a blur, but I remember the crowd being totally surprised, and every set was followed by massive applause. That lineup of the band disintegrated within a few weeks, and for the following ten months, I didn’t have many gigs playing fiddle. But then something weird happened—apparently, a good percentage of the people who had watched that gig went on to manage bars in the city centre.
So from the following summer, I started getting people asking for The Cooley Ceili Allstars to play their bars. By then, I had moved on to obsessing about some other music, so the Cooley part was dropped. And just like that, The Ceili Allstars were off on a string of gigs and residencies that hasn’t ended yet.
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
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.
