This month, I’ve decided to select from all four collections I’ve been working on since 2022. The collections of Larry Redican, Tom Davis, Tony McMahon and Felix Dolan (all kindly donated to the ITMA), give us an invaluable insight into the music and musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, recorded between the 1950s and 1990s, most of whom have sadly passed away. The selections reflect a range of settings, from concert hall, folk clubs to private house sessions in kitchens to open air street sessions at Fleadh Ceoils.  

From Larry Redican and Felix Dolan, we include many of the famous names in Irish music in the USA including Paddy O Brien and Joe Dirrane (accordion), fiddle players Larry Redican himself, Andy McGann, Brian Conway and Martin Wynne with Felix Dolan himself and a young Billy McComiskey on piano.  

The Tony McMahon collection offers us the unique voices of Rita and Sarah Keane Caherlistrane and Iarla O Lionard, Cúil Aodh. The Clare fiddle player John Kelly, an old friend of Tony’s based in Capel Street for many years, has a beautiful take on the Patsy Geary’s version of the Salamanca reel. 

Tom Davis, also collected older recordings including this one from the Pipers Club in Dublin c 1957, which we have featured in the past. On this occasion, two doyennes of Irish music in the 1950s, Mrs Eliz Crotty (concertina) and Mrs Kathleen Harrington (fiddle) are joined by Peadar O Loughlin, a major figure in the  Clare tradition, on flute. Tom himself was a big fan of sean-nós singing and was on hand for a singing session in Rath Cairn where the inimitable Darach O Cathain was in great form. 

Finally as a taster for the January playlist, focusing on pipers, we have Liam O Flynn joined by a young Liam O Connor on fiddle and long time collaborator Steve Cooney in 2004 Liberty Hall with a piping classic, Humours of Ballyloughlin. 

Nollaig Shona daoibh go léir,  

Padraic