Don Meade has been a huge supporter of ITMA over the years.  His contribution to From the Bridge: A view of Irish Traditional Music in New York was invaluable and his extensive knowledge of the Irish music scene in America, both contemporary and historical, is clear from his excellent essay on Irish music in New York.

As well as writing about Irish music, and running concerts in The Eagle Tavern and other places, Don was also a collector.  Most of the concerts that he put on were recorded to a high quality and Don has generously donated these recordings to ITMA.  There is a wealth of material in this collection.  The list of performers reads like a who’s who of Irish American musicians, as well as visiting musicians from Ireland such as Liam O’Flynn and Mary Bergin.  Along with the recordings the collection consists of posters, flyers and other promotional material relating to The Eagle Tavern, The Blarney Star, Catskill’s Irish Week and other venues.  It is an extremely valuable addition to the American-related material in the ITMA collection, and a fitting addition to From the Bridge.

Banjo player Paddy Cummins has catalogued the collection, and picked out some of his highlights in these playlists.  He choose three themes to explore: The compositions of Paddy O’Brien, the Tipperary born accordion player, a playlist of musicians and singers who are not regularly featured on recordings and compositions played by the composers themselves.

With thanks to Don Meade, Paddy Cummins and all the performers for their permission to publish the recordings.