The Irish Recordings of Jim Carroll & Pat Mackenzie

The Irish Recordings of Jim Carroll & Pat Mackenzie

Now playing: Fergus McTeggert’s jig ; Untitled, jig / Fergus McTeggert, fiddle
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  1. Fergus McTeggert’s jig ; Untitled, jig / Fergus McTeggert, fiddle
  2. The wild swans at Coole, reel ; The four mile stone, reel / Fergus McTeggert, fiddle
  3. Donnybrook fair, jig / John-Joe Healy, concertina
  4. The Japanese hornpipe / John Bowe, accordion ; Unidentified, guitar
  5. The milliner’s daughter, reel ; and other reels / Tommy McCarthy, concertina ; Bobby Casey, fiddle
  6. The old, torn petticoat, reel ; The crosses of Annagh, reel / Kevin Burke, fiddle ; PJ Crotty, flute
  7. Splendid isolation, reel ; Paddy Fahy’s, reel ; Mother’s delight, reel / Kevin Burke, fiddle
  8. What put the blood?, song / ‘Pops’ Johnny Connors, speech in English, singing in English
  9. Woman of Wexford, song / Bill Cassidy, singing in English
  10. Here’s a health to all true lovers, song / Mary Cash, singing in English
  11. There is an alehouse, song / Andy Cash, singing in English
  12. A drummer boy at Waterloo, song / Mikeen McCarthy, speech in English, singing in English
  13. Jimmy boy, song / Kathleen Dooley, singing in English
  14. Buried in Kilkenny, song / Mary Delaney, singing in English
  15. William Scanlon, song / Mary Delaney, singing in English ; Paddy Reilly, singing in English
  16. The lambs on the green hills, song / Ollie Conway, singing in English
  17. Mount Callan side, song / Martin Reidy, singing in English
  18. The barley grain, song / Michael Flanagan, singing in English
  19. Seven of our Irishmen, song / Michael ‘Straighty’ Flanagan, singing in English
  20. Farmer Michael Hayes, song / Tom Lenihan, singing in English
  21. The trooper, song / Nora Cleary, singing in English
  22. Dudley Lee the blackleg, song / Martin Howley, singing in English
  23. Men of ‘39, song / Michael Falsey, singing in English
  24. Delaney’s chicken, song / Mikey Kelleher, singing in English

The Irish Recordings of Jim Carroll & Pat Mackenzie

Jim Carroll, of Liverpool Irish descent, and Pat Mackenzie, herself an Anglo-Scot, have been immersed in traditional singing and in other oral traditions since their earliest involvement in the 1960s. They were both members of Ewan McColl’s influential Critics Group in London, and their study of traditional song there brought them in 1973 to the ongoing tape-recording of Irish Traveller singers in London and, a related project, of traditional singers in west Clare, as well as of English and Scots singers. They have lived in Co Clare since 1998. Their private collection is now one of the largest in Irish music, and they have generously deposited copies of it in the Irish Traditional Music Archive, the British Library, and other public repositories.

A wide selection of their recordings have been published on LP, cassette and CD since 1978: Paddy’s Panacea (singer Tom Lenihan, Clare, 1978, LP), Early in the Month of Spring (Irish Travellers singing & story-telling in London, 1986, cassette) incorporated in From Puck to Appleby (Irish Travellers singing in England, 2003, 2 CDs), ‘… and That’s My Story’ (British & Irish story-tellers, 1991, cassette), and Around the Hills of Clare (Clare singers, 2004, 2 CDs). Some in print are available here; others here. Royalties have been kindly donated to ITMA and other institutions.

The selection of sound recordings given here represents only the main categories of the Carroll-Mackenzie Collection: their Traveller recordings, their Clare recordings, and their recordings of Irish musicians in London. All of the Collection is freely available for listening and study in ITMA.

With thanks to the singers and musicians presented here, and to Pat Mackenzie & Jim Carroll for their donations of digitised sound recordings, printed materials, & information over many years.

NC & DD, 1 December 2012