òran mór

Planxty Reunion Concert in 2004

As I mentioned in my previous post, Mike Jeanneau was helping me anchor the sessions at McMenemy’s over Memorial Day Weekend while Bob and Dave were traveling. We had a lot of fun — as we often do — and we were joined by our friends Eamon Coyne, Kevin Sheehan, Ramona Connelly and Bill Zecker on Thursday, and Kevin, Ramona and Reagh Greenleaf  on Saturday night.

The start of Thursday night was a bit quiet since there weren’t a lot of diners and people were saving their money for the long weekend…so we had the opportunity to play some stuff we don’t normally get to play. One of my favorite songs to play with Mike is “The Ballad of Little Musgrave” and, since the place was kind of quiet, we launched into it.

Man, I love that song and Mike’s playing on it is always great…and I was listening to a version of it on the ride to work today and wanted to share it.

If you’re not familiar with the song, it’s a traditional ballad (F.J. Child’s Ballad #81) that is known by several names and variations, including “Mattie Groves,” “Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard,” and the version we do, which is based on Planxty’s arrangement…which you can see on their live 2004 concert here.

When you come across really great songs — especially really old ones — it’s always fascinating to learn a little more about them. There’s a lot out there about “Little Musgrave”, but last year, I found a cool post on Rational Delight. It’s worth checking out if you like the song, especially since it has the audio of Nic Jones’ version…which I can’t find anywhere else.

We had a chance to play the song, and we took it. If you have a chance to check out the video and the post, you should take it as well.

It was a  Thursday night with a fine start – as Mike Jeanneau had finished up some work at Hideaway Studios and sauntered in for some tunes.

But not long after Mike had headed home, to avoid bringing ‘There’s Sure to Be a Row’ from song to reality, Steve Carrigan happened in.  He joined us a few songs – and then gave us a first – himself on guitar.

Steve”s obviously been holding out on us, being  pretty comfy and adept at his chords and accompaniment.  That gave us a nice finale to the night – and a nice scoop.

Many thanks  Steve.

Last night in April — we were lucky enough to have a few good friends drop for some tunes and songs.  Mike Jeanneau, of Boghat fame, was first,   traveling light with just a fiddle and banjo, but he lit things up as he’s known to do.

Then Greg Heppe,  who runs the General Store and great concerts at the Old White Church in Tuftonboro, NH, stopped in with flutes and whistles in hand.

And then — Mr. Bill Zecker arrived with bouzouki in hand — to help us sail through the rest of the night.

A good time was had by all.  I’ll post some sound clips ASAP.

What tricks are up those short sleeves?

This Saturday, April 18, the Seacoast Irish Cultural Association (SICA) will be hosting it’s Spring Ceili at the Dover Elks on Rte. 108 with Eamon Coyne and Dave Surette as the featured performers. As part of the festivities, the lads will lead a workshop on fiddle and accompanying Irish music.

I have to say that I’ve admired Dave Surette’s style of accompaniment for a while and have wanted to chat with him about his approach…so while I can’t stay for the potluck supper at 6pm (yum!) or the dance, I am definitely looking forward to learning a few tricks on accompaniment from Dave. (Let’s see how many of them I remember that night at McMenemy’s.)

For more info on the workshop or ceili, contact SICA at doversica.multiply.com.

Special things can happen on Saturday nights  in McM’s Pub.  While we do have limited space at our table for musicians and singers – we make the best use of it, and we’ve been known to squeeze in a good group of players and singers – raising the roof a bit.

As Peter Hale has posted, we had an especially fun Saturday night session recently – and captured some sound clips.

Please drop in – to sing along – play some tunes – or just to listen a bit –  and help us make another great Saturday happen.