Album Notes

1) Frieze Britches – A great 5 part jig. I learned this tune growing up from the old players around home at the time. Our evening’s music usually started with the Frieze Britches.

2) Colonel Frazier – A great reel and a challenge anytime you play it. 5 parts

3) Andy’s and The Shaskeen – hornpipes. The first tune I heard played many years ago by Andy McGann. The second was another one of those popular tunes when I was growing up.

4) Jigs – I started playing these two tunes a couple of years ago but have no names for them.

5) McGreevy’s 1 & 2 and The Masters Return – reels. The first two reels I learned from Johnny McGreevy (Chicago fiddler). The last one is a version of the Master’s Return I learned from Tipperary fiddler, Sean Ryan.

6) Dear Irish Boy – air. This tune I learned from the playing of Joe Burke and Anne Conroy-Burke.

7) The Inishcaultra Selection. These three reels were composed by Tipperary man, Paddy O’Brien. Inishcaultra is an island on Lough Derg which is part of the Shannon River and pretty much surrounded by counties Galway, Clare and Tipperary.

8) Crehan’s, Droney’s, and McGreevy’s – Jigs. Junior Crehan composed the first jig. Junior played fiddle and was from West Clare. Droney’s I learned from Roscommon accordion player, Jimmy McGreevy who got it from Chris Droney. The third jig I picked up from Johnny McGreevy.

9) Garden of Daisies and Job of Journeywork. Two old set dances that I’ve always enjoyed playing.

10) Sean Dwyer – slow air and song – Dedicated to my uncle Billy

11) Humours of Ballyloughlin. One of the great jigs in my opinion. I first heard it played by Liam O’Flynn back in the seventies.

12) Bucks of Oranmore – Its definitely one of the more famous tune in Irish music. Great fun to play. I had to give it a go.

13) New House Selection – The first tune I learned from Sean Ryan (fiddler). The other two I got from Nuala Hehir, accordion player from Kilnamona, Co. Clare.

14) Blind Mary – slow air

15) Boy in the Boat and Pretty Girls of Mayo – reels. Two great old reels that have stood the test of time. Their popularity has not diminished..

16) The Commons Polkas – These three tunes I learned from old players such as Niall Cleere, George Rourke, and the Webster brother, George and Jimmy. The Commons is a small village in the Slieve Ardagh hills. The hills hug the border between Tipperary and Kilkenny. The Commons is in Tipperary and was the scene of an uprising in 1848. One of the people involved in that uprising was Thomas Francis Meagher who later in life became the governor of Montana.

17) The Tempest and People’s 2 – Reels. This is the first tune I picked up from Liam O’Connor, a great Kerry fiddle player who has lived in North Tipperary most of his life. We used to play tunes at the Sky Farmers lounge in Newtown most Thursday nights for a few years. The other two I picked up from a recording I found of Tommy Peoples and Paul Brady which was made in the seventies.

I hope you enjoy the tunes, Michael "piper" Cooney, 2008

Engineered by Roy Kasten, Mastered by Kevin Buckley.
Layout and artwork by Donal Hegarty