Josie McDermott reels

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Steve Bliven
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Josie McDermott reels

Post by Steve Bliven »

Asked this over on the mustard board but figured this group might have some input.... I'm looking for reels by Josie McDermott. Thus far I've come across the following:
- Father O’Grady’s Visit to Bocca
- Darby’s Farewell to London
- The Trip to Birmingham
- The Baltimore Salute
- The Lansdowne Lass (is this the same as the Baltimore Salute? Marcus Ó Murchú lists these as two separate tunes on his CD "Turas Ceoil")
- Peg McGrath’s
- The Mill of Kylemore
- Kathleen’s Wedding

Any others come to mind? Is there a Josie McDermott tune book anywhere?

Thanks and best wishes.

Steve
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Mr.Gumby
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by Mr.Gumby »

Is there a Josie McDermott tune book anywhere?
No, I don't think so. Some may have appeared in Treoir though (Kenny, any ideas there?)

Was listening to a Roscommon foursome earlier (it's Willie week), including Patsy Hanly, Tommy Guihen (yes, he spells it that way on his new CD, just launched), John Wynne and a fourth whose name escapes me now. They played a set of at least four Josie Mac tunes, all included in the list above, I believe. They threatened to unleash Patsy Halny's story of how the Trip to Bocca got it's name but had no time for it.

There was a documentary on JMcD, on youtube I seem to remember, a bunch got mentioned there?
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by colomon »

Mr.Gumby wrote:Was listening to a Roscommon foursome earlier (it's Willie week), including Patsy Hanly, Tommy Guihen (yes, he spells it that way on his new CD, just launched), John Wynne and a fourth whose name escapes me now. They played a set of at least four Josie Mac tunes, all included in the list above, I believe. They threatened to unleash Patsy Halny's story of how the Trip to Bocca got it's name but had no time for it.
Not sure if this link will work for everyone, but https://www.facebook.com/martin.donohoe ... =2&theater is a video of John Wynne, Mick Mulvey, & Tommy Guihan playing a blast of reels which starts with Baltimore Salute. As far as I know it was shot this week.
There was a documentary on JMcD, on youtube I seem to remember, a bunch got mentioned there?
Yes, here.
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colomon
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I've got some compositions up at http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/SolsTunes.html
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by colomon »

Just occurred to me to look at the original question properly. On Josie's album, he follows "Peg McGrath's" with "Ganley's", which The Session claims is a composition of his.

The album also includes another of his not mentioned above: "Dominic's Farewell to Cashel". That's a jig, so not a proper answer to the original question, but I for one would also be interested in a good list of Josie's non-reel tunes.
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kenny
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by kenny »

I think you may have a "full house" there, Steve. I've had a look at the "Darby's Farewell" CD sleeve notes, which are the same as were on the original LP release in 1977. Under "Track#7 - "Dominic's Farewell To Cashel / Trip To The Cottage", it states : "Josie has written a number of fine tunes. He has kept 6 or 7 as worth remembering".
"Ganley's he learned from John Ganley, a fiddler from Castlereach, Co. Roscommon". Not an original Josie composition then.
There may be other Josie tunes in the archives of "Treior" somewhere. There are certainly settings of tunes he played and were transcribed from his playing, but not all were original compositions. If I come across any, I'll be sure to let you know.
Incidentally, Mr Gumby just posted a discussion about Tommy Guihen's new flute CD, "The Torn Jacket". Tommy does a superb job of playing a set of 3 of Josie's reels - track#7, and also "Peig [sic ] McGrath's" on track #3. He also plays a Josie McDermott slow air - "Lament For Jim Flynn" - track #4, so that's 1 other Josie composition to be added to the overall list.
Josie was also a singer, who wrote a few songs as well. He did include one on "Darby's Farewell" - "Ballad Of The O'Carolan Country".
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colomon
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by colomon »

I think I went through all the hits in the CCE online archive of Treior last week looking for Josie tunes, and didn't find any additional tunes mentioned but "Lament for a Fiddle Player". (No idea if that's the same as "Lament For Jim Flynn".)

About that "He has kept 6 or 7 as worth remembering" quote -- we already have listed 8 dance tunes here, plus at least one slow air. On the flip side, I have no idea when he composed his various tunes -- if that quote is really from 1977, then he had another 15 years of life ahead of him when it was written. In particular, I wonder about "Baltimore Salute" -- its absence on the album always surprised me, but maybe it was written post-1977? irishtune.info doesn't list any references to it before the 1980s.
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colomon
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I've got some compositions up at http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/SolsTunes.html
Location: Midland, Michigan
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by colomon »

Also have this vague feeling we should be making an informal internet tunebook for him, but I've no clue if that would ruffle feathers.
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by Mr.Gumby »

Tommy does a superb job of playing a set of 3 of Josie's reels
Possibly the same tunes I referred to above, although I seem to remember they played four on the Tuesdaynight.

Pic below: Mulvey, Guihen, Hanly and Wynne, note the nice symmetrical arrangement of left and right handed players. Powerful stuff.



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kenny
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Re: Josie McDermott reels

Post by kenny »

"Lament For A Fiddler" and "Lament For Jim Flynn" are the same tune. Josie played it on stage at the Ballisodare Folk Festival [ 1978 ? ], and introduced it as "Lament For A Fiddler". It is the same tune as played by Tom Guihen as "Lament For Jim Flynn".

ps - "if that quote is really from 1977," - don't understand the "if". I used to have the actual record, now have the CD release, and to the best of my recollection - please feel free to check this - the LP record of "Darby's Farewell" was indeed released in 1977. The CD [ Ossian OSSCD2O ] sleeve notes say "The original sleevenotes from the 1977 Topic album, by Robin Morton, are here reproduced".

I would need to check this, but I'm fairly certain that Josie's trip to Baltimore was sometime in the mid / early 1980s, which explains why "Baltimore Salute" was not on the 1977 LP recording.
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