Yvonne Casey's

Here's a reel called Yvonne Casey's written by Yvonne Casey that she plays on her album called Yvonne Casey.  This is a fun little album with some interesting non-trad thrown in.  She pairs this tune with Maude Millar's, which sounds great.

Valse des Poêles (100th Tune!)

Today I learned a beautiful waltz written by Simon Riopel, a quebecois fiddler.

Willow on the Lake

I learned this beautiful tune from Rayna Gellert's album "Ways of the World."

Cloonagroe

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Tom Roddy's

Here's a jig that I had to learn so that I could understand it better.  It was written by Oisín Mac Diarmada, who is the fiddler in Téada.  I couldn't make heads or tails of it the first time I heard it.

The Fourth Floor

Here's a fun pipe tune written by Gordon Duncan. You'll like this one if you're crazy about syncopation and/or trebles. In Scotland, trebles are called birls. In Shetland, they're referred to by their most descriptive name, shivers. This tune has plenty of them.

Munster Buttermilk

Today I learned a beautiful jig from Caoimhin O Raghallaigh and Mick O'Brien's first collaboration, Kitty Lie Over.  They call this tune Munster Buttermilk but it doesn't resemble the tune many people know by that name.  It could have a different name.  I hunted around but couldn't find any information.  Either way, it's a lovely tune.  The fiddle is tuned down to Eb, and the tune is played as though it's in D, but it comes out in Bb.

The Cliff Dwellers

Time for an Irish reel in G Dorian.  This goes nicely with In Memory of Coleman.  Liz Carroll wrote it, but I learned it from a recording by Yvonne Casey.

Ducks on the Millpond

This is a very easy-to-learn Old Time tune that I think I could play and/or listen to for days without getting sick of it. It's beautiful.

The Thrush in the Morning

The thrush in the title of this tune is of the bird variety, not of the yeast infection.  This tune was written by Seamus Ennis' dad Jimmy.  It's lovely.

MacArthur Road

E major is a scary key for lots of instruments (especially flute) so there ain't many tunes in this key.  But, here's one!  MacArthur Road is a reel written by Dave Richardson who also wrote Calliope House Jig, also in E, coincidence?

Dad's Reel

I love crooked tunes!  This crooked tune is a Quebecois tune, of which 75% is identical to another tune called Reel Des Eboulements.

The Bush in Bloom

Another Irish reel for you today.  This one I learned off of John and Alan Kelly's recording, Fourmilehouse.

Humours of Glendart

Daylight savings only works on one end of the day, so my late afternoon videos will likely be dark for the next 6 months.  Today I did a simple little jig that was suggested by one of my reliable sources, Lars M.  I learned it off of a Planxty album.

John Doherty's

Irish tunes are not often crooked, the style being more closely married to general dance types that require a square meter.  But here's one, perhaps composed in order to trip some dancers.

Poplar Bluff

Here's another old time tune by Ed Haley.  The B part goes up on the E string in 3rd position, which is kind of unusual and without the presence of a banjo, bass, and guitar to fill in the sound it's a little squeaky.

Kitchen Girl

Today I learned an old Henry Reed tune. Henry Reed was an old-time Virginia fiddler who was recorded by folklorist Alan Jabbour in the sixties.

GUEST POST Fred Finns

So I sent out an invite a few posts ago to anyone who'd like to contribute to NTAD and fortune smiled upon us when my multi-talented and wonderful friend Tiffany Draper acquiesced!