The Yellow Cow

Finbar Dwyer's Favorite

The Boy in the Boat

Newmarket Polka

Another polka!

Potatisvals

Last year, I heard Frigg play at a festival in Madison, Wisconsin. What a treat! I had never heard of them, but I love Scandinavian music, so I stopped in to listen. I was blown away!

This tune is the first cut off their album, Grannen and was written by Ale Möller.

Jerry O'Sullivan's

Hello!


This is my first NTAD post, and I'm excited to start sharing new tunes with you. I'm Liz Davis Maxfield-- Katie Davis Henderson's sister, and I'm the new NTADer!

Here's a lovely slow reel to start. Lúnasa recorded Jerry O'Sullivan's on their album The Kinnitty Sessions. Kevin Crawford plays it in EbMajor on his Bb flute, so I took the liberty to transpose it to DMajor. It is also played in GMajor. 

I play folk cello and my first book, The Irish Cello Book, will be released by Berklee Press and Hal Leonard in early 2013. For more information, visit my website, LizDavisMaxfield.com

Bonnie Kate

Here's an old tune. I learned it from the playing of Tommy Reck, and I've tuned the fiddle down a major third in order to play along with him.

Stuck on a Log

Andy Reiner of Tuneswappers wrote and taught me this cool old-timeyish crooked tune in 3.

The Pitnacree Ferryman

I was at a Celtic Festival in Evanston this weekend. On Friday night, Téada headlined and on Saturday, Natalie Haas & Alasdair Fraser headlined. The two groups converged Saturday night for a post-concert session, where all attempts at finding cross-over Irish/Scottish tunes were made. Eventually, the evening dissolved into Alasdair and Seamus Begley (who was accompanying Téada for this part of their tour) sat and played Gallic songs from Scotland and Ireland and Natalie accompanied. It was wonderful. To commemorate the weekend, I learned a tune off of Alasdair and Natalie's latest recording. This reel is a common session tune in Scotland.

The Enchanted Lady

Here's a tune off of Caoimhìn Ò Raghallaigh and Mick O'Brien's latest album, Deadly Buzz. Many of their tunes are played with the fiddle tuned down a major third, and this is one of them. (So G is tuned down to Eb, D to Bb, etc.)

Bridie's Joy

Here's a reel I learned off of Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin's album "The South West Wind." I love this sweet little tune.

The Gooseberry Bush

Today I'm finally getting around to doing a tune. The next few weeks I expect will be like the last few: insane. Well. I'll still try to average at least 4 tunes a week. Here's an old Irish reel I learned from the playing of Joe Burke, Matt Molloy, and Ann Conroy Burke on the live recording Geantraì.

Foxhunter's

This is a cool little slip jig I learned off of a recording by Duncan Wickel and his aunt Beanie Odell. The two of them play twin fiddle on the album Red Wellies.

Rambling Pitchfork

Today I returned to an old favorite source of tunes - Caoimhìn Ò Raghallaigh and Mick O'Brien's album, Kitty Lie Over.  I've tuned my fiddle down to their tuning - down a major third from standard.

Five Miles from Town

I have Rayna Gellert's recording with Susan Geohring on repeat.  By the end of this project (July 2012), I will probably have done every single tune on that album.  I LOVE IT.  So this is another one, called Five Miles from Town - tuning is standard with the low G string tuned up to an A. (ADAE)

Reel of Eight

A couple days ago I skyped with Métis fiddler Jennilee Martineau and she taught me this tune.  It's crooked because the first half of the A-part has 10 bars.  I had a tough time getting the bows right - it's exactly opposite from what I am used to. The important thing, I learned, was that the upbeat gets the emphasis, so anything you can do with your bow to stress the upbeat is good.

Let the Bottle Circulate

Here's a cool little Scottish slow reel I learned from Laura Cortese today at a workshop.  She learned this from the whistle player from Old Blind Dogs.

Stillhouse (Cider Mill)

So here's a lovely old time tune in standard tuning.

Johnny McGreevy's (By Golly)

According to my sleuthing (mostly on thesession.org) this tune was recorded by Johnny McGreevy, who I guess says, "By Golly!" a lot, hence its other name.  He likely learned it from Jimmy Neary, a Chicago-fiddler who maybe wrote it (?) and brought it back to Ireland.