Lately I have been devoting more time to solo playing. I started to think that, with the great popularity of various groups over the last 25 years or so, many people have forgotten that this kind of music used to be played mainly solo. The bands, groups and accompanists are a relatively recent development (in fact one great musician from an older generation told me not long ago that "accompanists are a bit like vice presidents - you don't really need 'em") so I thought it would be interesting to let people hear the "naked" fiddle once more. I released a live recording "In Concert" which consists mainly of solo performances and have few solo tours lined up.

 

"If the Cap Fits"

The mid 70's was a great time to be in Ireland if you had an interest in music (and I don't mean disco) Planxty, De Danaan, The Bothy Band and several others had brought traditional music back to the attention of the people. It was re-invigorated and there was great enthusiasm all over the country for traditional music. I can't remember whose idea it was that I should make a record (probably Donal Lunny's) but after the initial surprise I thought it was a good idea. I put some thought into it and decided I wanted to try something different other than playing a couple of jigs then stop, play a few reels and stop etc.etc. Somewhere in my mind I had the idea that music never stops even if there's nobody playing. The music comes through the musician rather than it being made by the musician. When I picked up the fiddle to play it felt as if I was just joining in with what was going on in the great "out there" (whatever we had before cyber-space). I just hopped aboard and went along for the ride! So, I wanted to get that mood onto the record somehow!

Anton MacGabhain a great fiddler from Cavan spent a summer in London when I was 14 or 15 and I often used to hear him use the phrase "40 reels". Now, when he said "let's play 40 reels" he didn't mean 40 literally, nobody was counting (although he told me that once he did play 40 reels without stopping just for the hell of it) - he meant lets just play a whole lot of reels - keep going 'til we're tired of it, instead of the usual two or three. So, when I was thinking about how to approach this recording I thought "I won't go for the 40 but a dozen or so might be good". The next idea was to have musicians coming in and out to make it reminiscent of the loose, somewhat haphazard events at a session where, typically, three or four musicians would be playing, someone else would join in, one of the original three or four might see a friend and go and have a chat, another one might go off to the bar, someone might play a solo, then others would join back in . This interchange gives an ebb and flow to the session and I wanted to capture that on the record.

In those days before compact disc the two most popular formats were the LP and the cassette tape. Each one had two sides so most recordings were constructed as two "chapters" or "episodes" of the same tale. Donal Lunny was the producer and we talked over a few of these ideas and decided to have one side with the usual 5 or 6 tracks of tunes and then on the second side we started with a couple of lovely slow hornpipes (with some beautiful guitar accompaniment from Micheal O'Domhnaill) and then followed them with the long set that was to close the album.

It proved impossible to get all the characters involved to gather in the studio at the same time so I put the fiddle track down first and over the course of a few days got the others in ones and twos to record alongside the fiddle track. I also double tracked the fiddle in some places. We had a lot of fun adding the overdubs here and there and it was great to hear it build up day by day. I was very happy with the outcome.

 

"Up Close"


In 1983 I was living in Portland, had been away from Ireland for a while and was keen to make some music with some of my friends - old and new. Matt Molloy (from the Bothy Band and currently The Chieftains) and the great Galway accordion player Joe Burke both kindly agreed to appear on the record. Matt and I played a couple of sets of tunes including Molloy's Favourite. This was a tune written by Sligo fiddler Paddy Killoran for Matt's father Jim. Paddy Killoran was one of my big influences as a child so it was a great honor to be able to record these tunes with Matt.

I included a set of Bobby Casey tunes on there and a couple of sets with Phil, Pip, and John Murphy, a family of great harmonica players from Co. Wexford. I had been introduced to the Murphy's by my great friend Louis O'Dwyer of Tullamore, Co. Offaly and it was a great thrill to get them into the studio. Mark Graham and Paul Kotapish (who were later to become members of Open House) played on some tracks and the album was produced by Gerry O'Beirne.

 

"In Concert"
To purchase CD

"In Concert" was recorded live in Artichoke Music, Portland, Oregon over 2 nights in December '98. We had a full house each night - packed with friends and neighbors - we had the honor of Martin Hayes joining in with his fiddle and Aidan Brennan with his guitar - and we had Tommy Sergerlund's Champagne - hard to go wrong in those circumstances! Martin and I produced it together and it was released in early 1999. (Thanks also to Dennis Cahill).

 

 

"Burke’s fiddle playing has a sweetness of tone and a purity of sound that makes it unmistakable."
- Folk Roots