I heard “Big Pat’s Reel” at a session in Gus O’Connor’s Pub in Doolin, played by my friend Christophe, a great fiddle player and harpist from France. I was also familiar with this tune through the recording “Waifs & Strays” by Michael Hynes and Denis Liddy.
X:1
T:Big Pat’s Reel
R:reel
M:4/4
K:Emin
|:BGEF G2BG|G2AG FDFA|BGEF G2Bd|1 gefd e2dc:|2 gefd ~e3f||
~g3a bgag|eaag fdef|g2ga bgag|fedf e2ef|
g3a bgag|eaag fdef|g2ge ~f3d|egfd e2dc||
“The Earl of Thomond” is a barndance composed by Charlie Lennon. He wrote this tune for Tony O’Connell, concertina player from Limerick, who recorded a lovely album with Ben Lennon (Charlie’s brother) called “Rossinver Braes”.
I learned the “Bag of Spuds” a long time ago and associate this tune with the great accordion player Seán Vaughan. It is a common session tune in Clare and I think I first learned it from Edel Fox and Ronan O’Flaherty’s album.
“The Five Mile Chase” is a great session tune, and it usually comes after “The Boys of Ballisodare”. I associate this set with Christy Barry and James Devitt.
