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 Honeymoon” is a reel I learned from one of the best sessions I ever saw, during the Russell Memorial Weekend back in 2013 in Gus O’Connor’s Pub. It was a magical night with free flowing music by Noel O’Donoghue, James Cullinan, Donie Nolan, Christy Barry, Terry Bingham, Carol Cullinan, Angela Crotty and several others.
I learned “Jackie Coleman’s” from Dympna O’Sullivan’s album “Bean Chairdín”. It is a popular reel around Doolin and I associate it with flute player Stéphane Germain in particular.
Caisleán an Óir (The Golden Castle) was composed by Junior Crehan from Miltown Malbay. I learned it from Terry Bingham, who often plays it after “If there weren’t any woman in the world”. It was also recorded on Matt Molloy and Sean Keane’s brilliant album “Contentment is Wealth”.
