“The Hag at the Churn” is a jig that I associate with piper Paddy Keenan, who is a regular visitor to Doolin. He recorded it with The Bothy Band and also on his album with Tommy O’Sullivan “The Long Grazing Acre”. Josephine Marsh also recorded a very nice version of this tune on the album “To Meet A Friend” with Cyril O’Donoghue.
X:1
T:Hag at the Churn (The)
R:Jig
M:6/8
K:Dmix
|:A2G ADD|A2G Adc|A2G ADD|EFG EFG:||
AdB c2G|Add efg|AdB c2G|EDE GED|
AdB c3|Add efg|fge dcA|GEF GED||
This is a true Doolin classic. “The Boy In The Gap” is a reel that is very much associated with Micho Russell. He used to play it after another fine reel, “Seán Sa Cheo”, but these days you hear them the other way around most of the times.
“Stone of Destiny” is a beautiful reel composed by fiddle player Maurice Lennon (son of the great Ben Lennon from Leitrim, and nephew of the famous composer Charlie Lennon). I learned this tune from my friend JB, a great fiddle player from Britanny. Liam O’Brien, a wonderful concertina player from Miltown Malbay, recorded this tune on his album “The Lane”.
“The Laurel Tree” is the second reel I have ever learned! I learned it from my friend Tom Delany during a lovely afternoon back in 2006 in the garden of Magnetic Music Café, where I used to work back then. I had this tune stuck in my head as it was the opening tune on Hugh and Colm Healy’s album “Macalla na hÓige”.
