Pat Cloonan
Irish Traditional Music on B/C Button Accordion
Here you can order the CD Pat Cloonan's Thanksgiving for shipping to your home. Contact Pat Cloonan at patcloonan@sbcglobal.nospam (replace "nospam" with "net" to use this address) or 708-346-0610. It features 16 tracks of traditional Irish music, including eight reels, three songs, three jigs, two hornpipes, two slides, two slip jigs, a waltz, a set dance, an air, a polka, a poem, and just for laughs, a humor track!
Sample in MP3 format: Johnny McGreevy's Favorite - also known as Fahey's Reel or Larry Redican's Reel (a 423 kB file, but you get 35 seconds of the pure drop!)
Musicians:
Patrick Cloonan - Accordion
Helen Hayes - Vocals
Martin Hayes - Fiddle (appears courtesy of Green Linnet Records)
Jeff Morello - Harmonica, Bodhran
Timothy O'Sullivan - Vocals, Poetry, Humor
Joseph Daniel Sobel - Guitar, Bouzouki
Album Contents
- Reels: I'm Waiting for You / Never Was Piping So Gay
- Song: A Stór Mo Chroí
- Hornpipes: Cooley's Hornpipe / Phil Durkin's Favorite
- Reels: Swallow Tail / Miss McLeod's
- Song: Kerry Hills
- Jigs: Connachtman's Rambles / Butcher's Jig / Gander in the Pratie Hole
- Reels: Johnny McGreevy's Favorite [by Paddy Fahey] / Eleanor Neary's Favorite [aka Lad O'Beirne's]
- Poem: The Fairies
- Waltz: Fanny Powers
- Slides: Martin's Favorite / Merrily Kissed the Quaker
- Reels: Ladies' Pantalettes / Dogs in the Bushes
- Song: Sweet Glanlee
- Set dance: The Blackbird
- Slip jigs: Drops of Brandy / Colman's Lantern [aka Redican's Mother]
- Air / polka: Ballydesmond
- Humor: Helen came up with this idea for the Timmy O'Sullivan alarm clock
About Pat Cloonan
Pat Cloonan hails from the rural coast of Connemara, County Galway. Speaking only the Irish language in his youth, he spent long periods over the past decades in London (where he picked up the English language) and Chicago, and has more recently also graced Wisconsin with his presence. His music still carries the "smell of the old sod." Its mellow strength and invigorating fluidity reveal Pat's roots in the old way of playing that still survives in the far West of Ireland. The lifeblood of rhythm that flows through his tunes – the "nyah," as Pat would put it – speaks for his many years of playing for traditional dancers, as well as his own skill in sean nós dance.This recording is not only an inspiring musical work, but also an invaluable record of how much richer Irish music is when played with a strong personal grounding in the rural tradition of Ireland. The sensitive work of renowned fiddler Martin Hayes, himself an East Clare man, perfectly suits Pat's music and with the assistance of Mr.'s Sobel and Morello lifts the atmosphere of this recording to a level of absolute enjoyment.