The Watery Hill Boys with Colin Henry , the Red Room, Cookstown, 2012
Here’s a Track
This is a tune learned from the late Mick Clifford, Duleek Co Meath, possibly composed by Mick – a great tune to play !
Joe’s Music
Two of Joe’s favourite reels, he invariably started a session with them.
Joe’s Photos
Uncautionary Tale
Got up t’other mornin’ feelin’ a bit worse for wear…a late session with too many jugs below in the widda’s , terrible pain in me head and was just sittin’ down to with me fag and cup of tea to study the racin’ page and in she comes with her shoppin’ and says ’move yer feet, I hafta sweep there’ …and I know she was in one of those moods……out I goes annyway and down by the flatroofs and into jemmy’s and called for a half-one and a bottle from jim just to settle meself, but it was it did no good, I felt like I was being watched ….swallied them down and into tommys and called for a large one, and lookin’ behind the counter saw this mysterious lookin’ figure.. eyein’ me from the lounge. Went out to the street in a bit of a panic, down to barney macs and looked in – no one there – ordered a pint and there was me sittin’ at the end of the bar when into the snooker room from the toilet walks yer man. I swallied down me drink real quick and out inta the fresh air….feellin’ real uneasy and almost ran own larince’s street , looking back in case I was followed….inta the larince and luckily there was no one there, had a nice pint and felt a bit better and was just comin’ out the front door and there I seen him in the alley… and me heart near dropped…out immediately to tullyallen and the morning star and had hardly taken a sup of me drink when there he was comin’ outa the lounge, he put the heart crossways an me and I left me drink there and out the door immediatley and straight down king billys glen and out the road to dolly’s …….and as I axed the barman for a half-one .. and there was yer man sippin’ a glass of stout in the lounge and lookin’ at me with those strange penetratin’ eyes. I couldn’t stand it any more..and walked straight up to him and says.. ‘jaysus …can you not give a man a bit of peace.. who the hell are you ???…. And he says to me ..’Jaysus John , give it a rest, I’m the fuckin’ taxi man.’
Joe Ryan
Joe Ryan was born and reared in Inagh Co Clare and died in March 2008. Despite being steeped in the fiddle music of his native Co Clare, Joe spent much of his life in the Drogheda area, living with his brother Jim in Cooperhill, Julianstown on his return from working in England in 1962.
Joe left his native Clare in 1951 to seek work in Dublin and worked in the building trade until a bad economic slump in 1953 forced Joe and his fellow-tradesmen seek work in London.
Joe’s three major recordings are
Joe Ryan (fiddle) and Eddie Clarke (harmonica) ; Crossroads : 1981 . This is a magnificent recording of two great musicians at the height of their powers. Their duets are stunning, so close is their playing that it is hard to distinguish between the fiddle and the harmonica. This recording was issued by Green Linnet on L.P. and Cassette.
An Buachaill Dreoite – Reels, Jigs, Marches , Waltzes, Set Dances, Airs, Flings and Mazurkas from the legendary Clare Fiddler.
Recorded by Harry Bradshaw in the back lounge of McHugh’s Pub, Chord Road, Drogheda in 1994 and issued by Clo-Iar-Chonnachta.
Clo Iar-Chonnachta 1995 – CICD113
Two Genetleman of Clare Music – Gerdy Commane and Joe Ryan – Custy’s Music .
Recorded in Gerdy Commane’s house in Kilnamona by John O’Connor in 1999.
Old Timey Music
My interest on Old-Timey Music sprung from hearing Woody Guthrie show how to tell a story in song, …. and meeting the late Brian Leahy in Jemmy Winters’ pub in Newfoundwell. Brian was getting a few bob for playing the guitar, and a nice big Harmony it was. As we started to develop our interest in the music we gravitated eventually to Carberry’s Pub in the North Strand. At the time the pub was an early house and rings was the game of choice. Caitlin, being a musician herself and steeped in her own music and culture welcomed us in with open arms. We used to congregate up near the mirror away from the rings board, and when Caitlin had the house cleared at closing time, we would be invited into the Kitchen to play and listen to music for as long as we wanted to. Caitlin would listen ot our music and play some of her collection of LPs. One particular LP in which we rapidly developed an interest was a Mike Seeger album, issued in 1962 titled ‘Old Time Country Music.
On this album we heard for the first time the guitar and autoharp sound of the Carter Family, the slide guitar style of Frank Hutchinson and Seeger’s adaptations of classic ballads like ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender’ . On this LP Seeger captured the essence of Old-Timey Music. Coincidently, the Watery Hill Boys have recently recorded ‘Oh My Little Darlin’ from Seeger’s LP for release on their new Album , due for release in summer 2013.
Anyway, back to the sixties… we developed our playing and harmonising and started playing around Dublin venues like Slattery’s in Capel Street under the name of Ragged but Right and in 1970 were asked to make a recording for the CMB label.
And this was it…………..on the ‘A’ side a Carter family song ‘You Are My Flower‘ and on the ‘B’ side ‘Ragged but Right‘ learnt from a Greenbriar Boys recording. On this momentous recording were Jim MacArdle , guitar autoharp and vocals,Brian Leahy, guitar mandolin and vocals and not forgetting Gerry Cullen vocals. After achieving some good airplay on RTE, the record sank without trace, but here it is….
We formed The Watery Hill Boys in 2011 and recorded our first CD in 2012. We have toured extensively across Ireland and Europe, and are currently (May 2013) recording our second album. The Watery Hill Boys are Donal Og Black,Neil Conlan and Jim MacArdle.
Visit http://wateryhillboys.com/ for more!
Madam I’d like to be Tossin’ your Hay
‘MADAM I’D LIKE TO BE TOSSIN’ YOUR HAY’
Traditional Music and Song from Mid and South Louth
Jim MacArdle, Eilis Quinn and Mick Dunne
This album is a collection of old-time songs and dance tunes from rural County Louth, many of which are seeing the light of day here for the first time. The music is played on Concertina, Accordeon and Banjo by Jim MacArdle, Eilis Quinn and Mick Dunne. Most of these tunes spring from the concertina playing of Mary Ann Carolan and her father Pat, from Tenure, outside Drogheda, and the fiddle playing of brothers Peter and Tommy McArdle from Tallanstown. The songs were collected all over Mid and South County Louth.
Jim MacArdle is a well known musician in the Drogheda area and for many years he played with the late Joe Ryan, the noted Clare Fiddler, who resided outside Drogheda for many years. Like any musician in the Drogheda area with an interest in tradition and culture, Jim gravitated to Carberry’s Pub in the North Strand where the welcome and hospitality received from Bean-a-Ti Caitlin Ni Chairbre set the tone for a musical education in the company of such stalwarts as Wally Murphy, Gerry Cullen (who adds some harmony vocals to the album) and the late Brian Leahy. Caitlin hailed from the Hill of Rath, not far from where Mary Ann Carolan settled after she married, and for a time played piano in a Ceili Band which featured Pap Usher, Mary Ann’s brother on fiddle.
Through Caitlin’s generosity and enthusiasm for all things musical, those who frequented the pub had a musical education second to none. Her musical tastes were catholic (in the best sense of the word) and she encouraged exploration of many musical avenues and cultural diversity. Above all, Caitlin, being a musician herself, understood musicians. This album was conceived, blathered-about and prepared in Carberry’s sessions and although the Pub itself was closed for a while, it has now reopened and is the same as it ever was.
REVIEWS OF THE ALBUM
Old music for the present time, a real find and great fun: unusual set-dance tunes and comical songs from the country kitchens of Co Louth a hundred and more years ago – at the same time exciting and comfortable, fresh and authentic, good-humoured and stylishly played. Will be big from Togher to Ganderstown, from Monasterboice to the Hill of Rath.
Nicholas Carolan, Irish Traditional Music Archive
JIM MacARDLE, EILIS QUINN AND MICK DUNNE
Madam, I’d Like To Be Tossin’ Your Hay
LLM024, 17 Tracks
In the 1970’s, the Louth musician, Jim MacArdle spent many hours in the company of fellow concertina player, Mary Ann Carolan. The concertina tradition of Louth was little known then, Mary Ann’s father, Pat Usher had been recorded by RTE in 1962 when he was 93 years old, he played the German concertina, a two row instrument set up in C/G, he had a store of tunes that were ideal for the local set dances and he passed these down to his daughter.
MacArdle, Quinn and Dunne are steeped in those traditions, the trio come from a tight geographical area bounded by Laytown and Drogheda and this album is an homage to their musical home place and their mentors of the 1970’s and 1980’s. No mention of this part of the country would be complete without a respect to Carberry’s pub in Drogheda, a music pub for 150 years and still in the family, the cover shot shows the trio having a few tunes in the bar.
Those tunes are indeed unusual, this is music that comes from a dance tradition not dominated by reels and jigs, as such it is both surprising and refreshing. Sometimes the tunes are rather English in character (especially on the Polkas which begin with Mary Ann Carolan’s, The Lass of Gowrie) but we should temper that thought by noting that the quadrilles and flings were dances popular on both sides of the Celtic Sea in 1900.
The songs are good also, T Stands for Tommy, I Suppose is a local variant of P Stands for Paddy and is here given a relaxed treatment with clear tenor vocals making every word ring out. This is followed by a slow paced set called Peter McArdles, the notes for which are sadly incomplete in the liner. Another fine song is about an errant Welsh woman The Laff and Half Daft, which sounds as if it began on the music hall stage as the Lass of Llandaf. Then there is a remnant from blackfaced minstrelsy, Young Bob Ridley a jaunty song in the musical vein of the more famous Old Dan Tucker.
The final track, on autoharp and button box, A Tune for Joe, a tribute air to the late Joe Ryan, deserves to be played everywhere. It would be a lovely bookend to any pub’s late session and I’m sure it is a firm favourite in Carberry’s.
This is a lovely album, full of hard to forget melodies, many set in the rounded key of C, from a corner of the country and a country pub where the local tradition is still cherished.
Seán Laffey
IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE – JUNE 2011
The album can be obtained by contacting louthlouthmusic@gmail.com . It costs €10 and will be posted anywhere free.