The Old Fireside Music

This 1998 release captures Mike and Mary Rafferty (and friends and family) at their best with tunes passed down among the generations, played in a straightforward, engaging manner--“style” doesn’t seem like the right word here, the music’s too direct and unpretentious for that.

Mike’s recordings aren’t the easiest to find, but his daughter Mary is the button box player with Cherish the Ladies, so you can get ordering info from www.cherishtheladies.com (not an advertisement, just a fan passing on the information).

This is a favorite album of mine and your description is quite apt. Thanks for posting this.

I just wanted to add that the Raffertys’ albums are also available thorugh Ossian in New Hampshire. (www.ossianusa.com).

Just recieved a question about “Doherty’s,” the first tune on track 11. Because “Doherty’s” is listed as an alternative title for The Wise Maid, it links to that tune. But the “Doherty’s” on this cd is actually “The Killarney Boys of Pleasure.”

See: https://thesession.org/tunes/733

Mike Rafferty is somewhat infamous for having idiosyncratic names for tunes.

Just noticed this last comment. Doherty’s as another title for the Killarney Boys of Pleasure is not idiosyncratic. It is named for either the famous County Donegal fiddler, John Doherty (1895-1980) or his brother Mickey, who came from a family of tinkers and musicians. This information I had from Mike Rafferty. Also it is listed on the Fiddler’s Companion. There are several other names for this same reel, as usual. Cheers, Lesl.