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The Best Of Finbarr Dwyer

By Finbarr Dwyer

Added by Kenny .

  1. Paddy Kelly’s
  2. The Holly Bush
    Mary McMahon
  3. Lad O’Beirne’s
    The Beeswing
  4. The Mason’s Apron
  5. Paddy Fahy’s Favourite
    Paddy Murphy’s Wife
  6. John Dwyer’s
    The Hunter’s House
  7. The Golden Eagle
    The Sunshine
  8. Paddy Fahy’s
    The Hideout
  9. The Drunken Tinker
    The Laughing
  10. The Wheels Of The World
    The Pinch Of Snuff
  11. Sheik Billy
    The Copper Beech
  12. The College Groves

Seven comments

Finbarr Dwyer

Recorded in 1971 on the Belfast “Outlet” label. A great selection of tunes by a player whose music - and especially his own compositions - I’ve always admired.
The first reel on track 2 is sometimes called “The Holly Bush”.
“Paddy Murphy’s Wife” on track 5 is the reel by that name which appears in O’Neill’s, and not the other reel by the same name which I posted a while back.
The “Paddy Fahy’s” on track 8 is Paddy’s best -known jig.
“The Laughing Reel” was composed by L.Dwyer, according to the sleeve notes. [ May or may not be a misprint ? ]
“The Copper Beech” was composed by F.Dwyer.
I’ll try to post these slightly obscure tunes in the near future, but they are very much box tunes, with “low” notes and lots of “flats” and “sharps” where you might not expect them.

Titles

PaddyC asked me about some of the tune titles, some of which I changed :
track 3 - “Lad O’Beirne’s” is listed as “Reevey’s” - [sic].
track 6 - “The Hunter’s House” is also listed as “Reevey’s”, who composed it.
track 9 - “The Drunken Tinker” is listed as “Cosgrave’s”.
The track listing I posted came from the Outlet cassette tape, and the track order is slightly different from that on the LP record.

Paddy Fahy’s Favourite on track 5 is in fact Kitty in the Lane. I’ve put in Fahy’s Favourite as an alternative title in the tune section.

Best Of Finbarr Dwyer

I found this LP yesterday in a record store, along with a whole bunch of obscure goodies on Outlet and other boutique ITM labels. The track listing is the same as originally noted. A young Fin is pictured on the cover, holding his Paolo Soprani 9 coupler B/C/C# accordion - the standard instrument in Scotland, as originated by Jimmy Shand. Fin’s has 100 basses, the number there varied. I notice a good few Irish box players in the 60s/70s used these big jobs - Bobby Gardiner, Kevin Loughlin. Also among my finds yesterday were 2 LPs by “Goldsmith’s Lament” composer Seamus Shannon, who also sported a B/C/C#. Of course any of these could just be posing with a big box, or in Kevin’s case using one for the occasion - we see him playing one in a YT video, but I don’t think he’s pictured on his LP so who knows.

My copy of the Fin LP was a faulty pressing - music came out in F instead of D and correspondingly faster! But I immediately digitized it and slowed it back down. Great stuff.

Dick Cosgrove’s

“Cosgrave’s” on this LP, this is a tune recorded by Hughie Gillespie in the 30s, and distinct from the tune called the Drunken Tinker, which is in A; Hughie’s tune was in Gmix, and there are subtle differences in the melody: http://tunearch.org/wiki/Dick_Cosgrove’s_Reel