MacArthur Road (reel) on The Session

MacArthur Road

Apparently written By Dave Richardson of the
Bouys in the Lough. I leaned it from my friend
Michael Lesley, flute player, who plays it on an
Olwell bamboo flute keyed to E. I find myself wondering
what key it was composed in originally. ABCs for it
in the key of D can be found here:
http://www.cranfordpub.com/tunes/tunes11_20.htm#MacArthur’s%20Road
Richardson also wrote Calliope House, I’m pretty sure.
That tune is usually heard in the key of D
though he wrote it in E!
What is it about this guy’s tunes?

P.s.

I also just posted the tune correctly named the Ostrich
in the comments section under that title if anyone is interested.

Key

This tune was originally composed in E. (Guess it’s his favorite key!)Some people play it in D though to make it "playable" for more people at a session.

Help??

Does anyone know any others tunes that would go well with MacArthur Road in a set?

It’s fairly common to play it after the Easy Club reel in A. See: https://thesession.org/tunes/955

The “E” version

For some reason, I thought this wasn’t here but here’s the E version, at least.

|:B2 Bc Bcef|g2 ga gfec|f2 fg fece|aAgA feec|B2 Bc Bcef|g2 ga gfec|f2 fg feec|1Bcef e3 c:|2 Bcef e3 g||
|:beee bec’e|beee fece|f2 fg fece|aAgA feeg|1 beee bec’e|beee fece|f2 fg feec|Bcef e2-e g:|2 B2 BcBcef|g2 ga gfec|f2 fg feec|Bcef e2-e2||

John

Dave Richardson in E

I had always thought it was because of Dave being a guitarist, until I realised that I was getting mixed up with his late brother Tich.

However as his E tunes work pretty well up the open E string on banjo or mando, maybe they were composed on a banjo?

Tune to go well with MacArthur road

I find that maggies pancakes goes well either side of MacArthur Road

Bren, I heard that "Calliope House" (also in E) was composed on mandolin, so I’m guessing that it was the same for this tune.

This is the second tune of the "Trucks of Bohermore" set on the Reeltime CD "Live it Up."

Margaret MacArthur

Dave Richardson wrote this in honor of Vermont singer and song collector Margaret MacArthur, whose family lives on MacArthur Road. Margaret died two days ago from Creuzfeldt-Jacob Disease.

also appears on Gaelic Storm’s Herding Cats album as "Unknown Shetland Tune".
https://thesession.org/recordings/display/128

Yay

i love this tune…learnt it a couple of weeks ago from sophy ball. she then taught us it as a jig! twas well funny! apparently she runined it by making it into a jig but i like it played both styles. x

“MacArthur Road” / “Old But Happy At 63” ~ rescued duplication

D Major MacArthur Road

X: 1
T: MacArthur Road
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|: dA A2 ABde | f2 fd edBd | e2 ef edBd | effd edBe |
dA A2 ABde | f2 fd edBd | e2 ef edBA | Bdde d3e :|
|: fA A2 fAgA | fAgA fdBd | e2 ef edBd | effd edBe |
fA A2 fAgA | fAgA fdBd | e2 ef edBA | Bdde d3e |
fA A2 fAgA | fAgA fdBd | e2 ef edBd | effd edBe |
dA A2 ABde | f2 fd edBd | e2 ef edBA | Bdde d3e ||

MacArthur Road

I’d just like to add that this was obviously written in honour of the home of the late Margaret MacArthur, of Vermont, a great friend of the Boys of the Lough.
I, too, have had the privilege of staying at MacArthur Road, many years ago now.

Rescued Version

Slightly mad version, third tune

What is the first tune too? :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaVw4063eTI

play video

actually the fiddle playing sounds god awful in the reels and I can’t remove this now so, oh :(

^^ That set started promising anyway…

Maybe these will help cleanse the palate, it’s really a great little tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqM5LoOmfzM