The Gooseberry Bush reel

A fine reel which I’m surprised doesn’t seem to be in the database.
I was reminded of it after posting "O’Mahoney’s". Both were recorded in the 60s on what I believe was the first ever LP wholly devoted to the tin whistle, on the Belfast "Outlet" label , and by Tom McHaile of Co. Roscommon, who was All-Ireland tin whistle champion in 1965 or 66. I was also reminded by a request for a tune called "The West Clare Railway" , as I once heard Dick Gaughan play it , giving it that title.

oops… request was for "The West Cork Railway" - don’t know of that one, sure it wasn’t Clare?

A great reel Kenny which is popular in Clare. Most tunes have something which gives them that special character (the F natural in "the Cook in the Kitchen", the C naturals in "Jenny Picking Cockles", etc) and with this one I’d say it’s the fourth bar from the end - don’t ask me why!

I love this reel. That 4th bar from the end has that lonesome sound. On the flute I like the 3rd and 4th bars in the beginning especially. This tune also sounds good slow (which is how I had to start with it of course). And it reminds me of Joe Burke for some reason, whenever I play it I think of his beard. (?) No idea why.

I’ve just gotten Jenny Picking Cockles this week, what a nice coincidence to see it mentioned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXL-gFTtgaI&playnext_from=TL&videos=BYO9HKNIbPk

play video

First tune there by Matt Molloy, Joe Burke and Ann Conroy

A nice version of The Gooseberry Bush on solo fiddle, by Dale Russ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1uQlOsv8s0

play video

The ABCs and thus the sheetmusic here are not as I’ve ever heard this bar played, but seem to be a very anodyne variation. The youtube links both show what Bannerman and LH meant above: either
d2Bd GBAG or d2=cd GBAG
(or variations thereof), but definitely with a G as the 5th note of the bar.

is this a Sean Ryan tune by any chance? It just ‘feels’ under the fingers related to the Trip to Nenagh but maybe just a coincidence

No. It’s in O’Neill’s 1850 according to http://irishtune.info. Also, Trip to Nenagh is probably incorrectly attributed to Sean Ryan. It’s most likely really composed by Finbarr Dwyer, who calls it The Meadow.

Is this the same tune that Mick Molony plays on his "strings attached" album?

Yeah, it’s the same tune. It’s interesting to compare Moloney’s setting with Dale Russ’s fiddle setting in one of the above comments.

Does anybody have other settings of the tune? Possibly something a bit closer in sound to Mick Moloy’s version? Working on learning the tune and am using that recording as a guide.

The new setting (X:2) is from Mick Moloney’s ‘Strings Attached’ record (1980), as asked for by TheBlindBard.

Thanks, man 🙂 I appreciate it.

Is the ornamentation put into the ABC? I don’t really care one way or the other, just was curious so I can work on them/know where they are or where to put them.

No.

Ok, cool. Thank you.

Is it a C natural or a C-sharp in the second setting? Listening to the recording, It sounds natural, but I’m slowing it down with vlc media player.

well, I’m pretty sure in the recording, it’s some kind of a double-stop, either that or hitting the note hard so it rings.

"Also, Trip to Nenagh is probably incorrectly attributed to Sean Ryan. It’s most likely really composed by Finbarr Dwyer, who calls it The Meadow."
That’s interesting, GaryAMartin, and what I’ve always thought. What’s the evidence for Sean Ryan having written it, do you know?

It appears as "Trip to Nenagh" in "The Hidden Ireland", a book of Sean Ryan compositions compiled by Sean’s son Brian after Sean’s death. On the flip side, I’m told (though I don’t have access to either source) that it appears as "The Meadow" in Bulmer & Sharpley and that someone in New York has a tape her father made in the 60s or 70s of Richard Dwyer playing it and saying it was his brother’s tune. Stylistically it sounds much closer to other Finbarr Dwyer tunes than it does to Sean Ryan tunes, and it is very well suited to the B/C accordion.

I got this from a session recording from Kevin Crawford and Tony Linnane in Gort.

This is a version I’ve learnt from a video of the great Matt Molloy. I’ve tried to transcript as closer as possible what he plays and, althought this is nearly impossible, you can have a better idea if you can try to learn his version.

This is the video I am talking about:
https://www.facebook.com/gradamceoil/videos/2161334490591623/