The Dunmore Lasses reel

This is a slow reel; it shows up in the Chieftains’ “Long Black Veil” CD. They play it very slowly there, maybe 1/4=120bpm.

This is a (rare) example of a tune where Matt Molloy plays with almost no ornamentation! Check the CD.

This is a great tune the way Matt Molloy plays it. Bflat flute with only a couple of rolls for ornamentation, as previously stated. I play along with my Olwell Bflat while cranking the disc. Credit should also be given to Moloney for such a great arrangement of this reel.
This is a great tune.

I also play it as a slow reel, inspired by Matt Molloy, though I play it on the low whistle. But I’ve also heard played in normal reel tempo and I don’t think it’s intended especially as a slow reel.

I just realized that M.M. also plays this reel at normal supersonic tempo in his “black CD” (Matt Molloy & D

Is it a reel meant to be played alone or can it accompany another reel? And if so, what do you play it with. Thanks

~E3F ~G3A|Be~e2 Be~e2|~E3F ~G2BG|A2BA GEFD|
~E3F G2GA|Beed ~e3f|feed edBd|~A2BA GEFD|
~E3F G2GA|Be~e2 Be~e2|~E3F G2BG|~A2BA (3GBG FB|
EBEF ~G3A|Beed ~e3f|g2fd edBd|~A2BA ge~e2|
g2eg fedc|Be~e2 Be~e2|~g2eg fedB|AGBA ge~e2|
g2eg fedc|Beed ~e3f|g2fd edBd|~ A2BA ge~e2|
gfeg fedc|Be~e2 Be~e2|gfeg fedB|AGBA ge~e2|
g2eg fedc|Beed ~e3f|g2fd edBd|~ A2BA GEFD||“fine”A4

The mode and shape of the melody here is eerily similar to Tuttle’s, seems to me…

Did James Kelly write this? Someone told me he wrote a reel called “Road to Knock” and this tune has that title…

I’ve heard this played by Mick Moloney with the A and B parts reversed on a compilation album called Dance Music Of Ireland.

I’ll add it to the Recordings section.

Is this on Paddy Carty’s ‘Traditional Music of Ireland’ CD as Morrison’s reel (or something similar)? I’m sure this is the one.

i know this as a jig - in Geoff Bowens ’Folk Fiddle@.

James Kelly didn’t write this, unless he has a time machine or something. Tom Morrison recorded it on 78 in the 1920s. (He played it B part first, and didn’t repeat the B part, so it came out BAABAAB…)

Chieftains first played this tune at reel tempo on Chieftains 6… First tune on the first track which is The Chattering Magpie. I think it sounds great either way, depending on the mood I’m in.

I agree. It’s great on it’s own played slow. I do it on a low A whistle just for something different (or not!). But i also play it fast on a normal “D” and put it after the Skylark. Sounds strange but it works for me!

It’s only a “slow reel” if you play it slowly.

I hear ya Dow… I think it makes an awesome fast reel.

I recently found a close resemblance between this tune and “My Love is in America”: https://thesession.org/tunes/77

Seems some tunebooks have already pointed this out, and it is probably not accidental.

And some of them are in London too? https://thesession.org/tunes/2273 I’m not very sure of the relation between the two tunes, but they have similar bits.

Molloy’s playing is great. Finally there’s some use for my Eb tinwhistle.

The CD Fiona - Beyond the Pale has a good version of Dunmoore Lassies using two tin whistles.

I learned this without a name some time ago, with the following small variation in the A part and a significantly different B part. Is it actually a different tune? In any case, I’ve played it after Man of the House, with Man of the House played quite slowly, then with a pause between and Dunmore Lasses at dance speed.

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:200
N:variant B part
K:EAeolian
|:EDEF GFGA|Be (3~ede Be ~e2|EDEF (3GFG BG|~A2 BA (3GFE FD|
|EDEF GFGA|Be (3~ede ~eBef|gbag fedB|1~A2 BA (3GFE FD:|2~A2 BA GEEd||
|:~e2 ge bege|defa gfed|~e2 ge bege|~fdB^c defd|
|~e2 ge bege|defg ~a2 ga|(3bag af gfe^d|1~e2 BA GEEd:|2~e2 BA (3GFE FD||

I too find this reel similar to Tuttle’s
I have been searching for it thinking..
“what is that reel similar to Tuttle’s?”….well I found it hurray!

Sounds a bit like Amhrán Na Leabhar
https://thesession.org/tunes/814

Love both tunes! 🙂

Tom Morrison’s 1927 Columbia recording is here (with John Reynolds):
http://juneberry78s.com/sounds/Tom%20Morrison%20&%20John%20Reynolds%20-%20Dunmore%20Lassies.mp3

Marked as “DUNSMORE LASSIES - MANCHESTER - CASTLEBAR TRAVELER” reels
(the Manchester reel is the Galway Rambler)

on flute, if you don’t want the ornaments at the beginning of the tune as given in the dots. what would you suggest to do instead?

thanks.

Where?

http://www.flutetunes.com/
http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/#pdf
http://www.freesheetmusic.net

theres many more but these are really good…i like the session and flute tunes the best but ceolas has some good collections in pdf many of the tunes are here but slightly different…

My own personal take on it. I don’t know where I heard this or if it came from my head. I like to walk down to the E in certain parts. Also having 1st and second endings makes this a little more interesting.

is a quare tune, good played in Dminor, C#minor and Cminor, for that youll need one off them flutes from the 19th century, ye know the silver ones or if yer lucky a wooden bohemme system would be grand , gets boring just playing in one mode all the time ,

This is my attempt at the version from the CD. In the B section there is a solo played over the main tune which I haven’t attempted to transcribe.

darn looks a bit above my level… need to get back to practise O.O

My version is based on Mikethebook’s. I hope he doesn’t mind. The Chieftain’s also played this tune in the first song in the Chattering Magpie set from Album 6 with some differences from the Long Black Veil version and this is my attempt to replicate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmPd5vlTp8o

play video

https://youtu.be/JQnhJVMc5CE

play video

Tune with one added accompanying line, posted as an example in connection with discussion thread at: https://thesession.org/discussions/45493#comment908084. Can’t remember where I got the melody line: seem to have known it forever, but the accomp. is mine, for what it’s worth.

I guess most people play c naturals, but that puts the tune in minor instead of dorian, which is pretty rare in Irish music. I found a few versions that avoid the c entirely, making it hexatonic. Here’s one way of doing it without attempting to transcribe any particular recording. Banjo Joe’s setting replaces the c in bars 1 and 4 of the B part with low As, but two recordings I found, including the Mulcahy Family, use a high e instead. The easiest way to avoid the c in the last bar of each line is to hold the A longer. Another option is to play AdbA instead of AcbA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gffi7iYk7z8&ab_channel=RAPALJECelticFolkMusic

play video

I really like this version of this song! I played it rather slowly, around 115bmp. He played it with a lot of ornament, I didn’t write them down because I didn’t use the same ones as him. But he wrote them down here : https://rapalje.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Dunmore-Lassies-Rapalje-Celtic-Folk-Music-1024x727-1.jpg

Like many Irish songs, this reel puts me in a wistful place. I am sailing home on the open sea. The waves rock my boat, but I know at home are my Dunmore lasses (Wife and daughter) and I am a gay sailor!

https://youtu.be/Xr_CvB1xYw4

play video

Tuttle’s:
https://thesession.org/tunes/528