Twenty-six comments
I always associated this tune with Cape Breton, I don’t know why. At one of the local sessions this is paired with Master Crowley’s (DDor), Julia Delaney’s, Tuttle’s. I’ve heard this is AKA as "Mills are Grinding". Anyone able to shed light on this tune??
Origin
I have checked the Fiddler’s Companion and this is listed as an Irish Slow Reel. They also list the alternate names that I have posted, one of which you already mentioned. Its on Kevin Burke’s "Up Close".
Great tune
Cheers
Donough
The Custom Gap
Brad, I learned this as The Custom Gap (one of the names Donough posted) off an early Chieftains recording. From my perforated memory, either they paired it with My Love is in America (a close cousin of this melody), or the liner notes simply mis-identified it as such. It was Sean Keane solo, on fiddle rollicking through the Custom Gap.
Great post, Brad.
The Windy Gap
I got this one from P.Joe Hayes and it’s usually followed by Kathleen Collins (otherwise known as Sergeant Early’s Dream) and the Tempest. He always played them like that and it’s the only solo recording he ever made. It can be found on the Tulla 40th aniversary CD
A very similar setting of this tune was posted some time ago by Brad Maloney as Tuttle’s or The Custom Gap. It also goes by The Mills are Grinding and The Millstones are Grinding.
Be careful not to confuse this tune with The Windy Gap on Larry Nugent’s album of the same title. His is a version of Far From Home.
Mistake in recordings
The reel is on the first Na Connerys CD not the second one. On the good CD, the reel is named "Casey’s".
My love is in america
this reel can be heard on "Within a Mile Of Dublin" (Paul O’Saughnessy & Paul McGrattan) where it is named "My Love Is In america".
Also called the Windy Gap. I learned this one from an old 78 of Sligoman Paddy Sweeney, where it was called the "Custom Jap" for some reason - pre WWII tensions? Sweeney’s medley was The Concert Reel/Custom Jap, which John Vesey recreates on his record.
Yeah, Paul O’Shaughnessy recorded this as the Donegal version of "My Love Is in America."
Bobby Casey originally recorded (and possibly composed) this tune, named after his friend, fiddleplayer John Joe Tuttle
Tuttle’s = The Windy Gap
I learned this years ago from the Roche Collection (1912) where it is called the "Custom Gap."
Why is this tune entered twice?
This isn’t the only one, actually.
How about the quads? ~ heh, heh, heh…
John Joe Tuttle
I met John Joe Tuttle in Miltown about ten years ago. He told me that Bobby Casey did indeed get the tune from him, but that he himself had learned it via the Paddy Sweeney 78. Since Sweeney’s setting and name (despite the typo on the label) were the same as that in the Roche Collection, I’d bet Sweeney got it from the book. O’Neill’s setting (one of his "Mills Are Grinding" tunes) is in a piper’s version in an A mode rather then D.
Lunasa just played “Tuttles” at Girvan
As per the set from Redwood. Yes indeed Kevin Crawford said it was named after John Joe Tuttle whose nickname was "Nige" - apparently because John Joe’s style was like that of the classical violinist Nigel Kennedy - I couldn’t figure out how much of this was true or how much a joke - it got a big laugh though :)
I can see the joke of suggesting John Joe sounds like Kennedy trying to play Irish music ;-) , at times he can be hard to follow
I learned this from Bobby Casey when I played gigs and sessions with him in London in the 1970s
Interesting comments about this tune. I’d always thought of it as a West Clare tune. I think I first heard it played by Sean Casey (son of Bobby) in London. I’ve also met John Joe Tuttle a few times, but never made the connection with this tune.
A different title
This tune appears in Bulmer and Sharpley’s "Music from Ireland" (book 4, #29) as ‘Jug of Punch’, which is also the alternate title given by Roche back in 1926 or so.
The explanation for this title being (mis)applied here is probably that the first few bars of Tuttle’s are very similar to the start of the _real_ Jug of Punch (also in D dorian) at
https://thesession.org/tunes/594
John Joe Tuttle
I know John Joe. I’m happy to call the tune after him and to think of him when I play it. He has a wealth of tunes and is a great enthusiast.
Looking at Jug of Punch, in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland (yellow bible), I’m thinking this tune is the same. That would date it further back than Bulmer and Sharpley’s.
Good version on Na Fir Bolg CD Cormac begley and Jack Talty concertinas. Coupled with Joe Bane’s The Bag of Spuds ( off Mary and Andrew MacNamara, Open Hearth CD)
