The Cloonagroe reel

I learned this simple yet mighty tune from Martin Hayes’s second solo album. I actually don’t like his interpretation of it, especially the overuse of long notes as in other reels, and so varied the melody a little to suit my fancy.

Nice tune this - thanks - it seems to hang together quite nicely.

Mary MacNamara recorded a bit different version of this reel as Sandy Carty’s. The sleeve notes inform that its source can be traced back to Martin Rochford. I suspect M. Hayes learned this from him.

Rochford played a three part version that was different from Hayes’. A notation (by Sean Reid) that comes close is in Ceol Rinnce vol 4, nr 199 I recorded him playing it different again

Is his version in this key? Mary MacNamara acutally recorded it with a note down.

The version in CRE4 is the same key but I have heard Martin play this (and other tunes) in different keys, sometimes he preferred wha the called ‘the dark keys’ i.e. starting this tune on d.
I think I have recordings of it in two keys. Also the way he played tunes on the pipes was sometimes in different keys from his fiddleplaying.

Mary Mac walks up and down through keys as well so how a tune ends up on a record doesn’t really mean it is set in stone.

Another version recorded by Skylark on their first album:

X: 1
T: Bill O’Malley’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|: BFAF DEFA | B2 Ad Beed | B2 AF ~D3 E | F2 FE DB,A,D :|
|: ~B3 c ~d3 f | e2 fe dBAd |1 BABc ~d3 f | edBA FEFA :|2 d2 fe dBAd |BFAF Eeed ||