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Barrowburn reel

Also known as Barrow Burn, The Barrow Burn, The Barrowburn.

There are 33 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with The Trip To Windsor (lots of times), Malcolm Finlay (a few times), Lexie MacAskill (a few times), Spootiskerry (a few times) and Andy Renwick’s Ferret (a few times).

Barrowburn appears in 1 other tune collection.

Barrowburn has been added to 50 tune sets.

Barrowburn has been added to 385 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Four settings

1
X: 1
T: Barrowburn
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
FE|~D2DE FAAd | ~B2BA BddB | ~A2AB d2de | fedB AFEF |
~D2DE FAAd | ~B2BA Bdde | f2af e2fe | dBAB d2:||
cd|~e2ef ecBA | ~f2fg fdBA | ~g2ga gecA | a2ag f2ef |
g2ga gecA | a2ag f2ef | g2ag f2ed | dBAB d2:||
2
X: 2
T: Barrowburn
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:D2ED FA~A2|ABBA BcdB|AFAB d3e|fedB AFEA|
D2ED FA~A2|ABBA Bcde|fagf egfe|1 dBAB dBAF:|2 dBAB d2cd||
|:e2ef ecBA|f2fg fdBA|g2ga gecA|a2ag f2ef|
g2ga gecA|a2ag f2ef|g2ag f2ed|1 dBAB d2cd:|2 dBAB dBAF||
3
X: 3
T: Barrowburn
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
FE|:D3E FAAd | B3A BddB | A3B d2de | fedB AFEF |
D3E FAAd | B3A Bdde | f2af e2fe | dBAB d2:||
cd|:e3f ecBA |f3g fdBA |g3a gecA | a3g f2ef |
g3a gecA | a3g f2ef | g2ag f2ed | BAAB d2:||
# Added by JACKB .
4
X: 4
T: Barrowburn
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
A2 |: D2 DE FA Ad |B2 BA Bd dB |A2 AB d2 de |fe dB AF EF |
D2 DE FA Ad |B2 BA Bd de |f2 af eg fe |1 dB AB d2 D2 :|2 dB AB d2||
|: cd | e2 ef ec BA |f2 fg fd BA |g2 ga ge cA |a2 ag f2 ef |
g2 ga ge cA |a2 ag f2 ef |g2 ag f2 ed | BA AB d2 :|

Fourteen comments

Up, Up & Away

The B part of this tune is great, it just keeps going up. The A part is not too bad either. The liner notes from M

Barrowburn Reel

I have been looking for this reel for six months! Thank you for having it on your site.

Barrowburn Reel

This is a great tune from late Addie from Caithness. It’s a pretty well known tune all over Scotland I think.

Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh has the A-part slightly different on his CD:

|:D2ED FA~A2|ABBA BcdB|AFAB d3e|fedB AFEA|
D2ED FA~A2|ABBA Bcde|fagf egfe|1 dBAB dBAF:|2 dBAB d2cd||
|:e2ef ecBA|f2fg fdBA|g2ga gecA|a2ag f2ef|
g2ga gecA|a2ag f2ef|g2ag f2ed|1 dBAB d2cd:|2 dBAB dBAF||

Another recording

this is on the kathryn tickell band album, but there is no link to it. she plays it with just the crotchets in the first bar and stops in between them and it is really effective

I just keep liking this tune more and more. It’s one of my favorites to play on the fiddle. It gets played after "The Wind the Shakes the Barley" at the local session.

Nice groovy 1st part: 2nd part’s a drag.

composer

by Addie Harper, I believe.

Tich Richardson

Hi Kenny!

What a beautiful yet sad and poignant clip; thank you so much for putting this up. I was fortunate to play with Tich many times, and was only talking about his playing with Roy at our session, Saturday last in Hobart.
One night our little band played at the White Hart, Dumfries and and Tich and Aly were the main guests. There was some party that night, and they were generous to a fault. The next day they had to head over to Newcastle and they drove me all the way to my little cottage half way up Cold Fell in Cumbria!

A number of times when I played at Rothbury, Tich would come and find me and we went to the courtyard at the back of the Turk’s Head for a tune or two (three or four…and counting) out of the way of the noise. What a lovely man.

And in your clip you mentioned about his tragic end. I still shiver at the thought. I’d only been on that road four days earlier, I’d been up in the Kyle of Sutherland. That was immediately after I’d played with you at Kendal in 1984, one of our pupils at the workshop we did invited me up for a break.

Hope all is well with you and yours, look forward to catching up with you later this year and you can help me celebrate my big birthday year!

All the best

Brian x

Barrowburn

Just back from a trip to the Upper Coquet Valley in Northumberland. We chanced upon a tea room, called the Barrowburn, in the wilds of the Cheviot Hills. They do a great lemon drizzle cake, and the proprietor recalls the day a visitor from the Wick Ceildh band came to visit and composed this tune in the same living room.

Re: Barrowburn

Yes, a great favourite in Scotland, and I had heard about the Northumberland-Wick connection. Version X-1 is more like the tune we use than X2 or X3.

Barrowburn, X:4

Another not so different version …

Re: Barrowburn

It’s a wonderful ending tune. The B goes up, the tension builds, you can add an ‘A’ drone, play with the chords, put in a minor . It has been embraced by the contra dance musicians in the US. The composer is/was Addie Harper.
Sylvia Miskoe, Concord, NH USA