For all our readers and researchers eager to learn of new resources in Irish music, we continue a series of blog posts featuring audio from the Joe Lamont collection. The open-reel audiotapes in Joe Lamont Irish Music Recordings are a mix of live instrumental music—much of it from New York City’s Irish music clubs of the 1950s and 1960s—along with dubs of both published and unpublished 78-rpm discs. Compiled by fiddle player Joe Lamont (1905-1974), the collection is now digitized and is part of Burns Library’s Irish Music Archives.
This blog post presents the entire content of reel 9, side 2 in eleven audio clips. Where possible, the corresponding portion of Lamont’s typed tracklist appears below each audio clip.
Lamont’s tracklist for reel 9 side 2, Joe Lamont Irish music recordings, IM.M145.2005, John J. Burns Library, Boston College
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 1 (00:00 to 01:15)
- Sean Quinn, fiddle
- The Lark in the Clear Air (slow air)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 2 (01:15 to 04:53)
- Louis Quinn, fiddle and Sean Quinn, fiddle
- The High Level; The Banks (hornpipes)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 3 (04:53 to 06:50)
- Louis Quinn, fiddle
- The Silver Vale; Unidentified tune (jigs)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 4 (06:50 to 12:08)
- Sean McGuire, fiddle and probably Eileen Lane, piano
- Paddy O’Carroll’s (aka Brennan’s Favourite); The Idle Road (aka Falls Road) (jigs) (Copley CEP9-20)
- McDermott’s; Mason’s Apron (reels) (Copley CEP9-20)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 5 (12:08 to 14:07)
- Unknown musician, accordion
- Garrett Barry’s (jig)
- The Yellow Tinker (reel)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 6 (14:07 to 15:12)
- Paddy Killoran, fiddle
- Down the Broom (reel)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 7 (15:12 to 16:25)
- Unknown musician, accordion
- The Yellow Tinker (reel)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 8 (16:25 to 17:33)
- Paddy Killoran, fiddle and either Louis or Sean Quinn, fiddle
- Farrel O’Gara’s (reel)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 9 (17:33 to 24:50)
- Probably Paddy Killoran Club, various instruments
- The Frieze Breeches (jig)
- The Plains of Boyle (hornpipe)
- The Maid Behind the Bar (reel)
- The Newport Lass (aka The Trip to Athlone) (jig)
- Gannon’s (hornpipe)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 10 (24:50 to 26:49)
- Pete Reilly, whistle
- The Skylark; The Fermoy Lasses (aka The Humours of Mackin) (reels)
Reel 9, side 2, audio clip 11 (26:49 to 31:12)
- Probably Paddy Bán O’Sullivan, fiddle
- Paddy on the Turnpike; George White’s Favorite (reels)
- Seán sa Cheo (aka Jack in the Fog) (reel)
About the Joe Lamont Collection
Each audio clip in this blog post is from Audio file 99570_0001 (reel 9), Joe Lamont Irish music recordings, IM.M145.2005, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
The eleven audio clips above represent reel 9, side 2 from beginning to end. The side is 31 minutes and 12 seconds long and primarily contains unpublished music. The library-assigned reel number (in this case, “9”) is in the upper right corner of the tracklist.
Listeners may notice anomalies that originated on the tape: abrupt beginnings and endings, variation in sound quality and volume, and tempo/pitch alterations.
An emigrant from Co. Derry, Lamont began working for the New York City Transit Authority in 1927. As a fiddle player he was actively involved in establishing clubs for Irish musicians in his adopted city. He brought his reel-to-reel tape recorder to live events; he also used it to dub sound discs onto reels. His personal collection of 60 open-reel tapes was donated to Burns Library’s Irish Music Archives by his nephew James Lowney. Boston College Libraries digitized and described the collection as part of a 2018 Recordings at Risk digitization grant project.
Further details about the collection can be viewed by downloading the collection’s finding aid and by viewing more blog posts about the Joe Lamont collection, some of which are in this blog and others at the bcirishmusic blog. If you have questions, comments, or additional information to share with us, we invite you to contact the Library.
— Elizabeth Sweeney, Irish Music Librarian, Burns Library
Sources Consulted
- Dalton, Ciarán. “The Sullivans of Baltygarron, Spa, County Kerry.” In Ardfert by the Sea: A Memoir of Traditional Music, Musicians and Dance from Ardfert, County Kerry, c. 1900-2000, 32-39. Fenit, Co. Kerry: Caherard Publications, 2009.
- Henrik Norbeck’s ABC Tunes
- Lamont, Joe. Spoken remarks to Ciarán Mac Mathúna, circa 1962. Box 29, Folder 76, Séamus Connolly Papers, Series II.A, IM.M064.1999, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
- O’Sullivan, Paddy. Spoken remarks to Ciarán Mac Mathúna, circa 1962. Box 29, Folder 76, Séamus Connolly Papers, Series II.A, IM.M064.1999, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
- The Session
- McGraw, Ted. “Sean Maguire – 45 EP’s” (accessed November 17, 2020), http://www.tedmcgraw.com/Maguire_45s.html
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