Irish Music Stories

What is the U.S. Electoral College? And what does it have to do with The Kesh Jig and The Humours of Glendart? This election adjacent exploration of two popular jigs takes a look at the stories behind jig (and Presidential) contenders, and the process used to choose a winner.
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For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to https://IrishMusicStories.o...

When you’re making an instrument, you’re forming something that can be used to design a melody. Or a musical life. This episode follows a precious flute’s unexpected journey. And flute makers Patrick Olwell and Eamonn Cotter, piper Colleen Shanks, and fiddle players Bob Childs and Pat O’Connor talk about what it’s like to carve an approach as musicians and craftspeople.
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For playlists, transcripts, links to videos,...

Irish musicians, and writers, and home makers can all benefit by learning some rules and technical skills—and by allowing a little spontaneity and flexibility. But how much great technique do you need? Does that get in the way of the magic? In this episode, Nathan Gourley, Brendan Mulholland, and Sharon Murphy reflect on the alchemy of order and spontaneity: how rule following and rule breaking can make for a great journey; but how...

Boston producer Brian O’Donovan made a lot of space for Irish music and culture. He was dedicated to sharing it widely.  And though he presented music on formal stages and through his WGBH broadcast “A Celtic Sojourn,” casual, public Irish music sessions were ever important and enduring for him. This beloved leader lifted up traditional music. And he elevated the practice of ‘just going to...

Could traditional music sessions exist without listeners? Are the non-playing listeners in public spaces important for tune players? Here’s a brief podcast adaptation of a video response to this intriguing little question!
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For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to IrishMusicStories.org.
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Thank you to everybody for listening....

Communities. Forests. Families. All of these different ecosystems contain a lot of different components that weave and work together. And as people, plants, and pests carry on and creep around, rich and sometimes unlikely collaborations emerge. In this episode, with the help of Karine Polwart, Colin Farrell, and Steve Nardone, I’ll explore how friends, neighbors and families can blend; how humans and trees need and inspire one anot...

In part one of the Fruitful Fells, we met modern and 19th century activists dedicated to making beauty available to current and future humans. In this episode, we learn how our heroes saved acres of woods and bushels of old ballads, and we follow enduring struggles in the crusade for preservation. As always, there’s plenty of beautiful music woven into these conversations with guests Mike Ryan, Alison Simcox, Douglas Heath, and Kar...

There are little creatures, trees, ponds, and pedestrians all over the earth. And there are bushels of ballads about the charms of nature. And while there are ecological activists like Mike Ryan and 19th century Elizur Wright, and song collectors like Francis Child and Olive Dame Campbell who are out to enjoy and save the critters and the old songs… there are others who are less interested in preservation. This two-part story on th...

The weekly Irish music session is a specific niche affair, with a particular code of conduct. Gift giving also has its own rules, at least it has in the past. As older customs like traditional Irish music and wedding anniversary gifts have moved to the new world, have things adjusted? Does modern session behavior reflect wider social trends? Etiquette experts Barry Foy and Zina Lee walk me down the aisle of session (and wedding gif...

New inventions and technology can make life—and Irish music—more convenient, more accessible, and sweeter…. and more complicated. This episode examines a few innovations like the washing machine, the personal computer, and to the electric bicycle—though you’ll have to go to Episode 18-Wax Cylinders to the World Wide Web for extensive chat about recording technologies… and also Episode 40-Irish Tunes in the Key of C-19.

There are ...

Lunch routines, laundry, kid art supplies, spoons, and teacups are details of domestic life that don’t usually make it into the photo albums, or the tune titles. But they shape lives. And in the midst of the thousands of jigs and reels out there, the simple (and profound) cup of tea.. and the basket of turf are represented. Here’s a meditation on tunes with prosaic titles and the stimulating stories behind them.

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Presenting concerts can be about a lot more than throwing someone onstage. Matt Smith manages Club Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has been the central venue and fountain of support for 20 years—and is now the official presenter—for Boston’s Celtic Music Festival.  For Matt, it’s all about creating opportunities for something special and unique to happen. Learn about where this ...

Why did kids carry dead birds on sticks all over Ireland on the 26th of December? And what did this all have to do with first century Christian martyr St. Stephen? Just like traditional tunes, which can vary from player to player, the whole history of Wren Day depends on the storyteller. Learn more about the role a melody, a good story (or three), and a tiny bird has played in the centuries-long winter tradition of hunting the wren...

Loss can spark achingly beautiful music. It can also spark new forms of creativity for musicians. This episode is a meditation on the stubborn insistence and the transformative power of creativity, featuring beautiful conversations with Emmanuelle Le Blanc, Daniel Neely, Joe DeZarn, Tina Eck, and a poem from Brian O’Donovan. Here’s to sowing beauty and blooming from the muck of misfortune.

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As tunes travel they change. And to turn an old Irish reel into an old time tune can involve adjusting notes to suit different instruments, using different techniques… and also digging into the non-musical stories. In this episode I tuck into some early railway stories while Agi Kovacs and Jesse Winch help me follow Paddy on the Turnpike, from North Galway to North Carolina. 

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Beauty is in the eye of the (informed) beholder. Where many of us might overlook a grubby little copy book or an awkwardly named interlibrary loan, others can help us understand them as treasures that shine new understanding on Irish history. Learn how Laura Flanagan in Texas and Dáibhí Ó Cróinín made unexpected finds; learn more about special library collections from Aedín Clements; and take a side trip to Thailand (because even h...

It’s really exciting and important to have kids playing Irish music.  And it takes organization, skill, and willing adults to create learning opportunities for them. In this episode Annmarie Acosta, Lexie Boatright, Clare Cason, Oisín Mac Diarmada, Maisie Lynch, Eileen Estes, Agi Kovacs, Ken Fleming, and Aidan Flanagan—and very special guest students, parents, and community members—share i...

Most Irish traditional tunes have names. Some go by many different names. So what’s in a name? Do names help us associate tunes with people, or remember vast numbers of melodies… or is there another agenda afoot? In this episode, Colm Gannon, Nic Gareiss, Mick Moloney—and renowned 20th century literary figures Dick and Jane—explore the meaning behind the names.

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When flute player and police captain Francis O’Neill published his first and most extensive collection of Irish tunes in 1903, he included a LOT of tunes. Nicholas Carolan called it “the largest snapshot of this music ever taken in its 9,000 year history.” 120 years later, I revisit O’Neill’s two biggest books, to explore what’s in there, and what isn’t. With the help of authors Michael O’Malley and Ronan O’Driscoll, librarian Aedi...