If there’s a better way to spend an hour and a bit of your day than listening to this week's episode with Ewen Baker, I’ve not heard of it.

Ewen’s a fiddle player, arranger, multi instrumentalist and teacher, and he takes us on a journey to find the music-induced tingly feeling, via The Oils, J. S. Bach and Kerry Slides; St Anne’s Reel and The Bushwhackers; collaboration and individualism; coming to terms with our own imperfections but still getting stuff done. And we don’t even get around to talking about working with songwriters, at which Ewen’s an acknowledged master. Still, it gives us an excuse to do a second episode down the line.

In this episode Ewen plays the following tunes:

Merrily Kissed the Quaker’s Wife
Brian Boru's March
St Anne’s Reel
Sheehan's Reel
The Australian Waters
Mama's Reel

Ewen’s collaborated with a huge range of musicians over the course of his career, but it was only a couple of years ago that he released his first CD, ‘The Inch Before The Saw.’ As in, the only thing in life you really need to be worrying about is…’the inch before the saw.’ You can find the CD here, and as we say in the episode, it’s a cracker:

https://ewenbaker.com.au/store

'It's a session in your speakers.' Ewen’s collaboration with Paddy Fitzgerald, Jack Brennan and Geoff McArthur is called Lisnacrieve, and you can find the gofundme page here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/paddy-fitzgerald-cd

As always, the episode is free to download or stream from everywhere you get podcasts:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/49
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3fM61MG
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2T1il26

We'd also like to say a huge thank you to today's episode sponsor, Ceol.fm. This is a bloody brilliant service. So do yourself a favour and head over there and check it out. www.ceol.fm

Ewen, thanks for a cracking chat.
And with that, we’re away.

Darren & Dom

...

We know it's a tough time so we hope you can hang in there with us. If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
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Emma plays the following tunes:
East Clare Reel / Martin Wynne's Number 4 / The Liffey Banks
Dwyer's Jig / O'Sullivan's March / untitled jig
The Old Wooden Bridge / The Road to Ballymote / The Mayo Lasses
The Drunken Tinker / Tie The Bonnet / O'Donnell's Sligo Maid (or The Glendowan Fancy)

Thanks Emma, for a great afternoon's chat and playing.
...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Joe plays two reels to start:
The Stone of Destiny and The Trip to Cullenstown.

Then, Miss McLeod's Reel, the first tune he heard his mother play.
Then, The Foxhunter's Reel.

He sings 'Andy's Gone With Cattle' and finishes with a slow air which we don't have the name of.

You can hear Paddy, Joe's brother, talk about their childhood and the role of music in their household here, in Episode 14:

https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/14

And Eileen O'Brien and Mary MacNamara's full episode here:

https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/4

Beautiful stuff. Thanks to Joe, and to Chris and Bryony Fitzgerald and the staff at The Last Jar in Melbourne.

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom
...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Tony plays the following tunes:
The Donegal Lass / The Black Frog / The Sanctuary
The Green Mountain / The Road to Rio / and something Tony can't remember the name of
The Moving Cloud
and
A Barn Dance Set

Thanks for taking time out of the Sunday session Tony. And thanks for the intro chat Lisa Phillips.
...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Angus plays fiddle with Caity Brennan, Connor Hoy and Rhys Crimmin in the band Austral which we caught up with in a previous episode. It's a banger, and definitely worth checking out. You'll find it here when you're ready: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7

To Follow Angus on social go here:
https://www.facebook.com/australmusic/
https://www.facebook.com/gus.barnaby

To buy Austral's music, including "Hoedown Throwdown" go here: https://australtradmusic.bandcamp.com/

Again, thanks so much for your time Angus.

...

Now, here's Dom's notes.

Angus’ first tune, The Musical Priest, is one of the first tunes I ever learned. Me and Tony Murray used to play it as a whistle two-fer, with little fragments of harmony wound in and around the main strands of the melody. It’s a session staple, anchored around the B natural that gives it a sort of wintry quality, I always think. But as Angus plays it, it has a warmth to it and, as he says himself, a swing.

Anyway, when I was 16 or 17 that was a tune we’d play in The House Of McDonnell, more usually known as ‘Tom’s’ after the owner, Tom O’Neill. Our first regular gig as a band, in the tiny back room that’d regularly be crammed – and I mean crammed – with people down from Belfast for the holidays, or from Corrymeela (a sort of retreat center outside town where Catholic young people from troubled parts of the north could get together with Protestant young people from troubled parts of the north for cross-community groping sessions. Heavy petting for peace. ‘See? We ARE actually all the same after all!’) One of the youth workers accompanying them one night wore a mini skirt made from a black bin liner, and black leggings. I was entranced and frightened in equal measure. ‘So THAT’S why mum and dad are always talking about how dangerous it is in Belfast...’

Then for some reason I can’t remember, that gig ended. I was distraught, in a teenage kind of a way. And as was my habit in those days, I’d dive headfirst into my grief by lying on the dining room floor of our house with my head between the speakers of the ITT stereo system we’d inherited from Mrs Buntane, a friend of my dad’s. On the first Friday night after we no longer had a gig, in the throes of my despair, I was listening to Barclay James Harvest Live in Berlin (probably the most embarrassing thing I have yet admitted to in these notes to date) when I got a phone call to say we’d been asked to play in the Boyd Arms instead. Seriously? I was ecstatic.

In the Boyd Arms’ front room with its curved wall behind us, beside the fireplace, we played quiet Friday nights when a few punters would stick their heads around the door then head into the main bar, and other nights where you could hardly move for the people. It was great. Without that chance to play every Friday night, and the other gigs that came from it, I have no idea how I’d have spent my teenage Friday nights. Oh, wait, yes I do. Listening to Barclay James Harvest Live in Berlin.

Anyway, me and Darren often talk about having the chance to listen to players at close quarters and how cool that is. And that’s true – there’s something very unique about having the opportunity to really listen to a player working through a tune on their own. It’s dramatically different from the habitat of a session – it’s exposed and honest, a human being articulating what a tune is about for them, in that moment.

Thanks again, Angus Barbary.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Paddy, thanks so much. Not just for your time here in this podcast, but for the decades of dedication to the music, your kindness and your influence on countless players from all over the world.

For anyone that would like to follow Paddy, please keep an eye on the Last Jar's session page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2221430788122520/

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

So I’m (me, Dom) sitting in The Last Jar on a Wednesday night, and the session is slowly coming to life. I’ve hidden myself away in a corner so I can listen, tentatively join in here and there, and hopefully not make an arse of myself. But mainly, I’m listening. And something happens…how can I describe this without it sounding over the top? Like, there are these simultaneous impressions washing around me. I’ve only been in Australia a few months, don’t feel like I know many people, I’m shy, introverted. And I’m hearing this music that’s familiar, yet distant because of how long it’s been since I played in any dedicated way. And there’s the smell of the beer and the rhythms of the chat and while I know rationally that I’m in Melbourne in 2018, in my blood – seriously, I don’t really talk about ‘blood’ type stuff but that’s what it felt like – in my blood I have these fleeting moments when feel like I’m in Ballycastle, in the Boyd Arms on a Friday night and it’s 1985. I mean, it’s so intense, and so momentary, I’m here, I’m there, I’m lost, I’m back again. And really, it’s totally brilliant. I mean, it’s so hard to walk back out into the everyday world after such that experience. Catching the train home seems so mundane after you’ve been set alight by this music all around you, and yet, that echoing music in your head is what you carry with you. And that’s why this stuff matters in the first place – because we it carry out into the world and hopefully that makes the world infinitesimally better somehow, even if you can’t put it into words, even if politics is shit and fascism’s on the march. Playing music, listening to music - it’s not quite manning the barricades but you have to hope and believe in your heart that it’s at least one tiny, tiny act of resistance. One tiny, tiny way of making a stand.

Thank you to Chris Fitzgerald and all the musicians at The Last Jar for their generosity and for… the tunes.

‘The Session is about what’s created during The Session.’

And thanks too to everybody who’s gone to patreon.com/blarneypilgrims and subscribed – we’re so grateful for your help in keeping this podcast rolling. I’m tempted to try out some oul’ public radio pledge drive lines from my past life in Seattle like, ‘You listen differently when you’re a subscriber.’

But I won’t.

If you can subscribe, great, and if you can’t that’s OK too.

Thank you for listening.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Thanks again to Beth for taking the time to sit down with us. Also thanks to Declan Simpson for the accompaniment, maybe next time you'll join us in the hot seat?

The session Beth mentions is on in the Drunken Poet on Friday evenings. You can find out more about that here: https://www.facebook.com/drunkenpoetmusic/

Finally, thanks again to Una McAlinden for the chance to record on location at the National Celtic Festival.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got a dollar or two's worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims. Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

The Moving Bogs/Sydney Bogs
(please correct me if this is wrong)
Lough Erne Shore
The Nightingale
The Mist Covered Mountains/The Gallowglass Jig
Stór Mo Chroí

...

So it won't be a surprise to anybody who's listened to a few episodes already that my first acquaintance with Lough Erne Shore, which Maggie Kate sings in Episode 5 of The Blarney Pilgrims Podcast, was via the Paul Brady and Andy Irvine Purple Album...worth a listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UiBO1MT65g

And here is a great song Maggie performs with John Carty (her dad) and Francis Gaffney:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzLKI9B67-M

The Mist Covered Mountains, which Maggie plays, got me all nostalgic for Scotland as I was listening to her. And bagpipes. So many bagpipes at the National Celtic Festival Australia Official, some of which you can hear floating on the breeze behind Maggie as she's chatting with us on a sunny Saturday morning. And which put me in mind of other sunny Saturday mornings in Stirling, Scotland, when I worked in a wine and whiskey store and would hear two competing pipers busking from either end of the same street. A very interesting phenomenon, the effects of competing bagpipe music floating on the breeze on one's psyche...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n72XebBaMeI

Louis MacNeice's poem Bagpipe Music (what an accent that guy had - you'd hardly guess he was born in Carrickfergus.) Louis worked for a long time at the BBC, and is fondly remembered by Andy Irvine, who knew him from drinking in The George in London, before he (Andy) found his way to Ireland...

https://www.andyirvine.com/bio/chapter1.html

Maybe everything, always, eventually comes back around to...you know...Andy Irvine.

Louise Mulcahy, one of the Mulcahy sisters who Maggie cites as an influence:

https://www.facebook.com/louise.mulcahy.330/

And a fascinating clip of (I think) Bryan Rooney - the Godfather:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EopvuL9T8W4

One last note, Maggie was chatting about the London Irish music scene...I'm trying to track down an old BBC Radio 4 docco about just that, so hopefully in the next few weeks we'll be able to share it with you.

Seriously - has a banjo ever sounded so good? Thank you Maggie Kate for a lovely Saturday morning.

You can buy Maggie's CDs here:
johncartymusic.com/music.asp
(BTW, CDs are on sale for €10 with free postage to anywhere in the world for the month of July.)

And you can follow her here:
www.facebook.com/maggie.carty.3
www.instagram.com/maggiekatemusic/

I (Darren) would like to say a massive thank you to Jim Patton, who, after listening to the episode got in contact with me via Facebook to let me know some more info about Maggie's banjo. So, for those of you interested in such things, here are the deets. It is a Jim Patton Banjo. The tone ring is made from 3/8" square brass tube rolled to fit the rim. And the wood is American black walnut. It's a beautiful banjo!

You can contact Jim here: https://www.jpbanjos.co.uk/
And you can follow him here: https://www.facebook.com/jim.patton.946

Thanks again to Una McAlinden for having us at the National Celtic Festival and to everyone that came along to watch and support.

Also a HUGE thank you to Dave At Screenwave for becoming a Patreon. You're some sound man Dave!

If you want to be sound like Dave, please head over here and shout us a pint - you know we're worth it - www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims