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holland, who once taught Mick’s frequent playing partner, Eugene O’Donnell. That Mick plays such a
diversity of new tunes (notably those written by Irish musicians in America) and that they fit in so well with
the older material, attests not only to the vitality of the music itself, but also to Mick’s inexhaustible repertoire

and seemingly indelible memory for tunes.

Mick is incapable of working on just one project at a time. An LP he produced for his old friend James
Keane is being released by Green Linnet along with this one. He is in the midst of producing an album for
accordionist Billy McComiskey of The Irish Tradition, and one for Celtic Thunder, the exciting new group
from Washington, D.C., both also for Green Linnet. He is compiling an anthology of wind instruments
played by Irish- Americans, and a collection of Ed Reavy’s music, played by Ed and other, younger
musicians. He has been involved in the production of over 20 LPs for various labels, not including his work
with The Johnstons. He tours constantly, mostly with other Irish and Irish-American musicians, and writes
about the music for magazines and scholarly journals. And still finds the time to teach college level courses.
He has organized Irish and multi-ethnic festivals for various organizations, often with the help of grants from
the National Endowment for the Arts. He is pursuing his own degree, a doctorate, at the University of

Pennsylvania.

This LP will surely influence many musicians, as Mick has been influenced by others. It is remarkable that
tenor banjo player has achieved the status and prominence in Irish music that Mick has. Its the rare
banjoist who can hold his own among the hordes of talented fiddlers and accordionists that capture the
public eye. He is never boastful about his playing; quite the contrary, in fact. ‘Tm not bothered about the
status of the banjo in relation to other instruments, or about my status as a musician, he says. I m not even
sure what it is that makes me like one tune more than another. I only hope that I can make the tunes sound

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unlike anything else in the rich stores of recorded Irish music. Most strikingly, it is the first
album ever devoted entirely to Irish music on the tenor banjo and mandolin. It is Mick Moloney’s first solo
LP in over two years, and the first to feature him as a solo instrumentalist. With The Johnstons, we saw
early glimmerings, but an occasional instrumental cut on an album was barely enough to whet our appetite.
And in his production work we have heard some excellent accompaniments, particularly his guitar work
with Martin Mulvihill and Johnny McGreevy, and his bouzouki backups for Brendan Mulvihill. Even Mick’s
previous solo album (Green Linnet SIF 1010) had only two tracks highlighting the banjo, and only one
which featured just mandolin. The obvious question— why has it taken so long for Mick to do an all¬
instrumental LP? He explains that “in the area of production, I always try to mold my style to the featured
musician. The more records you produce, the more you get into that frame of mind. In the music sessions
in County Clare where Mick was first exposed to traditional music, “we rarely took solos. It was all group
playing; if someone was asked to play a solo, they might, only after being coaxed, and then with great
reluctance. This had nothing to do with musicianship— they were all great— but stemmed from a strong

sense of being part of a group.

The sessions, which Mick says are the “most relaxed, comfortable settings for playing music,” were a big

influence in his playing on this record,
recording solo performances because of the effect of the artificial environment of a studio on one’s playing.

So when I played these tunes, I just thought of the sessions, and everything seemed to fall into place.”

And what pleasant memories they must be— for Mick was fortunate to have played with some of Ireland’s
most formidable musicians. He fondly remembers such people as Matty Ryan and Paddy O’Donoghue of
the Tulla Ceili Band, fellow banjoist Des Mulcair, fiddler Sean Keane (now with The Chieftains), and
accordion players Tony MacMahon and James Keane (Sean’s brother) . It is James in particular whom Mick
refers to with affection. “I was once reminiscing with Brendan (Mulvihill) about James, and Brendan said
that James’ music was so powerful and sounded so right, that it had ‘the smell of turf in it. That’s the kind of
music,” says Mick, “that I like best— music that’s got the smell of turf. And that’s what all of the Clare
musicians I knew then had in common. They all put a tremendous amount of feeling into the music. Sure,

they were technically great as well, but they had life.

And likewise for Mick’s music— it is filled with the exuberance and verve that only comes from years of

interaction with other musicians of similar calibre. This same spirit typifies Mick personally; indeed, as is the
case with many great musicians, his music and his personality are indistinguishable. Someone as immersed
in the music as Mick is, might be expected to find a bit of drudgery in the work after a while, but not Mick.
Every record produced, every new tune picked up, means a new experience, a new challenge. He relishes
these opportunities to play and talk about the music; this record represents a culmination of these rich

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Like nearly all the musicians I’ve worked with, I’m uneasy about

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attractive on the banjo and mandolin.

Mick has been playing the tenor banjo since the early 1960s. He didn’t actually meet any other banjoists

for the first few years he played; and only in the last ten has the banjo found its place in the mainstream of

traditional Irish music. It was first brought to Ireland by travelling minstrel shows about 100 years ago, and it

not long before people began adapting it to traditional music. The tuning most banjoists, including

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Mick, use today is GDAE, an octave below fiddle tuning. Some players will tune a fifth above Irish
tuning— DAEC. Mike Flanagan of Albany, New York and Jimmy Kelly of Boston use this tuning, a more
individualized one often found among players who are cut off from other musicians. It is no less correct,
though, and players using it can actually dominate a session more easily than those using the more standard

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tuning.

Among the first banjoists Mick heard were

Galwayman Donal Stanton, and Barney McKenna of The Dubliners. Mick always mentions McKenna
Mulcair and Mike Flanagan with special admiration. Brendan Mulvihill, always an astute observer of
traditional Irish music, calls Mick’s style of banjo playing “effervescent, bubbly and lively. He uses beautiful,
intricate rolls, and has a deadly right hand. I’m amazed by his picking action. I can also ‘hear all sorts of

other instruments in his banjo playing, especially fiddles, pipes, and accordions.

The mandolin, a direct descendant of the lute, has been in Irish music since the turn of the century. Mick
points out that Flanagan started on it before he switched to banjo, and Barney McKenna s and piper Paddy
Keenan’s fathers were both mandolin players. He feels certain tunes are more suitable for mandolin than
banjo because of greater potential for putting in chords and letting notes drone on.

Though the guitar has appeared sporadically in Irish music (it can be found on some recordings of
Michael Coleman and Hugh Gillespie, and was used to accompany such Irish folk singers as Willie Brady,
Charlie Magee and Delia Murphy) it wasn’t until the 1960s that it became prominent. This was largely due
to the Clancy Brothers’ immeasurable influence on the music. Since then, several guitarists have developed
their own very individual styles, including Donal Lunny and Paul Brady, two of Micks former musical
associates. Mick likes his accompaniment to follow the rhythm and phrasing of the lead instrument rather

than to establish a strict tempo.

The bouzouki, a Greek instrument, was brought to Irish music by Johnny Moynihan in the mid 1960s in
the group Sweeney’s Men. Though it had lead capabilities, it is today more generally used to accompany. It
can be tuned modally, but is more often tuned like the tenor banjo, with the G and D pair of strings an

octave apart.

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Des Mulcair from Clare, Tim Flood from Wexford,

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experiences.

The simplest way to appreciate Mick’s singular devotion to the music is to look at some of the selections
this LP. Many of the tunes may not be immediately familiar to you; that’s because Mick has dug into the
innermost reaches of his memory to come up with a priceless collection of tunes. They may have been
standard (at least in Clare) when Mick first heard them, and he has certainly played them for his own enjoy¬
ment over the years. But they have, for the most part, been out of general circulation over the past fifteen

it has the old ‘smell of turf in it, it

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The Lisdoonvarna Reel epitomizes Mick’s love for the older tunes

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sounds good on the banjo, and it was played by all the musicians in and near the town that gave it its name.

Over the Hills to Runbush and Paddy Reynolds’ Dream are two jigs which deserve a wider reputation;

again, they are typical of tunes which have been in hiding too long, undeservedly. The less obscure tunes

qually strong. Dunmore Lassies, traditionally identified with the flute and whistle, is given a new lease

life here, not only because of its adaptability to the banjo, but because Mick chooses to play the second

part of the tune first, completely changing its nature. My Love is in America is a favorite of fiddlers and

pipers alike, though no less a banjo tune. Mick calls it “one of my favorites. I had to include it— I’ve been

playing it for many years now.” He was inspired by The Irish Tradition to record the O Carolan tune Loftus

Jones on the mandolin — compare it with the Tradition’s version (Green Linnet SIF 1016). And Arthur
Darley’s is an increasingly popular jig usually associated with the Donegal fiddle tradition, Johnny Doherty

in particular. It has been recorded before, but the tune seems tailor-made for the mandolin.

If Mick favors the older styles of Irish music, he certainly doesn’t discount newer trends. This LP contains

two reels created years ago in New York by the late Charlie Mulvihill, a rarely heard Ed Reavy hornpipe, a

set of reels by talented young Chicagoan Liz Carroll, and an arrangement of a set dance by Patricia Mul-

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SIDE B

SIDE A

Reels: My Love is in America / The Lisdoonvarna Reel T wo great reels that I always love to play . The
versions in several publications, including O’Neill’s. It has a lovely, lonesome lilt to it. I learned it years ago in sessions in West Clare along
with The Lisdoonvarna Reel, another old tune hardly heard at all today, banjo , guitar

Jigs: Arthur Darley’s / Over the Hills to Runbush Arthur Darley’s, also known as the Swedish Jig, has an odd structure,
suggesting a “foreign” influence. It was played a lot by the late Donegal fiddler, Johnny Doherty. The second jig I got from Brendan
Mulvihill, who pointed out some melodic similarities between this and one called Old as the Hills, which can be found in O’Neill’s.

mandolin , guitar

Hornpipes: Munster Grass /Peacock’s Feather The first is by Ed Reavy, a great Cavan fiddler, who emigrated to Philadelphia in
1912 and still lives there. Now in his 80s, he’s still composing tunes. Peacock’s Feather I learned from Mike Rafferty, a fine Galway flute
player who now lives in New Jersey. We nearly got arrested lilting this tune together rather noisily in St. Louis Airport after a long and

somewhat intoxicating flight, banjo/guitar

Reels: The Gooseberry Bush /Charlie Mulvihill’s 1 and 2 I first heard The Gooseberry Bush played by two Claremen,
accordion player Matty Ryan from Tulla and fiddler/ whistler/ bodhran player Frank McTigue from Ennis. The second and third reels were
composed by the late Charlie Mulvihill, a great West of Ireland accordion player who lived most of his life in New York, mandolin ,

bouzouki

Jigs: Sheehy’s/ Taylor’s Two fine jigs I learned from Martin Mulvihill, the great old style West Limerick fiddler. Martin and myself
have had many’s the late night tune together in the basement of his Bronx home, with the odd libation from the “priest’s bottle” to help the
music along. Martin got the first from another West Limerick musician, Mrs. McAuliffe (nee Sheehy). The second I first heard played
around 1970 in London by the late West Limerick flute player Paddy Taylor, but never got around to learning it until Martin played it for

me. banjo , bouzouki

Loftus Jones I find this one of the most interesting compositions of the great 18th century harper Turlough O’ Carolan. I first heard it
played by The Irish Tradition and was struck by its marked baroque flavor. It turned out to be just right for the mandolin with all sorts of
possibilities for drones, chords, double stops and other shenanigans, mandolin, guitar

Reels: Dunmore Lassies / McFadden’s Handsome Daughter Two old reels I love to play in sessions. I’ve known them a long
time and can’t remember where or when I picked them up. I put them together because I liked the key switch from D minor to G major.

banjo, guitar

Set Dance: Off to Puck Fair I learned this from my good friend and musical associate, Eugene O’Donnell, the supremely elegant
Derry fiddler now living in Philadelphia. Eugene is noft quite sure about the origin of all the six parts of this tune, which was arranged by his
former teacher, Patricia Mulholland. She used three separate tunes in 6/8 time and put them together to fashion this fine set dance.

mandolin, guitar

Reels: Ricky’s White Face /The Top of the Stairs The brilliant Chicago fiddler Liz Carroll has been composing tunes recently at
a fierce rate. These two reels are, I think, among her best. The three part second one particularly is a real banjo/ fiddle tune, spanning a full
two octaves with the descent to the low G in the second part being especially striking. Thanks, Liz. banjo, guitar

Jigs: Richard Brennan’s / The Bush on the Hill I learned these two beautiful old jigs back in Clare in the early 1960s, when I
spent most of my spare moments tearing around the country to sessions, mandolin, guitar

Reels: The Bellharbour Reel/ Miss Lyon’s Fancy The first tune I picked up years ago in Clare, God knows exactly where or
when. The second I also learned years ago, but had forgotten it until the inimitable Brendan Mulvihill suddenly came up with it during an

energetic session in a bar in Seattle, banjo, guitar

Hornpipes: Tom of the Hill /Dwyer’s I got both these hornpipes from the playing of Brendan Mulvihill, the possessor of a great
storehouse of rare tunes. Some versions of Dwyer’s have been recorded over the years, but none include all three parts of the tune.

mandolin, guitar

Jigs: Jackson’s Morning Brush /Paddy Reynolds’ Dream I’ve always loved Jackson’s Morning Brush since I heard it years
ago at home, and it’s one of the tunes I never tire of playing. The four parts fit so perfectly together. The second jig I got from the playing of
Longfordman Paddy Reynolds, a resident of New York since the late 1940s and one of the great fiddlers of our time, banjo, guitar

Reels: Coyle’s Piano Reels, 1 and 2 In May, 1980, I met up with Marty Fahey, a piano player I’ve long admired. I’d never heard a
recording of mandolin and piano, so we decided to make one. I was in Chicago on a field recording trip at the time and had all the
necessary equipment. The problem was to find a good piano quickly. After several unproductive leads, we finally discovered one in the
home of Jimmy Coyle, a fine accordion player living on the North Side. We invaded the Coyle household at a disgracefully late hour and
rattled off these tunes, which we named for the occasion, not having any other names for them. Thanks to the Cpyles for their hospitality
(the strong cups of tea were great) , to Liz “Headphones” Carroll, sound engineer for the session, and to Jimmy “piano accordion Keane,

who was a competent, not to mention sober, chauffeur for the evening, mandolin, piano

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first is a very old one with

MICK MOLONEY

Produced and recorded by Mick Moloney • Overdubbing and mixing by The Mixing Lab, Inc., Newton,
Massachusetts • Sound Engineer, Paul Mufson • Mastered by John Nagy • Front cover photograph
by Friedrich K. von Schenk • Design, Carla Frey • Management and supervision, Wendy Newton

Special thanks to Phil Moloney for major assistance in recording, and to Brendan Mulvihill and

Liz Carroll for their help in furnishing tune titles. Thanks also to Myron Bretholz

for suggesting the album title.

• Please return the postcard inside this jacket, and we’ll happily send you a catalog of Green Linnet Records. •

NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT 06840 • PRINTED IN U.S.A.

®@ 1980 GREEN LINNET RECORDS • 70 TURNER HILL ROAD

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