"Where is Crehan from? It is a family name and is mentioned in two of my songs. "
Martin 'Junior' Crehan was from just outside Miltown Malbay in County Clare, he was one of the key figures in the survival of Irish music in the County and it is very much thanks to him that Clare is now known as 'the home of traditional music'
He was one of the founders of the Willie Clancy Summer School - its first treasurer, I think.
He was an amazing man, fiddle player and concertina player, storyteller, singer and lore-bearer, he and his immediate family were key figures in the music scene here.
He was a friend of the late Bobby Caeey of Clare and London, they were neighbors, grew up together and learned music from the same music teacher.
His family released a double CD of his playing, 'The Last House in Bonnevella' following his death in 1998, aged 90 and there is a 2 part article based on interviews with him by the late Tom Munnelly in the folklore journal Bealoideas.
There is a branch of the Clare Crehans in Dublin, also known for their music.
"I never saw the content reason why that was decision was made,"
I was happy when it was - there is a huge folklore and music side to the famine that has never really been examined in depth - many of the emigration songs, which make up a large part of the Irish repertoire rise from the famine era.
It's one of the aspect I was hoping to see covered on this thread, unfortunately that never happened.
Looking from our window we can see the local famine 'county home' (workhouse), still occupied by a family, where, it was said, on some nights the 'death coach', the (roughly - cant find correct spelling) cuich da barra, (Coach-A-Bower in US http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FOLKLORE/2000-05/0957477798 ) can be seen picking up customers.
One of the local stories here was of a time when carts went around picking up the dead from the roadside and taking them to the Ballard Road graveyard up the hill over the town.
On cart, piled with bodies made the turn from the main street onto the road when a body fell of and rolled to the side of the road ourside the blacksmith's shop - still intact as a building.
The blacksmith came out to help and found the 'corpse' was not dead, so he brought the victim in, nursed him back to health and employed him as an assistant until his 'real' death fourteen years later.
The place is bristling with such stories, 'The Hungry Grass', the 'soupers' and their schools.... a small part of huge, largely untouched tradition.
As I said, plenty to be covered yet
Jim Carroll