Faultlessly played on a fiddle, A would be spellbinding. It would have some of the arresting quality that harmonics have on a guitar. It's a bit high to get a strong sound on my English concertina as the higher reeds are weaker, but it would be all right overlaying someone else's lead.

Valmai - did you listen to the Jerry Holland version I made a link to in my original post? I happen to think his version is spellbinding - but that's a just my personal opinion. Playing it on the mandolin in A - mainly on the top two strings - also gives more projection than in D, on the mandolin.

As I said before, the point of the thread is really to make the point that modern tunes can be written, assimilated, changed, accepted in a way that seems more difficult for modern songs. Having said that, Roger Bryant's song "Cornish Boys" - for example - seems to have slipped seamlessly into the clubs and sessions, and that's the same vintage as "The Sweetness Of Mary".

Other modern-ish and composed tunes that seem to have become session standards are ones like the "Ashokan Farewell" and "Da Slockit Leet".