Best books on Irish music?

Subject: Best books on Irish music?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 04:11 AM

What would you say are the best five books on Irish music - preferably current, but also of-all-time?

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 05:12 AM

Don't read books about Irish music. Find a good session and play it.

That's from experience. I once got a book about the Chieftains. The first bit was interesting, but once they got famous it was just name dropping. I couldn't care less about how many celebs booked them for private parties.

Well, actually, just ONE book (that's all it took, yeah, just one book... there's a song in there somewhere). Last Night's Fun by Ciaran Carson - and there's a cross- cultural name for you.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 05:15 AM

It's for a gift, not for moi.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 05:41 AM

You'll only get it second hand.

But seriously, it's the only book on sessions that comes within a billion miles of fact. Even though it's as much about food and smoking as music.

If it's song your lucky recipient is interested in, Paddy Tunney's "The Stone Fiddle" is a good buy.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 05:54 AM

Thanks very much, PMB; LNF is on hold for me in a bookshop, and I'll see if they have The Stone Fiddle too when I get there.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 05:55 AM

I second Last Night's Fun (which is also the name of a great tune!). I gave away all my tune books many years ago.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 06:01 AM

Hope the recipient likes them; a Claire Keegan book was regarded as meh…

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 07:19 AM

There's a bit more to Irish music than 'sessions' and there a library of good books available, depending on the angle you want to take. Last night's fun, nice as it is, is a bit of a cliche recommendation on internet forums these days.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 07:37 AM

Maybe true, Peter, but if you don't like it, or don't think much of sessions, suggest something better. As for cliches, I don't do much social media. I just suggested a book I enjoyed nearly 30 years ago.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 09:12 AM

Right, I've got Last Night's Fun, and The Stone Fiddle is on its way from Charlie Byrnes; others, by the way, have recommended Martin Hayes' autobiography, Shared Notes.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: gillymor
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 12:18 PM

A few that I've enjoyed-

The Humours of Planxty by Leagues O'toole, an admiring look at the history of the band with interviews of it's members.

In Search of the Craic: One Man's Pub Crawl Through Ireland by Colin Irwin. Fun and informative.

And the most invaluable book I've found for instruction, Celtic Back-Up for all Instruments by Chris Smith. It helped me with theory and got me started with playing counterpoint to Irish and other kinds of traditional music. Lots of good Irish tunes along with interesting but appropriate chords, as well.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 02:10 PM

I really like a book titled A Living Voice: The Frank Harte Song Collection, edited by Terry Moylan and published in 2020 by Craft Recordings, Dublin.

A real classic is Sam Henry's "Songs of the People", by Sam Henry (Author), Gale Huntington (Editor), Lani Herrmann (Editor), John Moulden (Assistant) - University of Georgia Press; Annotated edition (June 1, 2010)

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 02:45 PM

It will sound ironic, coming from me, to recommend a very non-scholarly book, but the best hand collection I know is Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book. The notes are abominably bad (don't trust anything it says), and it occasionally sneaks in some very non-Irish songs (e.g. "The Leaving of Liverpool"), but it has lyrics, melodies, and mostly-usable chords for a whole lot of songs. Most of the books recommended here are good for understanding a particular aspect of Irish music, but if I wanted to haul something to a jam session, I would without hesitation choose Soodlum's.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 03:35 PM

PMB I'd happily recommend something but as I suggested, it depend on the angle you want to take. It is such a broad field. I have nothing against Last night's fun, or your recommendation of it,and it was a good read all those years ago but it's the one that always comes up eg on thesession.org. I like to think there's more to it than that.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 04:10 PM

Thanks very much, lads. I'm happy with the two I've got, and someone else is getting them the Martin Hayes book. This is for a dedicated music fan with good taste rather than a player. However, I'm sure it will be helpful to others if people kindly recommend books that are good for singers and players too.
I can't thank you enough for your recommendations.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 04:12 PM

I just had a post disappear on me but I'll try again:

I'd happuikly throw Helen O'Shea's book on Paddy Canny, 'No Better Boy im the ring. Not without its critics but it's a good piece of biography and social history.

Howard Marshal's 'Out of Darkness', tracing the footsteps of blind iper Garrett Barry. With beautiful photographs by Ben Taylor.

Fintan Vallely's book on Ben Lennon 'The tailor's twist' with photographs by Nutan is lovely.

Older and perhaps harder to find is Peter Woods' 'The living note' with photography by Christy McNamara.

Fintan Vallely and Charlie Piggott's 'Blooming Meadow' Interviews with a bunch of musicians and singers. Photographs by Nutan again.


Tom Munnelly's wonderful collection of Tom Lenihan's songs 'A Mount Callan garland' has been reissued and is available from ITMA. With CD

Seamus Ennis' collection diaries 'Going to the well for water'

But you land on quite specific interests with some of those. So again, it depends on your angle and interest. There's loads more, obviously but some examples.
'
Ritchie Piggott did a lovely one on Irish American music in the last century.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 04:16 PM

'The Otherworld' Songs and music from the Irish tradition is great too. Deals with music associated with the other realm, so to speak. Great stuff, with CD.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Groovy
Date: 17 Nov 24 - 01:20 PM

The 'Rough Guide to Irish Music' - excellent.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 17 Nov 24 - 02:47 PM

One I would only recommend to extreme academics, as it is written by an extreme academic, is "Flowing Tides - History and Memory in an Irish Soundscape" by Gearoid O hAllmhurain. He is an Irish musician, from Co Clare, who plays a number of instruments and was formerly Jefferson Smurfit Chair of Irish Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Missouri-St Louis. He is also the inaugural holder of the bilingual Johnson Chair in Quebec and Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia University in Montreal. The book is recommended by Martin Hayes among others.
My husband found a copy in mint condition in a charity shop, and knowing my interest in Irish music, bought it for me. Now I consider myself reasonable well educated, but it is VERY HARD WORK reading this book. SOO many long words, some I didn't even know existed. Seems like the author has swallowed a dictionary and a thesaurus all in one: no doubt he's brilliant at Scrabble! So far, I have struggled to reach page 118 out of 249. There then follow a further 50 pages of Appendices, Notes, Lists, References......
Apologies if the author is reading this, but really.....it could have been so much more interesting if couched in far plainer language and so much more accessible! Has anyone else read it?
Here's a short extract to illustrate what I'm on about:
"Using Appadurai's prismatic scapes as barometers of "longue duree" change, it is evident that Clare's traditional soundscape is significantly less peripheral than previously imagined. Music rights and ownership, detraditionalization, attritional and transformative media ecologies, topographical metamorphoses, and political and aesthetic evolution are paradigms that resonate in eveolving soundscapes across the globe....."

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 17 Nov 24 - 03:01 PM

Yes, Gearoid likes a bit of verbosity ;-) He's more entertaining just playing the concertina.

I was at the launch of the thing and got a copy. Looked at it yesterday but decided it was beyond the scope of this thread.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 17 Nov 24 - 05:34 PM

Tattie B, the technical description of that is "verbum pulmenti" or perhaps "anraith focal". It looks like a book to be avoided like the piles.

Subject: RE: Best books on Irish music?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Nov 24 - 11:12 PM

After all these years, I still love Mudcat and Mudcatters. I keep learning.