The Cathal McConnell Tapes

Of all the technological innovations of the twentieth century, it is arguably the cassette tape which has had the most impact upon Irish traditional music. While LPs and CDs allowed for music to be commercialised and to reach a wide audience both in Ireland and abroad, cassette tapes became a dominant common currency amongst traditional musicians. The Dutch company Phillips invented the cassette tape in 1963 and its use would soon be universal. Initially envisaged as a dictation tool, the technology was used in the commercial music business by 1965. Philips innovated further in 1968 with the invention of the car tape deck which meant drivers and passengers could choose their own music while traveling, as opposed to relying on the radio.

The importance of the cassette tape within the traditional music world became apparent during the 1970s. The contents of these tapes varied from bootlegs of commercial albums to recordings of sessions, as well as music recorded from radio broadcasts. Another common use for cassette tapes, which forms the basis of this chapter, is that they were widely used to exchange a kind of spoken letter between friends.

It was at some point in the early 1970s, we cannot be sure of the date, that Tommy Peoples recorded one of these spoken letters to his friend Cathal McConnell. The second tape was likely recorded closer to the release of The Bothy Band’s 1975 album, as Tommy mentions that he will be going to Dublin to play with Tony McMahon’s band. McConnell, the celebrated Fermanagh musician and singer, was already well-known for his work with The Boys of the Lough, a group that fused Ulster traditional music and song with that of Scotland and Shetland. He had an extensive tape collection by the early 1970s, covering an entire wall of his home. Amongst the prized recordings in his collections were these spoken letters exchanged with Tommy, and he often played these tapes for visitors to his house. On one such occasion in 1973, a group of musicians from Belfast, including Andy Dickson and Dermie Diamond, learned several tunes directly from the tape, and Dickson was able to take a copy away with him. This was in the time before the double tape deck was invented, and so tapes were duplicated by recording through the speaker of another machine.

The tape contains 22 tunes, which seem to span two sessions. Peoples’ fiddle is tuned to E flat in the first portion of the recording (tracks 1-13) and slightly higher on the later tracks (14-22). A wide cross-section of Tommy’s repertoire is showcased on the recording, including tunes of Scottish origin, such as ‘The Highlandman who Kissed his Granny’, likely learned from books and reels like ‘The Mint in the Corn’, which were also captured by Breathnach. We hear Donegal settings of common reels, such as John Doherty’s ‘Drowsy Maggie’ and Tommy’s own reworkings of standard pieces, such as his reel version of ‘Richie Brennan’s Favourite’, normally played as a jig. A number of tunes are also heard which would later feature on commercial recordings that Tommy made, such as ‘The Creel of Turf’ (Molloy, Peoples, Brady, 1977) and ‘The Flowers of Red Hill’ (The Bothy Band, 1975).

The first 10 tunes recorded on the tape have been selected from Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, and a further two of the tunes (of which the ‘The Moving Bogs’ was also played by the Doherty family) can be traced to Lowe’s Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Jigs, Book 1 (1844–1845, p. 6). Tommy also slips in another of his own compositions in here, ‘An Feochán’ and true to form at the time, he neither names it nor claims it. Other unspecified tunes on this recording were learned from Tommy’s Kilfenora neighbour Gerry Terry McMahon. Tommy reports having transcribed several tunes from McMahon’s whistle playing during a house visit and that several of these tunes ended up on this tape (2015, p. 290).

Cross-referencing the contents of the tape with some important historical collections of traditional music also reveals much about Tommy’s learning practices upon his arrival in Dublin. It’s clear that he spent much time with Ryan’s Mammoth Collection of traditional tunes, incorporating many of these into his own repertoire, while making the tunes his own. The tune commonly known as ‘Tommy Peoples’ Reel’ is found on the McConnell tapes, although much mystery has surrounded its origins. While many have assumed that the tune is one of his compositions, Tommy never claimed it. In fact, he seems to have learned it from Ryan’s where it is found under the title ‘Jenny Nettle’s Fancy’.

Tommy alters the character of the tune by rolling the opening note as a sustained ‘B’, allowing for the creation of a B minor tonality, which then contrasts with the D major key centre in the second part. Readers should note that two distinct tunes have become known as ‘Tommy Peoples’ Reel’. This is the second of those, the other being ‘The Milkmaid’, versions of which are found elsewhere in the project.

This reflects Tommy’s established learning process from books (2015, p. 39) where-in he would transcribe a tune from a collection and then re-transcribe the piece with variations and new ideas that suited his own performance style. Tommy was aware that he was indulging in artistic licence in this process, but the results in this particular tune have a transformative effect upon an old melody.

Another tune recorded in this session by Tommy that is found in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection is ‘The Turnpike’ (no.49), a tune that he appears to have introduced to the Donegal repertoire. This recording also seems to mark the first iteration of one of Tommy’s standout pieces, ‘Kitty O’Neil’s’. He plays five of the seven parts here and is obviously still working on it. However, it is what Tommy has done to it that makes it interesting and palatable and it remains a real test piece for fiddle players. It is called ‘Kitty O’Shea’s’ on The Iron Man, however Tommy got the title correct here and there is a great piece of research on the sand dance (a type of tune) ‘Kitty O’Neil’s Champion Jig’ by Don Meade to be found here.

The tape opens with a short greeting:

Well Cathal, I hope this was recorded alright for you. But anyway, I put on a couple of strange-ish tunes that I have that might be some use to you. And I hope that everyone up there is ok [your] mother and Sandy and Maura. So, I’ll be seeing you anyway sometime soon shortly.

A significant feature of Peoples’ spoken sections here is the change in his accent in the time since he left Donegal. A much stronger southern inflection is heard in his speech, as can clearly be heard in comparing the RTÉ recording of him as a 13 year old (see Chapter one) to this example.

Upon completion of the first tune, Peoples demonstrates further unease:

Cathal, excuse the slips here and there because… I haven’t them off too well myself yet, you know. So, and maybe some of them you have too but sure if you have them I’ll play them anyway.

As widely referenced by both Paddy Glackin and Seamus Gibson in the interview materials, Tommy was known to regularly mine printed collections for new repertoire. Gibson in particular speaks of the prestige of music books within the east Donegal tradition, with both Irish and Scottish collections being prized assets. Indeed “[if you couldn’t read music] you wouldn’t have been considered a musician” in the area.

Influence of the Recordings

By following the trail of breadcrumbs left by these tunes, Tommy’s influence on Irish traditional music becomes apparent. Cathal McConnell and his band The Boys of The Lough recorded numerous tunes that Tommy sent him on these tapes including ‘Tommy Peoples’ on In the Tradition (Topic, 1981).

These tapes had a huge influence on Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy as they recorded ‘The Milkmaid’, ‘The Turnpike’, ‘The Blue Eyed Lassie’ and ‘The Roving Bachelor’ on Ceol Aduaidh in 1983 and on subsequent Altan albums with ‘An Feochán’, and ‘Larry Lavin’s Choice’.

Brian Rooney, the Leitrim fiddle player exiled in London, recorded two of the tunes from this source, ‘Tie the Bonnet’ and ‘The Galway Rambler’, as a set on his well-known recording, The Godfather (Racket Records, 1999). Seán Keane’s setting of ‘Bonnie Ann’, which influenced Tommy’s version heard here, was not commercially recorded until 1975 (Gusty’s Frolics, Claddagh Records, 1975). It is likely that Tommy learned it from Seán in his Dublin days.

‘Mulqueeney’s Hornpipe’ is a composition of Jim Mulqueeney, an original member of the Kilfenora Céilí Band that was formed in the 1920s. Tommy learned it shortly before this tape was made, during some of his initial ventures to north Clare from 1969. His version here can be viewed as something of a ‘draft form’. The tune later became well associated with Tommy’s playing after both the 1976 CCÉ album and on Molloy, Peoples, Brady (Mulligan, 1977). ‘Arkle Mountain’ was composed by Anthony ‘Sully’ Sullivan.

Tune transcriptions

A selection of tunes from the McConnell tapes transcribed by Siobhán Peoples and synced to the audio of Tommy’s playing.  The controls below each tune can be used to slow down the recording.  Pitch names (ABC notation) are hidden by default but can be shown by clicking on the three dots and changing the appearance.