We start this track with a hop jig composed by Dónal in memory of trips to St. Tiernach’s Park, Clones, for Ulster GAA Championship matches. The phrase ‘There’s a Man Here on Crutches’ was used on numerous occasions by Dónal’s late father, Gabriel, as a ploy to enter the restricted areas of Clones to park on the grounds of the nearby nursing home while carrying a pair of crutches in the back seat of the car.
The late Tom Ahearne, from the townland of Ballymaddock, Co.Laois, was undoubtedly the greatest influence on the music of the Fitzharris household in their formative musical years. Tom, a fine fiddler himself, would visit the household of a Tuesday night most weeks. He would recall stories of bygone years combined with intense chat about the current Irish traditional music scene and the up and coming young musicians of whom he always admired and had so much time for. His visits would entail a phenomenal degree of laughter as his ability to deliver a yarn was unrivalled! A founding member of the famous Bridge Céilí Band, Tom’s influence on the music of the county of Laois and surrounding areas will be forever and fondly remembered.
Dónal learned ‘The Holly Spoon’ from Seán McElwain who found this tune in the James Whiteside manuscript who we believe may have collected it around the 1870s. Whiteside, who was a school master in Knockatallon in Dónal’s home parish of Tydavnet, worked for a time as a correspondent of both P. W. Joyce and Capt. Francis O’Neill.
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Absolutely sensational - love the generally low-end tones and planxty-esque set up, but most of all the incredible energy of it! Wish more instrumental trad was like this, love the fact that it's recorded live too. Prangman