Annotation:Wolftrap Promise
WOLFTRAP PROMISE, THE. Irish, Reel (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB’. Composed by Boston accordion player Joe Derrane. The 'promise' of the title refers to Derrane’s pledge never to give up the accordion again, made to accordion player Billy McComiskey at the Washington Irish Festival at Wolf Trap. The promise was conditioned on receiving McComiskey’s gift of an old but excellent D/C# Baldoni 19 treble 4 bass button accordion, the same model that Derrane used when he recorded his 78 RPM records in the 1940’s. Accordion player Jim Coogan remembers that the former owner’s widow had given it to McComiskey as someone who would respect the instrument, which in appearance was “black with rhinestone American and Irish Flags, shamrocks and harps next to the keys on the keyboard.” Derrane used the instrument for a year prior to receiving a custom made instrument from a French maker.