Annotation:Dowd's No. 9
X:1 T:Dowd's #9 T:Summer in Ireland R:reel D:Matt Molloy & Sean Keane: Contentment is Wealth D:Davy Spillane: Shadow Hunter Z:id:hn-reel-369 Z:transcribed by henrik.norbeck@mailbox.swipnet.se M:C| L:1/8 K:D DFAF GFEF|D2FA dABA|~F3A ~G3B|AGFD A,B,CA,| DFAF GFEF|D2FA dABA|~F3A ~G3B|1 AGFD EDDA,:|2 AGFD EDD2|| |:fd~d2 g2ag|fedf ecA2|fd~f2 gfed|dcde fddA| dfaf gfeg|fedf ecAF|GABG FAdB|1 AGFD EDD2:|2 AGFD A,B,CA,|| P:"Variations of 1st part" |:DFAF GEFG|FDFA dABG|F2AF G2BG|AGFD A,B,CA,| DFAF GEFG|FDFA dABG|F2AF ~G3B|AGFD EFD2:||
DOWD'S NO. 9. AKA and see "Cow with the Crooked Horn," "Hugh Gillespie's," "Jackson's No. 9," "O'Dowd's No. 9," "Summer in Ireland." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'. The Dowd of the title was John Dowd (or O'Dowd), a Sligo fiddler born in the 1860's who emigrated to New York and was an influence on Michael Coleman and other better known Sligo and New York fiddlers. His newphew Joe O'Dowd (1913-1986) and Joe's son Séamie O'Dowd continued the family fiddling tradition. No one knows if there were eight other tunes but the "No. 9" name was attached to this one when it was recorded in New York in the 1939 by Donegal-born fiddler Hugh Gillespie (1906-1986)[1]. It was one of the relatively few tunes Gillespie recorded that had not previously been recorded by his mentor Michael Coleman. It was first recorded in New York, in 1927, by Sligo fiddler Joe Tansey, who titled it "Summer in Ireland." Piper Séamus Ennis also gave it that name when he contributed it to Breandan Breathnach's collection.
Dan Healy and Ciarán O'Reilly, on the liner notes of their CD, maintain that the famous chieftains of the O'Dowds from Roslea Castle, who were bards and musicians, are responsible for this tune, despite the fact that the reel form arrived in Ireland long after the demise of the old chieftains and the extinction of the bards!
New York musician, writer and researcher Don Meade finds a 'primitive version' of the tune in Ryan's Mammoth Collection under the title "Maid of Athens." Fiddler James Kelly associates the tune with the playing of renowned accordion player Joe Cooley, from Peterswell, County Galway, and it was included on Cooley's posthumously released Gael Linn LP.
