Annotation:Johnny Allen's
Back to Johnny Allen's
JOHNNY ALLEN'S REEL (Cor Seagain Mic Ailin). AKA and see "Sean McGlynn's Fancy," "Tinkerman's Wife (The)." AKA - "Bean Tinc'earea." Irish, Reel. D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Peter Wood (The Living Note: the Heartbeat of Irish Music, 1996) gives that Johnny Allen was a legendary fiddle player from "beyond Feakle (Co. Clare), and he's still talked about even though nobody can remember directly playing with him." Francis O'Neill, writing in his Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby (1910, p. 122) explains he collected the tune on a trip to East Clare in 1906, where, in the Sliabh Aughty area, he had several tunes from fiddler Johnny Allen, a dance musician and contemporary of Pat Canny and a blind fiddler named Paddy MacNamara ("Paddy Mack"). The latter taught music in the region in the early part of the 20th century, and had been Allen's teacher. "Johnny Allen's Reel" was an untitled piece played by Allen for O'Neill, who then named it in honor of his source. O'Neill said it became a great favorite among Irish musicians in Chicago after he brought it home.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 774, p. 135.
Recorded sources: Billy McComiskey & Sean McGlynn (et al) - "The Big Squeeze."
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
