Annotation:Loftus Jones

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LOFTUS JONES. Irish, Planxty (4/4 time). A Major (Complete Collection): G Major (Johnson, Plain Brown). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Composed by blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). Donal O'Sullivan (1958) records that Loftus Jones was the son of Thomas and Susanna Jones, or Ardnaglass, County Sligo. O'Sullivan reasons that the tune must have been composed toward the end of O'Carolan's career, as Loftus must have been a young man at the bard's death. It is recorded that Loftus married in 1740 (two years after O'Carolan died) to Jane Henry, the daughter of a rich Dublin banker. She died in Italy some fourteen years after this, while he survived until 1781. The tune achieved some popularity in sessions for a time due to the influential recording by The Irish Tradition in the late 1970's.

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - The tune was noted by collector Edward Bunting from the playing of Edward Fanning, and appears in his manuscripts [Bunting, O'Sullivan].

Printed sources : - Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Collection, 1984; No. 64, p. 58. Doyle (Plain Brown Tune Book), 1997; p. 30. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 5: Mostly Irish Airs), 1985 (revised 2000); p. 6. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 64, p. 136.

Recorded sources : - Culburnie CUL110, Abby Newton - "Crossing to Scotland" (1997). Green Linnet GLCD 1016, The Irish Tradition - "The Corner House" (1978). Green Linnet GLCD 106, "The Twentieth Anniversary Collection (1996). Green Linnet GLCD 1071, "Patrick Street" (1988).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
Hear Paul Dooley play the tune on the harp at the Irish Traditional Music Archive [3]

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