Annotation:Neil of the Glenties

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X: 1 T:Neil Of The Glenties R:Highland C:Ed Reavy Z:Bil 3/00 M:4/4 L:1/8 Z:Joe Reavy N:Ed's close friend, who died some time ago. N:He was a true traditional player who knew how N:to "brighten" tunes in the right places. N:Ed called him "a little known master of his trade." N:He was a superb player of highlands and a great N:Donegal fiddler. K:D df (3edc dFFA|GEEG FDD<c|df (3edc dFFA|GEAG FDD<c| df (3edc dFFA|GEE^G AFD<c|df (3edc dFFA|GECE D2 D2| fgaf defd|cdef gece|fgaf defd|AFGE FD D2|fgaf defd| cdef gece|(3fga ec defd|AFGE FD D2|]



NEIL OF THE GLENTIES. Irish, Highland. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by County Cavan/Philadelphia fiddle player and composer Ed Reavy (1898-1988) in honor of fiddler Neil Dougherty, born and raised in Glenties, Donegal, before moving to Philadelphia.

Interviewed by musician and folklorist Mick Moloney in 1975, Reavy explained:

Well that was Neil Docherty, God rest his soul…that was my sparring partner…he always called me his sparring partner. He was a great Donegal fiddle player and…oh he was the nicest man you ever met, both he and his wife. The missus and I used to go down to his house every Saturday night…they were old people you know…much older than we are and they lived downtown alone in a little house and they’d look forward to this every Saturday night…we always went down and what my what a session we’d have. There’d be always a couple of fiddle players there…I know Gene O’Donnell was there many a night. Frank Meehan would come in…he was an accordion player. He was a great old fiddle player…he had the real old style of playing you know…like the country dances. He was related to John Docherty, that Donegal fiddle player. [1]



Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Reavy (The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy), No. 118, p. 132.

Recorded sources: -



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  1. Mick Moloney, “Medicine for Life: A study of a Folk Composer and His Music”, ’’’Keystone folklore: The Journal of the Pennsylvania Folklore Society’’’, vol. 20, Winter-Spring 1975, No. 1, p. 25.