Annotation:Palm Tree

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PALM TREE, THE. Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Harker): AA’BB (Cranford/Holland). Composed (originally in the key of B flat) by Brooklyn born B/C button accordion player Billy McComiskey (Baltimore, Md.). McComiskey was challenged by piano accordion player Lori Anders to produce tunes on the button box in the keys of Eb and Bb, no problem on the piano accordion, but nearly impossible on the button accordion system (he also wrote “Flowers of Brooklyn” in E flat). Flute player Kevin Crawford changed the key to D major for his recording, and that is the usual session key nowadays.

Source for notated version: New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources: Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 62, p. 25. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 134, p. 40.

Recorded sources: Green Linnet GLCD 1034, Billy McComiskey - "Makin' the Rounds" (1981). Jerry Holland – “Crystal Clear” (2000).

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [3]