Irish Music Stories Podcast

What's up with "I Buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave?" It's an old tune with an interesting title, with connections to blind pipers, Clare fiddlers, pookahs, and… wool pants. To close out Season 10 of Irish Music Stories, host Shannon Heaton unravels strands of melody and history, with help from the guitar player two rooms away. _________________ 
For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, c...

Episode 92-Eagles and Eggplants--Going for the gold year round... Things change over the years. But a lot of the same stories (and tunes) just seem to keep coming up. Like a bad penny. Or a Golden Eagle. Host Shannon Heaton and flute player Kozo Toyota sail the golden, storied seas about a gold coin, a clipper ship, an eggplant, and a fiery little hornpipe. _________________ 
For playlists, transc...

As tunes and songs get passed around they transform. Airs and hornpipes turn into jigs or reels, entire parts get added or condensed, melodies change, words alter or are forgotten altogether (until the song becomes just a tune). In this episode, singer Niamh Parsons and host Shannon Heaton trace a tune and its words back to its source. It's a celebration of listening, and finding the story in a so...

For this episode of Irish Music Stories, host Shannon Heaton talks to Clare fiddler Sorcha Costello to dig down to the roots of a botanically named tune, And to explore the beauty of enduring classics. _________________ 
For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to ShannonHeatonMusic.com

For this installment of Irish Music Stories, host Shannon Heaton tucks into an old jig that has become known as The Morning Lark. It's an exploration of cartoonists and journalists, and the power of names and name calling. Above all, it's a celebration of a little jig in D that continues to resonate and transform. _________________ 
For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, an...

Early 20th century musician George White painted the New York scene with dance tunes on his piccolo; and the tune bearing his name has gone on to enchant generations of Irish musicians. Well before that, a piper lured 130 children with his sweet playing (and his colorful clothes). There's no bankruptcy of mystery or chirpy melodies in this first episode of Season 10 of Shannon Heaton's Irish Music...

As magical new Irish music podcasts emerge, as dark forces swirl around the world, and as much of the northern hemisphere enters into shorter, colder days, the Irish Music Stories re-investigates lore and mystery surrounding Irish fairies.  With care and caution—and with young co-producer Nigel—fiddle players Tara Connaghan and Martin Hayes, singer Emily Smith, and storyteller Máirtín de Cógáin he...

In this six-episode "Sidequest" series, Irish Music Stories host Shannon Heaton shares music from her "Perfect Maze" album (pollinator-inspired compositions for flute, strings, piano, and voice). And in keeping with the IMS mission, she also incudes stories that helped her navigate the whole project. For this final (sixth) installment #6 she talks about the heartbreak and beauty of mortality, and...

In this six-episode "Sidequest" series, Irish Music Stories host Shannon Heaton shares music from her "Perfect Maze" album (pollinator-inspired compositions for flute, strings, piano, and voice). And in keeping with the IMS mission, she also incudes stories that helped her navigate the whole project. For installment #4 she talks of kings and royal roses, and spiritual leaders and mud-born lotus pl...

In this six-episode "Sidequest" series, Irish Music Stories host Shannon Heaton shares music from her "Perfect Maze" album (pollinator-inspired compositions for flute, strings, piano, and voice). And in keeping with the IMS mission, she also incudes stories that helped her navigate the whole project. For installment #4 she breaks down one movement of her Flute Duel (with talk of cadenzas, Nuevo Ta...

In this six-episode "Sidequest" series, Irish Music Stories host Shannon Heaton shares music from her "Perfect Maze" album (pollinator-inspired compositions for flute, strings, piano, and voice). And in keeping with the IMS mission, she also incudes stories that helped her navigate the whole project. For installment #3, she highlights the Blue Dress motif, one of the recurring melodies on Perfect...

In this six-episode "Sidequest" series, Irish Music Stories host Shannon Heaton shares music from her "Perfect Maze" album (pollinator-inspired compositions for flute, strings, piano, and voice). And in keeping with the IMS mission, she also incudes stories that helped her navigate the whole project. For installment #2, she examines her Sweetest Blooms Suite and considers some of the dramatic Spri...

In this six-episode "Sidequest" series, Irish Music Stories host Shannon Heaton shares music from her "Perfect Maze" album (pollinator-inspired compositions for flute, strings, piano, and voice). In keeping with the IMS mission, she also incudes stories that helped her navigate the whole project. For installment #1 host Shannon Heaton talks about finding her way through a tangle of old files (and...

When you're tracing a song through six generations, and you're digging into distinct versions of dance tunes carried by players from East Clare, you never know what card games and shipwrecks you might also uncover. This special episode—the last new story for a while—weaves together stories from John Tunney and Mary MacNamara, who grew up around generations of music in rural Ireland, with the tale...

What is the U.S. Electoral College? And what does it have to do with The Kesh Jig and The Humours of Glendart? This election adjacent exploration of two popular jigs takes a look at the stories behind jig (and Presidential) contenders, and the process used to choose a winner. _________________ For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please...

When you're making an instrument, you're forming something that can be used to design a melody. Or a musical life. This episode follows a precious flute's unexpected journey. And flute makers Patrick Olwell and Eamonn Cotter, piper Colleen Shanks, and fiddle players Bob Childs and Pat O'Connor talk about what it's like to carve an approach as musicians and craftspeople. _________________ For playl...

Irish musicians, and writers, and home makers can all benefit by learning some rules and technical skills—and by allowing a little spontaneity and flexibility. But how much great technique do you need? Does that get in the way of the magic? In this episode, Nathan Gourley, Brendan Mulholland, and Sharon Murphy reflect on the alchemy of order and spontaneity: how rule following and rule breaking ca...

Boston producer Brian O'Donovan made a lot of space for Irish music and culture. He was dedicated to sharing it widely.   And though he presented music on formal stages and through his WGBH broadcast "A Celtic Sojourn," casual, public Irish music sessions were ever important and enduring for him. This beloved leader lifted up traditional music. And he elevated the practice of 'just going to the lo...

Could traditional music sessions exist without listeners? Are the non-playing listeners in public spaces important for tune players? Here's a brief podcast adaptation of a video response to this intriguing little question! _________________ For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to  IrishMusicStories.org . ___________________ T...

Communities. Forests. Families. All of these different ecosystems contain a lot of different components that weave and work together. And as people, plants, and pests carry on and creep around, rich and sometimes unlikely collaborations emerge. In this episode, with the help of Karine Polwart, Colin Farrell, and Steve Nardone, I'll explore how friends, neighbors and families can blend; how humans...

In part one of the Fruitful Fells, we met modern and 19th century activists dedicated to making beauty available to current and future humans. In this episode, we learn how our heroes saved acres of woods and bushels of old ballads, and we follow enduring struggles in the crusade for preservation. As always, there's plenty of beautiful music woven into these conversations with guests Mike Ryan, Al...

There are little creatures, trees, ponds, and pedestrians all over the earth. And there are bushels of ballads about the charms of nature. And while there are ecological activists like Mike Ryan and 19th century Elizur Wright, and song collectors like Francis Child and Olive Dame Campbell who are out to enjoy and save the critters and the old songs… there are others who are less interested in pres...

The weekly Irish music session is a specific niche affair, with a particular code of conduct. Gift giving also has its own rules, at least it has in the past. As older customs like traditional Irish music and wedding anniversary gifts have moved to the new world, have things adjusted? Does modern session behavior reflect wider social trends? Etiquette experts Barry Foy and Zina Lee walk me down th...

New inventions and technology can make life—and Irish music—more convenient, more accessible, and sweeter…. and more complicated. This episode examines a few innovations like the washing machine, the personal computer, and to the electric bicycle—though you'll have to go to Episode 18-Wax Cylinders to the World Wide Web for extensive chat about recording technologies… and also Episode 40-Irish Tun...

Lunch routines, laundry, kid art supplies, spoons, and teacups are details of domestic life that don't usually make it into the photo albums, or the tune titles. But they shape lives. And in the midst of the thousands of jigs and reels out there, the simple (and profound) cup of tea.. and the basket of turf are represented. Here's a meditation on tunes with prosaic titles and the stimulating stori...