Irish Music Stories Podcast

Presenting concerts can be about a lot more than throwing someone onstage. Matt Smith manages Club Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has been the central venue and fountain of support for 20 years—and is now the official presenter—for Boston's Celtic Music Festival.   For Matt, it's all about creating opportunities for something special and unique to happen. Learn about where this little f...

Why did kids carry dead birds on sticks all over Ireland on the 26th of December? And what did this all have to do with first century Christian martyr St. Stephen? Just like traditional tunes, which can vary from player to player, the whole history of Wren Day depends on the storyteller. Learn more about the role a melody, a good story (or three), and a tiny bird has played in the centuries-long w...

Loss can spark achingly beautiful music. It can also spark new forms of creativity for musicians. This episode is a meditation on the stubborn insistence and the transformative power of creativity, featuring beautiful conversations with Emmanuelle Le Blanc, Daniel Neely, Joe DeZarn, Tina Eck, and a poem from Brian O'Donovan. Here's to sowing beauty and blooming from the muck of misfortune.   _____...

As tunes travel they change. And to turn an old Irish reel into an old time tune can involve adjusting notes to suit different instruments, using different techniques… and also digging into the non-musical stories. In this episode I tuck into some early railway stories while Agi Kovacs and Jesse Winch help me follow Paddy on the Turnpike, from North Galway to North Carolina.   __________________ F...

Beauty is in the eye of the (informed) beholder. Where many of us might overlook a grubby little copy book or an awkwardly named interlibrary loan, others can help us understand them as treasures that shine new understanding on Irish history. Learn how Laura Flanagan in Texas and Dáibhí Ó Cróinín made unexpected finds; learn more about special library collections from Aedín Clements; and take a si...

It's really exciting and important to have kids playing Irish music.   And it takes organization, skill, and willing adults to create learning opportunities for them. In this episode Annmarie Acosta, Lexie Boatright, Clare Cason, Oisín Mac Diarmada, Maisie Lynch, Eileen Estes, Agi Kovacs, Ken Fleming, and Aidan Flanagan—and very special guest students, parents, and community members—share ideas fo...

Most Irish traditional tunes have names. Some go by many different names. So what's in a name? Do names help us associate tunes with people, or remember vast numbers of melodies… or is there another agenda afoot? In this episode, Colm Gannon, Nic Gareiss, Mick Moloney—and renowned 20th century literary figures Dick and Jane—explore the meaning behind the names. __________________ For playlists, tr...

When flute player and police captain Francis O'Neill published his first and most extensive collection of Irish tunes in 1903, he included a LOT of tunes. Nicholas Carolan called it "the largest snapshot of this music ever taken in its 9,000 year history." 120 years later, I revisit O'Neill's two biggest books, to explore what's in there, and what isn't. With the help of authors Michael O'Malley a...

Most of the Irish traditional jigs and reels I play have associations, information, history, and sentiments bundled into them. Even these dance tunes that have no words carry so much. And everybody who plays these tunes bears and shares more than just a few notes and rhythms. In this episode, flute player and piper Emer Mayock, harp player Andrea Kiupel-Grona, and banjo/harmonica player Don Meade...

Irish Music Stories is the show about traditional music and the bigger stories behind it, like how important, ancient songs and little short folk ditties lodge in the heart, not the ears… or the eyes. In this episode, fiddle player Séamus Connolly shares early experiences of playing and collecting Irish music, and also recent challenges and insights. Also woven into the show are a few thoughts fro...

Learn how and why Shannon Heaton creates the Irish Music Stories podcast, as Matt Heaton turns the mic around in the sunroom studio. Tune into this Old-Time radio (half) hour celebration of community, DIY ingenuity, and weighted blankets. And learn about the future of IMS! For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to IrishMusicSto...

Setbacks and surprises are inevitable. Weather and illness—and all sorts of other plan disrupters—are not always foreseeable or controllable. But when disappointment and disruption descends, we can regulate our reactions. Here's a short follow up to last month's episode about wellness and balance, including a spoiler about the big marathon (so if you missed Episode 56, check that out before you li...

For many Irish musicians, it can be a tricky and essential game to stay active and find balance between artistic, intellectual, social, and physical pursuits. In this episode, Aubrey Atwater, Evangelos Stowell, and Pa Sheehan share tales from the trails,   the barn, the pitch, and the gym to help "work out" some of the Irish music insights that can come to those who sweat. ___________________ For...

Flute player John McKenna left troves of treasures when he recorded 78 RPMS in the 1920s; Na Píobairí Uilleann in Dublin helped preserve Irish piping; and Dr. Charles Heaton inspired his grandson to play piano with just eight bars of music. Legacy can nestle between bricks, on birch trees, and on manuscript paper… and it can bloom in surprising ways. In this episode, Liam Kelly, Ivan Goff, Julie W...

Irish Music Stories is the show about traditional music, and the bigger stories behind it. Episodes are often 40-50 minutes long (and 51 seconds). Here's a shorter installment. With help from Ellery Klein I delve into collective wisdom; and I revisit a poem that I aired back in Season One. This episode is 26 minutes… and 51 seconds long. ___________________ Thank you to everybody for listening. An...

For centuries, traditional music in Wales have endured empire, organized religion, and connections with port towns in Ireland, like Wexford and Cork. In this special IMS spotlight on Cymru, Rhodri McDonagh, Ceri Rhys Matthews, Angharad Jenkins, and Patrick Rimes explore how the Welsh language, the rhythms of industry, and the lyricism of the rural landscape have shaped the music—and the oxen tradi...

Plants can be carefully cultivated or can spread naturally. Songs, too, can spread deliberately or accidentally. Here's a small sampling of just a few of the song collectors who helped preserve gardens of old English, Scottish, and Irish ballads that travelled to North America. Alex Cumming and Catherine Crowe help untangle a few strands of the bountiful musical harvest of folk history and culture...

If you want to share music with folks outside of your home, you gotta carry your instruments and gear (unless you're live-streaming). And if you want to share podcast episodes along with show notes and other extras, you gotta build a site to share everything. Hear a bit about how guitarist Matt Heaton, fiddle player Laura Cortese, and flute player and podcaster Shannon Heaton have created their po...

How much power does a backdrop have? As the Irish Music Stories production team works to assemble episodes and bonus materials, Shannon explores the wooded hills of Medford, Massachusetts to find visual and organizational surrounds that look and feel like time-worn jigs, and ballads, and nights of music and dance. * * * * * * * Thank you to everybody for listening. And a special thank you to this...

After a horrific week of social unrest in the U.S., and as Irish Music Stories begins a major overhaul, host Shannon Heaton offers a meditation on how cataloging and organizing can soothe the soul. There's also plenty of music in this episode. Full playlist below. And for Japanese speakers who want to get started with Irish Music Stories, the first episode has been translated fully (transcript) by...

Trailer for the December 2020 episode of Irish Music Stories .

What's up with stage banter? And why all the joking around between tunes in a session? Explore the on- and offstage chat that surrounds traditional music with Máirtín de Cógáin, Paddy League, Joanie Madden, Rus Bradburd, Liz Carroll, and Jean-Michel Veillon.   There's also plenty of music in this episode. Full playlist below. And for Japanese speakers who want to get started with Irish Music Stori...

How do new traditional Irish and Scottish tunes come together? How do composers conjure melodies?   Composers Liz Carroll, Dáithí Sproule, and Katie McNally share thoughts on creativity, the tune writing process, and the myths behind the music. There's also plenty of music in this episode. Full playlist below. And for Japanese speakers who want to get started with Irish Music Stories, the first ep...

Learning just a few words in Gaelic is mannerly when visiting Ireland and Scotland. And it can be a way IN to cultural values and humor. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Séamus Ó Flatharta, Ciarán Bolger, Michael Coult, Julie Fowlis, Mary Jane Lamond, and Brian Ó hAirt help me understand connections between language and music. And how songs in Irish and Scottish Gaelic transmit emotion, carry history, and li...

There's no definitive Irish or Scottish music method book. A lot of seasoned practitioners learned their music in kitchens and pubs. So how do they bring that immersive, social learning approach into the classroom? In this episode, June McCormack, Michael Rooney, Alasdair White, Caroline Keane, and Tom Delany share ideas about teaching and learning traditional music. There's also plenty of music i...