By Frank Dalton
Christy McNamara’s new CD, “The House I Was Reared In,” took me by surprise. I’d known of his evocative photography since reading “The Living Note: the Heartbeat of Irish Music.” This 1996 book was a fictional narrative of a young traditional musician and his family. Accompanying and complementing the text by Peter Woods, your man Christy’s striking black-and-white images captured and displayed the essence of what Irish traditional music is all about—in session at the pub, at weddings and wakes, and in sundry other real-life circumstances. It’s great stuff and you should read the book if you can.
But I wasn’t hip to McNamara’s considerable prowess on the button accordion. Yes, Christy’s a musician, too. In the sleeve notes we read that “It’s always the music … sometimes it seems as if life happens between the notes of tunes”. Well, yeah, that’s true for you, Christy, I’m sure! Hailing from the parish of Crusheen in County Clare, as a kid he heard his grandfather Jim play the concertina. His father Joe and uncle Paddy played the accordion, while another uncle was the great fiddler P.J. Hayes, a founding member of the legendary and long-lived Tulla Ceili Band.
This collection of 17 reels, jigs, waltzes, and slow airs showcases these and many other musical influences. Joined by fiddler Martin Hayes (also a cousin), guitarist Denis Cahill, flute player Eamonn Cotter, and fiddlers Liam Lewis and Peadar O’Loughlin, Christy expertly renders a selection of familiar tunes like the reels “My Love is in America,” “The Copperplates” and “Toss the Feathers,” and jigs like “Scatter the Mud,” “The Kesh” and “Old Man Dillon.” A few less familiar pieces stand out: “I Ne’er Shall Win Her” is a lovely jig I’d never heard before, from Mrs. Murphy of Ballydesmond in County Kerry; “John Naughton’s Reel” is from a Kilclaran concertina player (sure it’s about halfway between Gortnamearacaun and Cloonusker); while “John McHugh’s” was learned from that tune’s namesake who learned it from his grandfather in County Mayo. Christy also treats us to a pair of his own compositions, the waltz “Tae Pot Wood” and a reel, “The Maid’s Lake.”
I forgot to mention that as well as knowing his way around the two-row button accordion Christy is a fine concertina player too (on “The Bunch of Roses,” and “Molly Put The Kettle On”). To top it all off, he sings on the slow air “May Morning Dew,” a moving song of emigration, sorrow and loss.
The CD comes in one of those environmentally conscious ‘digi-packs’ (no plastic jewel box to drop and break and toss into the trash) and contains a 24 page booklet filled mostly with some lovely photographs from the McNamara family archives and some of Christy’s own shots of other musicians, young and old. This is a very worthwhile addition to your collection, especially if you have a fondness for the lovely and unhurried music of County Clare, as I myself do.
Frank Dalton is the organizer of the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series.
