Who are your favorite Clare fiddlers and cd’s?
I want a belated Christmas present.
Casey and Rochford. Neither on CD unfortunately.
Kevin Crehan’s solo album is quite good:
http://www.irishfiddle.com/kcrehan.html
(Kevin’s actual site seems to be down, but the CD should still be widely available).
The CD that came out last year of Patrick Kelly’s music is a must:
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/p_kelly.htm
James Kelly’s latest CD, “Melodic Journeys” is well worth a listen.
http://www.jameskellymusic.com/JK_Order.html
There is also some excellent fiddling by James Cullinane on the “Happy to Meet” CD that he and his wife recorded with the late flute player P.J. Crotty a couple of years ago.
The classic old recording of Clare fiddlers, “Ceol An Chlair” was supposed to be re-released on CD in 2005 but that does not appear to have happened yet. Maybe in 2006?
Tola Custy is a great fiddle player too from Ennis. He’s done a few CDs by himself and with others, can’t think of the names of them.
Bobby Casey picked up influences from all over, but his style is clearly founded in West Clare. Casey in the Cowhouse is a classic, ‘must have’ recording.
I enjoy the playing of Tony Linnane, from Corofin. He’s on the infamous Gort session tape from the early 1990s, and his duet cd with Noel Hill is terrific.
James Cullinan–great fiddler, hard to find recordings here in the states. He did a track on Kevin Crawford’s “In Good Company,” and played extensively on two earlier cds with Crawford, Music Travel Ireland and The Sanctuary Sessions.
A more recent recording well worth having is A Clare Conscience, with Anthony Quigney and Aidan McMahon.
The last I heard Kevin Crehan’s CD was out of print already, which is a huge pity since it’s really excellent music. He is probably my favourite contemporary era fiddler.
One of my favourite commercial releases ever, featuring Clare fiddlers PJ Hayes and Paddy Canny, Peadar O’Loughlin on flute and Bridie Lafferty on piano:
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/can-hay.htm
Also to add to the list there is East Clare fiddler Pat O’Connor’s two CDs:
http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_OConnor_Pat_Derrybeha.html
http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_OConnor_Pat.html
Of course everyone is carefully avoiding any mention of Martin Hayes. My favorite tracks of his were on the first An Fhidil album, released by Gael Linn in 1979, which featured some of Ireland’s best young fiddlers at the time. He played several of the same tunes that he recorded two decades later on his Green Linnet albums, giving you a clear sense of how he has changed his style over the years. He also recorded a few duets with Mary MacNamara on her first CD, and an even better one with Mary appears on the new Come West Along the Road DVD (where he also appears as a teenager with the Tulla Ceili Band, playing next to his father). Of his Green Linnet albums I like the first one best, the one with Randal Bays on guitar.
Tola Custy and Siobhan Peoples.
I thought Siobhan Peoples would be Donegal, considering her father is Tommy Peoples. I believe she (and her father) now live in Clare, but they aren’t Clare-style fiddlers.
My favourite (and he hasn’t been mentioned? for shame!) is Paddy Canny. There’s a recording of his playing called Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler, as well as one just entitled Meet Paddy Canny (which I’ve not had a chance to get my hands on).
An Historic Recording of Irish Traditional Music - with Paddy Canny, PJ Hayes, Peader O’Loughlin, and Bridie Lafferty - is a classic recording I highly recommend!
~Crysania
Meet Paddy Canny and An Historic Recording are one and the same but different re-issues.
There was legal upheaval of sorts when the ‘Historic recording’ re-issue came out, Canny was not told about it.
No takers on Patrick Kelly, Joe Ryan, John Kelly, Ellen Galvin, Peter O Loughlin?
Siobhan Peoples was born and reared in Clare, I am not sure where you want to place her stylistically but like some for other more modern players mentioned here, who I wouldn’t necessarily associate with the older Clare styles, an argument could be made there’s a definite Ennis/Doolin session style of playing that could be understood as a modern Clare development where she’d fit into.
The album Touch Me If You Dare, with Peter O Loughlin and Ronan Browne, is one of my favorites. Maeve Donnelly is also on a few tracks.
I’d take Ellen Galvin 
. I like her almost as much as Rochford. Joe Ryan sounds really nice as well but I prefer his music when he was younger - the recordings on Ceol An Chlair are really great. Then there’s Junior Crehan to add to the list too.
thanks for all the wonderful comments…some of the fiddlers I’ve heard, most not…I do have the Paddy Canny disc…I have found it very difficult to learn some of his tunes (by ear) because of the tuning I suppose he uses, but I’m not sure it’s all the tuning or just the way he plays…I admire him much, but he is confusing me greatly.
Do you have a favorite place to purchase the music?
If at all possible it makes a lot of sense buying directly from the musicians but you could do worse than www.custysmusic.com
thanks, Peter…I am still waiting for the link of your disc to work…
So who are some really awful Clare fiddlers? I mean, really bad.
What is Clare fiddling, anyway? I’ve heard most of the above mentioned.
I think it sounds “piping” in ways - long wailing notes. Not all pipers use or used those kinds of ornaments but a good few do or did.
Casey tops my list I suppose.
What about Vincent Griffin?
Who are some good Clare fiddlers who aren’t well known?
How about a “Wooden Fiddle Obsession CD”?
The An Fidil records are great - they need to be reissued. Not a strummed or plonked chord to be heard, either!
If I did it (as a non-profit), would they come?
Kevin Krell