Inspired by a remark during the thread on “eight great living pipers”:
You shadow their footsteps at every tionol. You take every workshop they offer. You swoon during their concerts. Your most-played-list includes at least ten crappy recordings from a house session, although you put your recording device on the floor and as a result you can barely hear their piping over the loud foot-stomping of somebody who was sitting next to you (or, alternatively, over the sound of a full pint falling onto your recording device, followed by loud oaths and scrubbing sounds.) Every night you send a prayer heavenwards to the deity of your preference, offering to trade your firstborn child if these pipers would only make a CD.
Now you’re talkin!
What about John Purcell, Leon Rowsome (re-issued), Sean Seery and Mick Touhey, Jim Dowling…
Some of them are gone now but there may be enough material out there to do a Drones and Chanters Vol 3?
Someone (NPU?) should release the Peadar Broe recordings too.
Of the younger lads, (40 something… )
Fergus Finnegan,
Kevin Thompson,
Eamonn Lane,
Donncha Keegan,
all quality pipers!
Is John Reid in Ennis still playing? Haven’t heard him in 15 years but he was great then!
You have Leon’s Walton’s LP, Tom? Much better than the Dolphin record with the guitar player. If you have Leon Sean and Mick you’ve got to include Denis Brooks. Tom Creegan too, while we’re at it. Joe McLaughlin. Sean McKiernan. Sean Talty.
Recently we’ve lost some of the old timers who were never on record, Andy Conroy, Tom Busby, Joe Shannon who is on a couple records at least but a solo disc would be good.
They’re far overdue to release the home recording of Tommy Reck too.
A compilation or two would be welcome, spotlight some of these great pipers. Things seem to proceed at a snail’s pace though. Other genres are featured much more comprehensively; for American Old Time music there are multi-CDs and even box sets you can get of entire States, for instance, often on dinky little homebrew labels.
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