I’m new to this board but not to uilleann piping–got my set from Tim Britton back in '84.
I just wanted to brag on Pat a little bit, because he won’t do it himself. My wife and I met Pat and Cathy back in 1989, and have been good friends ever since. I’m not exaggerating when I say that if I hadn’t met Pat when I did, I probably wouldn’t be playing today.
After a 3-year hiatus I recently started playing again. Things were about what you’d expect but the pipes themselves just weren’t sounding good. My chanter reed was one that Pat had given me 15 years ago, and it had been a champ. It still worked, but. So I called Pat up, and we talked over some things to try, but still no luck. So I sent it off to Pat. He brought it back from the dead and made me a new reed to boot. A couple of weeks after that, I went to see him. In the course of the visit, we turned our attention to a reed I had made at a workshop Pat did many years ago. I had gotten it to crow during the workshop, but had left it alone all this time–because I had this reed that Pat had given me (I’m not kidding. We had just moved to Durham, NC, I was having BIG reed troubles, was ready to throw in the towel, and Pat gets this box of chanter reeds out of his workbench, looks at 2 or 3, picks up another one, says, “This one looks like it might work,” and stuck it in the chanter. It was perfect.) Anyway, we had that reed that I had made playing great in about 5 minutes. So now I’ve got 3 chanter reeds that are going great. And the common denominator is Pat Sky. His skill with reeds is incredible. He is to me the complete piper.
And he and Cathy have a CD out now, “Down to Us.” This is an intimate collection of lovely tunes beautifully and sensitively played. What’s particularly nice is that they’ve included the genealogies of many of those tunes in the liner notes, so you get a sense of their history with the tunes. If you get a chance, give it a listen. What you’ll hear is the sort of playing that captures the essential loneliness and spirit of the music. Nothing flash or fancy–just wonderful old tunes traditionally played.
Brook, I couldn’t agee more. I bought a ebony chanter with 2 keys from Pat and the reed has played wonderfully with drones I got from another pipe maker.
His customer service is excellent and his contribution to piping should never be overlooked.
Pat has been a wonderful friend over the years and I could not have done nay thing on the pipes with out him. He was a outstanding teacher for me as I use to drive to Asheville NC for lessons. Cathy is just a sweet an kind as can be. Happy they have a CD out now. These two have been overlooked for years and made many great contributions to ITM.
I just want to add my congratulations to this thread celebrating Pat (and Cathy). I agree with the comment that they don’t receive nearly the recognition they deserve. Since I got to know them a few years back I have often thought with pride of the fine music they preserve and share in their quiet corner of the US. If there is a future for local styles of traditional music in this country, based on the beautiful Irish traditions but harbored and nurtured in this country by honest musicians who don’t pretend to be anything they aren’t, I hope that Pat and Cathy will be recognized by history for their contribution.
Hey there Brook. off topic a little bit, but if you’re still in Durham you might be interested in driving down to Raleigh this weekend for the Raleigh Pipers Club meeting from 10-1 at Hahn Family Chiropractic at 4330 Bland Road, Raleigh, NC 27609.
Our good friends Pat & Cathy Sky now have a long overdue wonderful CD of old Irish traditional music. The fiddle and pipes are to Irish Traditional Music what the banjo and fiddle are here in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Theirs is lovely duet playing. It reminds me of many vists to the old Ireland. I am certainly not an expert when it comes to the fiddle and pipes. However I have to say that this is some of the best duet playing I have heard in a long, long time.
I am also proud to have participated in some of the photography for the cover and inside of this recording. A fiddle and an old set of pipes are both beautiful things to behold. The music coming from them by these two artists is even more beautiful.
