Hey all - I'm wanting to develop a fun wish list of say ... 20 well-known Irish albums/CDs which "prominently" feature the tenor banjo ... to purchase over the coming years and burn onto my iPod as a playlist. Can you help? I've purchased a handful already, but would like to acquire more based on popular favour out there. Thanks in advance and below are some mere suggestions, in NO particular order, to get the string going. I only have several of these. Feel free to add/revise/agree/disagree/etc. in your suggestions. Cheers - Rob (Note - I've found that many are available from Claddagh Records, fewer are from Amazon.com and fewer still from iTunes)

- Angelina Carberry -> An Tradisiun Beo
- John Carty -> I will if I can
- Gerry O'Connor -> High Up-Low Down
- Gerry O'Connor -> No Place Like Home
- Brian McGrath -> Pure Banjo
- Tom Walsh -> In Company
- Eamonn Coyne -> Through the Round Window
- Mick Moloney -> Strings Attached
- Brian Kelly -> The Plain of Jars
- Enda Scahill ->
- The Dubliners ->
- Kieran Hanrahan ->
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.

Posted - 11/06/2009 :  17:48:15  

A few more off the top to throw out there:

Johnny Og Connolly & Brian McGrath's "Dreaming Up The Tunes"
Paul Brock & Enda Scahill's "Humdinger"
Christy Dunne's "Pluckin' Good"
Seamus "West Coast" Egan's "In Your Ear"
The Dubliners's "Instrumental" album gets you a nice cross section of Barney.
John Carty's "Cat That Ate the Candle"
There's lots of lovely banjo playing on the At the Racket records.
There's lots of Mick Moloney playing banjo on Green Linnet records from the 1970s and 1980s (Brendan Mulvihill/Billy McComiskey/The Irish Tradition, for example) and on the Green Fields of America albums.

Posted - 11/06/2009 :  18:08:20        

I'd put a shout in for an album by Oisin MacDiarmada (Fiddle), Michael O' Reilly (Harp) and Brian Fitzgerald (Banjo).
For me it's the most tasteful, subtly rhythmic and understated banjo playing I've ever heard on an album of Irish music. The other musicians are also top notch....they fly over his steadiness.


There are three types of people in the world.....those who can count and those who can't!

Posted - 11/06/2009 :  19:50:13  

quote:

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Originally posted by pernicketylad

For me it's the most tasteful, subtly rhythmic and understated banjo playing I've ever heard on an album of Irish music.

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Posted - 11/06/2009 :  23:44:24          

Memories from the Holla - Angelina Carberry, Peter Carberry & John Blake
Martin Quinn & Angelina Carberry - self titled CD
Cathal Hayden - self titled CD
Seamus Egan - Traditional Music of Ireland
Enda Scahill - Pick it Up

Cheers,
Jill

Posted - 11/07/2009 :  03:58:11        

Kitchen Recordings by Sean O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. Literally recorded in a kitchen its a beautiful natural sounding album. A nice break from more modern style recordings its the real thing as far as traditional music is concerned. Sean has a really nice distinct style and it makes for great music. He has a lovely take on a slow air too which is again very unique style wise.

Across the pond with Kevin Griffin, Roger Burridge, Michael Shorrock and Quentin Cooper. Hear it here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/atp. Again another natural sounding album with Kevin Griffin on banjo who really is class.

Anything by De Danann with Charlie Piggott on banjo he was great with them and i second DanielT on Dreaming up tunes with Johnny Og Connolly and Brian Mcgrath

Not the most prominent albums but must have's in my opinion to get a full scope on Irish banjo playing.

www.youtube.com/fergohanlon

Edited by - fergaloh on 11/07/2009 04:21:06

Posted - 11/07/2009 :  10:42:36  

quote:

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Originally posted by fergaloh

...Kevin Griffin...

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quote:

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Originally posted by fergalohNot the most prominent albums but must have's in my opinion to get a full scope on Irish banjo playing

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Posted - 11/07/2009 :  10:51:16        

quote:

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but prominence doesn't equal excellence

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Posted - 11/07/2009 :  11:09:36    

Damian O'Kane has a couple of albums out with Shona Kipling. Really fantastic banjo but unfortunately not much of it. Some of the banjo tunes are self penned and fly against the traditional but well worth listening to. Some really good examples of cross picking if you want to impress your freinds and a nice change from mechanjcal sounding DUD DUD !! I have sheet music if anybodys up to the challenge.

Nigel

Posted - 11/07/2009 :  12:43:28      

Dessie Kelliher Banjoed A great banjo player from West Kerry.

Brian Kelly "Brian Kelly" his first album - great stuff!

Compass Records was having a $5 sale of a lot of the older records mentioned above and I accidentally got two of the Irish Tradition if someone wants to take it off of my hands.


Mike Keyes
http://www.banjosessions.com
http://www.mikekeyes.com

Edited by - mikeyes on 11/07/2009 13:06:42

Posted - 11/08/2009 :  01:32:20        

heres some more


Time to dance 2 http://www.musicinscotland.com/acat...ic_CDx2.html
Stocktons Wing-Take a chance
Gerry O'Connor-Time to time
Cathal Hayden-Handed Down
4 Men and a dog -Barking Mad
4 Men and a dog- Shifting gravel

Posted - 11/09/2009 :  06:03:59    

Just to add my 2 cents....my absoulte favorite is ANGELINA CARBERRY & MARTIN QUINN - Banjo and Box heaven!!

"Let there be songs to fill the air”

www.myspace.com/cannybrothersband

Posted - 11/09/2009 :  14:07:01  

Wow - a fantastic list of albums/cd's to seek out over time. Thank you everyone for your contributions. There's much more out there than I'd thought.

Unfortunately, only about 1/5th of these are available online from www.amazon.com or iTunes.

Having said this, other than the artist/label websites, what online celtic/irish websites are there that offer these for purchase? I'm now familiar with www.allcelticmusic.com and www.musicinscotland.com. The former seems to be the one with best prices and greatest selection. Am I right? Any others?

Posted - 11/09/2009 :  15:16:58  

If you're in North America you might try http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CGhome.html

Posted - 11/09/2009 :  21:15:01    

And Ossian USA:

http://www.ossianusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?

PG