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The name Ennistymon is derived from the Irish Inis Díomáin, or (St.) Diomán's Island, and is locally pronounced 'Ennis-sty-mun'. The tune is one of a large tune family whose most famous member is perhaps "Larry Grogan." Seán Keane was of the opinion it was a Clare tune, and indeed, Ennistymon is a town in North Clare. In the liner notes for the album "Clare Concertinas: Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon," Muiris Ó Rochain writes that County Sligo/New York fiddler Michael Coleman adapted the tune "Coppers and Brass (2)" by adding a third part, the whole of which he renamed "The Humours of Ennistymon." Ó Rochain thinks this was in honor of Martin Clancy, a native of Ennistymon. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (1999) believes that travelling piper Johnny Doran popularized the tune in Clare in the 1930's and 1940's, playing it as "Coppers and Brass," and that it is thought in Clare that Doran composed the third part of the tune. Micho Russell (1915-1944), tin-whistle player and a storehouse of folk tales and traditional lore, had his own fanciful thoughts and associations about the tune, which he would relate by way of introduction of the music. "There's a jig called 'The Humours of Ennistymon' and Captain O'Neill in Chicago, the music collector, had only two parts got in his collection. So he met a man from Ennistymon and the man from Ennistymon had the third part. So I think that was one of the reasons that it was called 'The Humours of Ennistymon'" (Piggott, Blooming Meadows, 1998). The tune appears in O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903) as the two-part "Hartigan's Fancy." In fact, both tune and title appear older than O'Neill and the above-referenced 20th century musicians, since "Humours of Ennistymon" appears in the James Goodman manuscripts (volume III, 152), collected by James Goodman from the playing Munster musicians in the mid-1800's, predating all the above references. James Aird (c. 1790) published a variant as "Lasses of Melross (The)." Breathnach remarks that the first printed version was by John Walsh before 1736 in Country Dances Book the Second under the title "Larry Grogan," named for the County Wexford gentleman piper of the early-mid 1700's (there are two "Grogan" variants, however, "Ennistymon" is closer to the "Larry Grogan (3)" version). See also note for "Groom."

...more at: Humors of Ennistymon - full Score(s) and Annotations

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 {{Tune of the week
-|f_tune_of_the_week=Billy_in_the_Lowground_(1)
+|f_tune_of_the_week=Humors_of_Ennistymon_(1)_(The)
-|f_mp3_track=Billy in the Lowground.mp3
+|f_mp3_track=Hartigan's Fancy.mp3
-|f_artwork=Dick Burnett.jpg
+|f_artwork=Clare Concertinas.jpg
 |f_aw_px=150
-|f_player_px=370
+|f_player_px=330
-|f_tune_name=Billy in the lowground
+|f_tune_name=Humors of Ennistymon
-|f_played=Newmatics
+|f_played=Trad Tune Collection
-|f_notes=Dick Burnett
+|f_notes=Clare Concertinas
 |f_source=Soundcloud
 |f_section=abc
-|f_article=Early American printings of the piece can be found from the early 19th century onwards. The melody appears under the "Billy/Low Grounds" title in George P. Knauff 's '''Virginia Reels''', volume III (Baltimore, 1839)–see also note for "[[Billy in the Lowlands (5)]]". Folklorist and fiddler Alan Jabbour finds that, in some sources, the title changed around 1800 to "[[Johnny in the Nether Mains]].
+|f_article=The name Ennistymon is derived from the Irish ''Inis Díomáin'', or (St.) Diomán's Island, and is locally pronounced 'Ennis-sty-mun'. The tune is one of a large tune family whose most famous member is perhaps "Larry Grogan." Seán Keane was of the opinion it was a Clare tune, and indeed, Ennistymon is a town in North Clare. In the liner notes for the album "Clare Concertinas: Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon," Muiris Ó Rochain writes that County Sligo/New York fiddler Michael Coleman adapted the tune "[[Coppers and Brass (2)]]" by adding a third part, the whole of which he renamed "The Humours of Ennistymon." Ó Rochain thinks this was in honor of Martin Clancy, a native of Ennistymon. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (1999) believes that travelling piper Johnny Doran popularized the tune in Clare in the 1930's and 1940's, playing it as "Coppers and Brass," and that it is thought in Clare that Doran composed the third part of the tune. Micho Russell (1915-1944), tin-whistle player and a storehouse of folk tales and traditional lore, had his own fanciful thoughts and associations about the tune, which he would relate by way of introduction of the music. "There's a jig called 'The Humours of Ennistymon' and Captain O'Neill in Chicago, the music collector, had only two parts got in his collection. So he met a man from Ennistymon and the man from Ennistymon had the third part. So I think that was one of the reasons that it was called 'The Humours of Ennistymon'" (Piggott, '''Blooming Meadows''', 1998). The tune appears in O'Neill's '''Music of Ireland''' (1903) as the two-part "[[Hartigan's Fancy]]." In fact, both tune and title appear older than O'Neill and the above-referenced 20th century musicians, since "Humours of Ennistymon" appears in the James Goodman manuscripts (volume III, 152), collected by James Goodman from the playing Munster musicians in the mid-1800's, predating all the above references. James Aird (c. 1790) published a variant as "[[Lasses of Melross (The)]]." Breathnach remarks that the first printed version was by John Walsh before 1736 in '''Country Dances Book the Second''' under the title "[[Larry Grogan]]," named for the County Wexford gentleman piper of the early-mid 1700's (there are two "Grogan" variants, however, "Ennistymon" is closer to the "[[Larry Grogan (3)]]" version). See also note for "[[Groom]]."
-The melody is widely disseminated through the United States, with the exception of the Northeast and north Mid-West. Bayard (1944) writes that when he collected the melody it was "current as a marching tune in Greene County, Pennsylvania, and is known to its 'Billy' form of the title farther south (as the tune resembles another Pa. tune called 'Jinny in the Lowlands').
-The resemblances between this tune and 'Jinny in the Lowlands' may be fortuitous; but they have at any rate attracted enough notice from the players to cause confusion of the titles..." Tom Carter and Blanton Owen (1976) maintain the tune and title are characteristic of the Franklin, Floyd and Patrick County area of southwestern Virginia, and represent an older fiddle repertoire which predates the later development of stringband or fiddle/clawhammer banjo tunes.
-"Billy in the Lowground" was played by Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner for dances in the Southwest at the beginning of the twentieth century (the piece was identified by him as having come to that region from the American South, and assessed it as "a good one"). It was recorded from the playing of an Ozark fiddler for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph who collected in the early 1940's, and, likewise, by Herbert Halpert (also for the Library of Congress) in 1939 from Tishomingo County, Mississippi, fiddler John Hatcher.
-Texas fiddler Eck Robertson recorded it commercially for Victor records in 1923 in a medley with "[[Sallie Johnson]]" (the disc was backed with "[[Done Gone (1)]]"). Cauthen (1990) collected evidence from period newspapers and other accounts in Alabama and records that it was one of the tunes commonly played throughout every region of that state in the first part of the 20th century.
-The Marion Standard of April 30th, 1909, reported it was one of the tunes (along with "Miss McLeod") played at a housewarming in Perry County, Ala., in 1827. Elsewhere in the deep South, a Georgia fiddler named Ben Smith, serving with the 12th Alabama Infantry in the Civil War, played the tune in that conflict according to a memoir of the unit. According to Bell Irvin Wiley, writing in his book '''The Life of Johnny Reb''' (1943), "Billy in the Lowground" was a favorite tune of Confederate fiddlers.
-It is also known to have been associated with Kentucky fiddlers (Wolfe, 1982). The famous Kentucky musician Dick Burnett related this improbable story about the origin of the tune and title: ''You know how come them to make that? There was a man a gointhrough an old field one time and he had his fiddle with him andhe walked out on the bank of a sink hole and it broke off and hefell down in that hole and couldn't get out.''
-''He just sat down thereand took his fiddle and played that tune. ''
-''His name was Billysomething but I forgot his full name...''
 }}