Annotation:Larry Redican's Bow

Back to Larry Redican's Bow

---

LARRY REDICAN'S BOW. AKA - "The Gerrity Reel," "Gavin's," "Redican's Bow." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. This tune is associated with fiddler Larry Redican (1908-1975), a multi-talented musician born in Boyle, Roscommon, who emigrated to the New York in 1928. The "Redican's Bow" title was given to the tune by fiddler Seamus Connolly as a tribute to Redican's unique bowed triplets. In New York, it was known to Andy McGann as "Mary Claflin," a title that is a tribute to a friend of Redican's. A source older than Redican, however, was the fiddler John Gerrity, who recorded a setting of this tune in the key of G on a 1920 Columbia disc under the title "Gerrity Reel."

Source for notated version: Phillip Duffy (b. London, 1966, since to County Sligo) [Flaherty]; the Gavins of Ballina [O'Malley].

Printed sources: Black (Music's the Very Best Thing), 1996; No. 186, p. 98. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1991; p. 34 (appears as "unknown"). O'Malley (Luke O'Malley's Collection of Irish Music), 1976; No. 13 (as "Gavin's").

Recorded sources: Columbia E7084 78 rpm (1920), John Gerrity, as "Gerrity Reel." Green Linnett GLCD 1987, Seamus Connolly – "Notes From My Mind" (1988) as "Larry Redican's Bow." Rounder Records, Tim Britton – "Light Through the Leaves" (appears as "Redigan." Learned from Jimmy Devine in Philadelphia).

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]

---