Annotation:Father Kelly's Reel (1)

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FATHER KELLY'S (REEL) [1]. AKA and see "Rossmore Jetty (The)." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson): AABBCC (Flaherty). A composition of County Galway cleric Father Patrick "P.J." Kelly (1925-2006), who was for a time stationed on Fiji, but returned to Ireland. Although popularly called "Father Kelly's Reel," Kelly's name for the tune was "Rossmore Jetty," named for a pier on the River Shannon near his home town of Woodford, County Galway, where launches on the river would stop. Kelly went swimming from the pier as a child. Father Charlie Coen, also a Woodford native, says Kelly named many tunes for Woodford area places—Kelly’s composition “Ben Hill (1)” is named for a feature on the opposite side of Rossmore from the jetty. The second part of the "Father Kelly's Reel (1)/Rossmore Jetty" is similar to the third part of "Mulvihill's Reel (2)," also a Kelly composition from 1960, originally titled "Derry Craig Wood." See also Kelly's "Sliabh Aughty March" for a similar tune.

Source for notated version: tenor banjo player Tommny Finn (b. 1964, Marlow, Ballymote, Co. Sligo) [Flaherty]; Kerry Elkin (Massachusetts) [Songer].

Printed sources: Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland, vol. 3), 1976; No. 1 (appears as "Father Kelly's No. 1"). Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 48. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 157, p. 48. Mallinson (100 Essential), 1995; No. 22, p. 9. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 78. Treoir, vol. 38, No. 1, 2006; p. 27.

Recorded sources: Wild Asparagus - "Tone Roads." Shanachie Shan-79017, John & Phil Cunningham - "Against the Storm" (1980).

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]

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