Coleman's Cross (1)
COLEMAN'S CROSS [1] (Crosbhóthar an Cholmánaigh). Irish, Reel. E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Black): ABB (Breathnach, Brody).
The name "Coleman's Cross" was applied to this reel on New York fiddler Kathleen Collins' Shanachie LP. Collins told New York musician Don Meade that she had picked it up during the time she was living in ireland in the 1960s (and married to accordionist Joe Burke) from a Sligo musician whose name she could not recall. A likely suspect would be fiddler Tommy Flynn, whose playing of the tune on a tape from the 1960s was issued on a Comhaltas LP of the McDonagh brothers of Ballinafad and friends.
The name used on Kathleen Collins' LP commemorates a favorite spot for a crossroads dancing in south County Sligo. Mary O'Beirne, who emigrated from Killavil, County Sligo in 1930 and married the famous New York fiddler James "Lad" O'Beirne (also originally from Killavil) remembered:
We danced a lot in Ireland. There was always house parties and we'd get up and do the four-hand reel...On a Sunday evening, everybody knew that there was always music at the Coleman's Crossroads. So people would come from Gorteen, Bunninadden, Tubbercurry, all the townlands. And boys and girls would ride the bicycles and just stop there and the next thing you know, there'd be music right at the Crossroads. (excerpted from Rebecca Miller, Irish Traditional and Popular Music in New York City, The New York Irish, 1996, ed. by Bayor & Meagher).
Source for notated versions: fiddler Kathleen Collins (Ireland) [Black, Breathnach, Brody].
Printed sources: Black (Music's the Very Best Thing), 1996; No. 11, p. 6. Breathnach (CRÉ III), 1985; No. 205, p. 91. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 70.
Recorded sources: Compass Records 7 4446 2,Oisíin McAuley - "From the Hills of Donegal" (2007). Shanachie 29002, "Kathleen Collins" (1976). Folkways FW 8876, Kevin Burke- "Sweeney's Dream" (1977). CCÉ CL53 (CD), Tommy Flynn on "The McDonaghs of Ballinafad and Friends Play Traditional Music of Sligo" (c. 2000). WS 031703, Wendy MacIsaac - "Timeline" (2003).