Inspired by a visit to Loop Head Lighthouse in West Clare.

Bassist Trevor Hutchinson asked me some time back if I’d ever write a tune for him to play and maybe record for a solo project. I think of this as a muscular jig for the bass–a chordal playground for the oh-so-talented Trevor.

Buachaill na hAille was written in memory of my Grandad Dinny who grew up in The Naul, North County Dublin. I wrote him a polka as it reminded me of all the times we played some of his favourite tunes (which were polkas!) together and the happiness the music brought him. He passed away tragically in 2016 but when I play this tune I see him smiling in the middle of a session playing his accordion.

While out for a walk in my local area, I stopped at Ballinahulla bridge. I was just gazing down into the flowing stream when a butterfly caught my attention! It’s colours were green, white and orange! The colours of our National tricolour!

A really beautiful butterfly and so I felt obliged to name this tune in its honour.

Tureencahill is my own native townland. It is situated roughly halfway between the villages of Gneeveguilla and Ballydesmond, in the heart of Sliabh Luachra, in the Kingdom of Kerry.

Throughout lockdown, I began to reconnect with my home surroundings and fully appreciate my townland for all its glory.

I have found great peace and tranquility here the past 26 years. There are only two Kingdoms; The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry and I’m lucky enough to live in the best townland in one of those Kingdoms! haha!

In 1928, at 23 years of age, Terry “Cuz” Teahan, concertina player, single-row accordion player and budding composer, emigrated from his home in Cordal, Glountane, Co. Kerry to Chicago. He spent the following six decades becoming one of the most loved and respected musicians of the very strong Irish music community there, playing right up until his death in 1989 at the age of 84. While he spent three quarters of his life in America, it was the music of Sliabh Luachra, the music he grew up with and was taught by the illustrious Pádraig O’ Keeffe, among others, that he played and was associated with most.

In 1986, three years prior to his death, he visited Kerry relations on what was probably his last visit to Ireland. While there, his niece took him to see a local seisiún group performing for the tourists in Killarney, and there he saw a local girl, still in primary school, playing concertina and fiddle. Very taken with this girl, at the concert’s end he approached her and her father and chatted with them both for a couple of minutes, during which time he made two predictions: firstly, that she would win an All-Ireland and secondly that music would form a huge part of her life. I was that girl in question, and it took no less than two months for the first prediction to come to pass, when I won my first All Ireland for the U-12 concertina. I am happy to report that Cuz’s second prediction has also come to pass!

This ten-minute conversation was not the last of the interest Cuz showed in my younger self, however. On his return to Chicago, he sat down in his kitchen and recorded an hour-long tape of tunes, some of which he learnt from the aforementioned Pádraig O’ Keeffe, and some of which were his own compositions. He also talked to me throughout the recording, giving advice and information on the music, and occasionally singing the odd verse of song that went with a tune. It is over 35 years since that tape was recorded and it is still a prized possession. It seems that I was not the only recipient of such generosity, but it also seems that other such tapes are all either in private collections or have been lost.

I therefore decided that the best way to thank Cuz for his generosity was to pay tribute to him through an album. I wanted to introduce Cuz to those that may not be familiar with him and give a glimpse into the roguish character of this man and legend who has lent his name to so many tunes played by musicians all over the Irish Music World, a man whom I met for a mere ten minutes but who took such careful interest in me all those years ago and who continues to talk to me and give advice, years after his passing. I felt the best way to do this was to include a mixture of his own compositions, many of which are played regularly without the true identity of their composer being known, along with a selection of tunes associated with Cuz which he passed on and in doing so helped preserve.

Cuz was always encouraging others to compose tunes themselves, including Liz Carroll and Jimmy Keane who both guested on my album. For this reason I also included two of my own compositions. This tune is one of those which I named after all the wonderful, guest musicians on the album, and in particular Cuz himself. A right bunch of rogues the lot of us, and proud of it!

“Cuz – a tribute to Terry ‘Cuz’ Teahan”, my third album was released in 2013. I donated a copy of the tape Cuz made for me to ITMA in the same year.

“The Dawn Chorus” is a title given to many musical pieces, both classical and traditional. In 1953, the French Composer Olivier Messiaen wrote an orchestral piece where he imitates the songs of the various birds. Charlie Lennon, the Leitrim fiddler and composer wrote a great jig with the same title.

I live in a lovely village in Co. Kildare called Kill (An Chill). The village has a Tidy Towns committee who work so hard all year round to make the village beautiful with plants and flowers. Cornflower Meadow was written during Lockdown 2020 and named after one of their wild flower spaces where the Cornflower Meadow was growing.

In 2006, after my composition “Cuisle Ceoil an Bhlascaoid” was chosen to commemorate the Blasket Islands, I got a great boost of creative energy and composed a number of pieces that reminded me of my annual trip down to spend the summer at my mother’s family home near Ballyferriter, Co Kerry.
The other tunes are “The road to Ventry”, “The Hairpin Bends” (between Tralee and Dingle) and Gleann na nGealt (also between Tralee and Dingle).

Jim was a great friend of mine, and God rest him.

I have a good friend in Kilgarvan called Mary Donegan who has a fine haven in the peaky capital! The Roughty river flows by there to Kenmare.

Of all the sessions I attended, one of my favourites was the weekly gatherings at Ted McGowan’s Roisin Dubh Pub in Gurteen, Co. Sligo. It was a meeting point for musicians/singers from all over Ireland and around the globe.