On October 27, I reunited with my family at the Dublin, Ireland airport—them from Lisbon, Portugal, and me from the Womex conference in Tampere, Finland. I'd been to Ireland a few times in the past traveling with Tim O'Brien, and I was excited to share this musical and scenic landscape with Molly and Emmette.
[Scroll for travelogue, photo albums, and an Irish Spotify playlist. Additional photography available on Instagram]
COLLABORATIONS
#6 • “Calum’s Road / The Hut on Staffin Island / Duck River” with Alan Kelly • Read the blog post
#7 • “Musical Priest / Toss the Feathers / Lucy Campbell’s” with Blackie O’Connell & Cyril O’Donoghue • Read the blog post
#8 • “Peggy Gordon” with Tommy O’Sullivan [Dingle, Ireland] • Read the blog post
Traditional Irish Music Sessions
In addition to the above three meetings, I participated in countless traditional Irish music sessions. Check the gallery below to get an idea of many of my evenings.
TRAVELOGUE
Morning touchdown in Dublin. Rather than push all the way to Galway on zero sleep (me) and little sleep (them), we decided to take our time with the left-hand driving, enjoy the scenery, and stop midway in Horseleap. It was a dream come true for my animal-loving daughter as we found ourselves on a farm with goats, horses, a dog, a cat, and a donkey. It was only one night, but the stage was set for an Irish animal theme. Friendly dogs and cats found us at nearly every residence.
After a Guinness at Ireland's oldest pub, we drove to our home for the next three weeks—Galway. It was the first time that we stayed somewhere for this length, and the reprieve was welcome. The house was in a tiny waterside community, about a 30min drive northwest of Galway city, called Knockferry. It was great to go out on excursions and return to cozy up by our peat fire in the quiet country.
Co. Galway (photos)
Memories snapped during the first 3 weeks of our travels in Ireland.
We took scenic rainbow filled drives through Connemara, boarded a ferry to the island of Inishmore for a day of bike riding, stopped at the Gothic and Victorian Kylemore Abbey, walked through prehistoric forts and ruined castles, rode horses, checked out peat bogs, and ate fish & chips. I went to trad sessions in Galway and Kinvarra and had two lovely Irish music "sit-downs": one with fiddler Sean Smyth and the other with accordionist Alan Kelly.
Inishmore (photos)
Day trip to the Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway. Spent it riding bikes around the island, marvelling at the landscape, seeing a prehistoric fort, and checking out seals.
One weekend, I bussed down to the Ennis Trad Fest for a solo excursion. There were a few concerts to be seen, but this festival is really all about the jam sessions. In 3-4 days, over 100 sessions are planned at pubs around the town. I ran into some old friends and made new ones...and played so many tunes. I had recently learned that I had ancestry from the area, so it added another layer of meaning to the weekend.
Ennis Trad Fest (photos)
Weekend trip down to the Ennis Trad Fest. Days and nights were filled roaming the streets for sessions.
One special highlight of our Galway time was a visit from my sister-in-law and nephew. They spent two weeks with us, and it was a good dose of home away from home—very importantly including another kid in the mix for my daughter to spend loads of time with. We're fun parents, but not as fun as I thought.
We said goodbye to Galway and headed south along the western coast line, passing through The Burren. We stopped in Doolin for two days, where we could hear the waves crashing against the distant cliffs from our BnB. I shared an energetic pub gig with Blackie O'Connell on uilleann pipes and Cyril O'Donoghue on bouzouki, and on the way out of town, we walked the Cliffs of Moher.
Mountains rose in front of us as we headed south and pulled in to Dingle. For the next four days, we were in the great care of Tommy & Saundra O'Sullivan. They run the Courthouse Pub and have a beautiful community of friends and musicians. We rode horses into the hills, walked out to Ireland's most westerly point, saw famine cottages and ancient sites, and I played music every night. We felt the family vibes so much in Dingle that we returned the following week to spend Thanksgiving with our friends there.
Doolin, Dingle, Cork (photos)
Final two weeks in Ireland, south from Galway along the western coastline. Nights in Doolin, Dingle, and Cork...with a few other stops along the way.
For our final week in Ireland, we found the most adorable country thatch cottage north of Cork city. It rained most of the week but we were cozy inside, burning peat, homeschooling, editing recordings, and preparing for our arrival to Scotland.
LISTEN [Spotify Playlist]
Here’s a small selection of Irish traditional music — past and present — that was compiled by way of recommendation or personal searching while preparing for my OTHERLANDS: Ireland trip. It’s not intended to be anything close to a comprehensive representation, but there’s a good cross section here and plenty of great tunes for sessions. I hope you hear something interesting and it sends you down new paths. Happy listening!