Counties Offaly, Westmeath, Longford and Roscommon, Ireland

County Offaly's most famous feature is probably the Tullamore Dew whiskey distillery.  I went on a wee weekend trip a few years ago with my trusted companion Eddie the Beagle who wrote a little entry on his blog about the trip, which you can see on this link.  

From Tullamore hails guitar and bouzouki player Dónal Lunny, who in his long distinguished career has played with Planxty, the Bothy Band and most recently Usher's Island.  He only recorded 3 albums under his own name, but collaborating with a number of different musicians.  This set of tunes, The Glentown Medley is from his 1998 album Coolfin:

Moving on to County Westmeath we meet button accordionist Paul Brock from Athlone right in the geographical centre of Ireland.  Here's a set of tunes from his 2010 album Mo Chardín, The Hut in the Bog / Rolling in the Ryegrass / Monasteraden Fancy:

Here's a song called Town of Athlone , which actually talks about an ambush in Co. Kilkenny, performed by Karan Casey from Cork off the Album Rough Guide to Irish Music:

Now County Longford seems to be something of a heartland for Irish country music, and I really... REALLY hate Irish country music.  And since I can't find anything else decent from this county, I shall reluctantly skip over it.  If anyone out there can find something decent, let me know and I will add it at a later point.  I can't even find any nice songs about County Longford.

Multi-instrumentalist John Carty was born in London, but has since moved to Boyle, County Roscommon.  He was taught banjo, fiddle and flute by his father and passed his skills on to his daughter Maggie.  Here they are playing a set of tunes called The Turn / Carrigkerry / Con Cassidy's from their 2016 album Settle Out of Court:

That's concludes our whistlestop tour through the Irish Midlands.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on this link.  Next stop is Galway.

Counties Wexford and Waterford

In the southeastern corner of Ireland lies County Wexford with some sweeping sandy beaches.  So let's Sleep Out on The Beach with Wexford born Declan Sinnott, who has been playing with many big names around the Irish scene and is still touring with Christy Moore.  This is from his solo album Window on the World. 

Moving swiftly onto County Waterford.  The members of traditional Irish band Danú (named after an Irish goddess) met in Waterford town in 1994 and have been churning out lively tunes ever since.  Here are a couple of tunes The PowerOut and the Dublin Reel by their flute player, Tom Doorley from their 2005 album Up in The Air:

Here's a song by them about my home county Down, that won them the BBC Folk musician of the year award in 2004 from their album The Road Less Travelled:

Robbie O'Connell of Waterford is a nephew of the Clancy Brothers.  Here is the song Flower of Kilkenny, which can be found of the compilation album Rough Guide to Irish Folk:

See you next time in Tipperary and County Cork.  As usual you can follow my virtual route on here.

Counties Laois and Kilkenny

County Laois is another of those counties where not much seems to be happening and I've been having trouble finding any recording musicians from the county.  So here just one song about County Laois by Galway born Dolores Keane, where she describes the (presumably grey) skies of Ballyroan from her 1999 album Night Owl:

So moving swiftly onto County Kilkenny, a county made famous internationally by the beer of the same name made by Guinness, although it's essentially just a slightly watered down version of what the Irish know as Smithwicks.  Here we meet the Kilkennys, who describe themselves as a contemporary Irish folk band.  They have been touring as a group since 1998, but only adopted the name The Kilkennys in 2008.  In fact there is a County Lais connection too, as guitarist Robbie Campion originates from there. Given the fact they are from Kilkenny, they have an odd lack of Kilkenny songs in their repertoire.  Here is an instrumental called the Badger Sett from their 2016 album The Colour of Freedom:

Also originally from County Kilkenny is JCB man Seamus Moore, whom we already got aquainted with in County Armagh.  He doesn't really sing about his home county either so this number talks about Kerry and the moon.  Fluthered on the Moon is from the album of the same name.

That's it for today.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey here.  Next stop is County Wexford

County Carlow, Ireland

Next we're heading to County Carlow.  Leo O'Kelly from Carlow is one half of the folk duo Tír na nÓg, the other being Sonny Condell from County Wicklow.  They've been going ever since 1969 and describe their style as progfolk.  Here is one from the archives: Time Is Like A Promise from their 1971 debut album:

This is something more recent from their latest 2015 album The Dark Dance, a track entitled You In Yellow:

Very much new on the scene is the trad band Caladh Nua (new safe haven), who describe their home, as Carlow, Waterford, Kerry and Kilkenny. They decribe their style as rooted in the southern counties of Ireland.  The song Craigie Hills can be found on their album Happy Days:

Finally a County Carlow song performed by Kildare band Planxty: Follow Me Up to Carlow is on their self-titled 2005 album:

As usual you can follow my virtual journey on this link.  Next stop County Laois.

County Armagh, Ireland

Our journey continues from County Down on to County Armagh, still in Northern Ireland.  The city of Armagh is the ecclesiastic centre of Ireland with both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic church having their main cathedrals here.  St. Patrick himself is said to have set up shop here.  

In musical terms Armagh's most famous son was Tommy Makem (1932-2007).  He was known as The Bard of Armagh (after a popular song title) and even the Godfather of Irish music.  He was born in Keady, Co. Armagh, which he described as the hub of the universe.  He emigrated to the USA in 1955, where he popularised Irish music together with the Clancy Brothers, playing at the Newport festival, where they were nominated as best newcomers in folk together with Joan Baez.

Here he is with the Clancy Brothers (from Tipperary) singing a County Armagh song, Master McGrath.  It's available on the album In Concert - The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.  The song is about a famous Irish greyhound in the 19th century who was owned by Lord Lurgan.  Lurgan is another small town in County Armagh, where there is now a statue of Master McGrath.

This is Tommy singing the song that gave him his nickname, The Bard of Armagh from the album The Legendary Tommy Makem Collection

Also from Armagh is one of the most amazing flute and whistle players, Brian Finnegan, for whom breathing appears to be optional.  He was a founding member of the band Flook.  Here he talks about a project 'Night Ride to Armagh' where he collaborates with a number of other musicians.  I'll let him explain.

And here a version of said song:

Brian mentions the Armagh Pipers Club in his wee documentary.  Here he is playing with them at the BBC Folk Awards:

Now Armagh is also a border county between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, so smuggling has long been a lucrative business.  This is a humorous song on the smuggling trade by Seamus Moore, who is actually a Kilkenny man, so he might get a mention again when we get down there.  The Transit Van is available on the album The Best of Seamus Moore.

 Finally we can't leave County Armagh without meeting the Twisted Sisters (not to be confused with an American heavy metal band) I've seen them live a few times at the Sunflower Fest in Hillsborough, County Down and they are absolutely hilarious singing about Chips and Guinness, I Don't Want to Die in Big Knickers and My Clitoris.  They do give a warning before each gig to exercise 'parental guidance' for the young and impressionable...  Their songs can be found on their album Pure Hallion on their Bandcamp page (link see above).  This clip I took at the Sunflower Fest a couple of years ago.

As per usual, you can follow my virtual journey here.

Next stop Monaghan and Cavan