Traditional Irish Ceili and Step Dancing Tunes, featuring fiddle.

The 'wee strand' was once a well known gathering place long ago in the area near my hometown of Ardara, Co. Donegal. People came from far and wide to play football on Sunday afternoons, with four big stones serving as goal posts on a make-shift 'pitch'.

These are some of the tunes

Traditional Irish Ceili and Step Dancing Tunes, featuring fiddle.

The 'wee strand' was once a well known gathering place long ago in the area near my hometown of Ardara, Co. Donegal. People came from far and wide to play football on Sunday afternoons, with four big stones serving as goal posts on a make-shift 'pitch'.

These are some of the tunes I've learned over the years. I couldn't begin to explain where I first heard many of them, but they all have their own story of people and places, far and near, that first shared their music with me. I hope you find as much pleasure in listening to them as I've found in playing them. The fiddle used in this recording was one that I handmade myself.

Many thanks to all of the people who helped to make this recording, particularly my guitar accompanists, Gerry Timlin of Philadelphia PA and native of Co. Tyrone, and Michael Byrnes of Pittsburgh PA, for their musical expertise and continued friendship. many thanks as well to Larry Luther of Mr. Small's Recording Studios, for his diligence and good efforts in the studio. I'd also like to thank young Sheila Shovlin for her masterful stepdancing on the hornpipe medley, and to congratulate her on her fine fiddle work on the waltz medley, still only in her first year of playing. Many thanks to my good friend and well-known fidler Tom McCaffrey of Cleveland, Ohio for his assistance with the names of some of these tunes and his many years of playing and good times together. Thanks to Peter Shovlin, Jr for his expertise and support. And finally, many thanks to the rest of my family and wide circle of friends, for their continued interest and support in helping to bring this CD together, music from 'Beyond the Wee Strand'.