GLEANNTÁN
Sliabh Notes

Matt Cranitch - Donal Murphy - Tommy Sullivan

OSSCD 114

Guest Musicians
Stephen Cooney, Guitar/ Bass/ Keyboard and Percussion

John Larkin, Banjo

Johnny McCarthy, Flute

Brian McGrath, Keyboard

Martin Brunsden, Double Bass

Mary Green, Vocal Harmony.


New Road
Track Listings
1. Annabeg Polka/ Pete Bradley's Polka/ Gleanntán Polka
2. The Miller's Maggot/ Peggy's Nettles. Jigs
3. The Durrow Reel/ The Swallow's Nest/ Lady Gordon. Reels
4. The Welcome. Song
5. Pádraig O'Keefe's Hornpipe/ Micky O'Callaghan's Fancy. HPs
6. Dan Murphy's Slide/ Danny Ab's Slide/ Nell O'Sullivan's Slide/ The Gullane Polka
7. Aisling Gheal. Slow Air
8. Palmer's Gate/ Glountane School -- 1862. Reels
9. Michael Burke's Jig/ Pádraig's Lark in the Morning/ Tom O'Connor's Jig. 
10. The People of the West Cork - Kerry Border.  Song
11. The Baltimore Salute/ The Silver Spear/ Grieg's Pipes/ The Master's Return. Reels
12. Tidy Anne/ The Hot Orange/ Minnie & Vinnie. Slides
13. Many's A Wild Night/ John Walsh's Polka/ Daly's Mill

  Click on underlined tracks to hear sound samples with Real Player

Sliabh Luachra, on the Cork/Kerry border is well known for its unique style of Irish traditional music, particular its distinctive repertoire of slides and polkas. This recording features some of that music, and also honours two of the many great musicians of the region - Pádraig O'Keefe, the Sliabh Luachra Fiddle master, and Terry 'Cuz' Teahan both from the townland of Gleanntan.
 

Press Reviews

 Irish Music Review.com
. The whole is well produced and presented. Highly recommended. Geoff Wallis

Celtic Grooves Newsletter
Sliabh Notes is Matt Cranitch (fiddle), Dónal Murphy (accordion), and Tommy O'Sullivan (vocals, guitar). The trio recorded their first album a few years ago and called it Sliabh Notes --those who know Cranitch's recordings Take a Bow and Give It Schtick will recognize his brand of puns--and, like for Altan and Smokey Chimney before them, the title of the album has become the name of the band.
This is a mostly instrumental album, with lovely solo and duet playing by the two leads. Lots of great polkas and slides from Sliabh Luachra, which music is the focus of attention--Gleanntán (found as Glountane in English) is Padraig O'Keeffe's hometown. There are are also some marvelous tunes with other origins: The Miller's Maggot, one of my favorite jigs, the old Ballinakill classic Lady Gordon, Josie McDermott's The Baltimore Salute, and Joe Liddy's brilliant Palmer's Gate. Cranitch, known for his playing of slow airs, plays a wonderful Aisling Gheal. Singer Tommy O'Sullivan also does a great job with the two songs, Tony Small's The Welcome and Jimmy MacCarthy's The People of West Cork and Kerry.
Several guest musicians, among whom Steve Cooney (guitar, bass, percussion), John Larkin (banjo), and Johnny McCarthy (flute), bring added variety to the instrumental texture. The whole is well produced and presented. Highly recommended.
This review by Philippe Varlet was originally written for his Celtic Grooves Newsletter.

Rock'n'Reel
The trio that make up Sliabh Notes - Matt Cranitch, Tommy O'Sulllivan and Donal Murphy are rooted in Cork, Kerry and West Limerick, the geographical area known as Sliabh Luachra. Their second album, Gleanntán, named after a townsland in the Sliabh Luachra area, captures the spirit of that musical wonderland.
Their ensemble playing is shot through with a sprightly vigorous flavour, with generous helpings of local slides and polkas. The fiddle, guitar and accordion combination is tight and disciplined, with "Annabeg Polka", "The Durrow Reel" and "Michael Burke's Jig" typifying their approach. O'Sullivan's two songs, Tony Small's, "The Welcome" and Jimmy McCarthy's evocative "The People of West Cork and Kerry Border" epitomise the character of the area. Sliabh Notes are musical ambassadors for Sliabh Luachra, and supreme exponents of traditional Irish music. John O'Regan.

The Living Tradition.
Sliabh Notes are Matt Cranitch (fiddle), Donal Murphy (accordion) and Tommy O'Sullivan (guitar), joined here by Stephen Cooney, John Larkin, Johnny McCarthy, Brian McGrath, Martin Brunsden and Mary Green. The music is predominantly Sliabh Luachra in style and repertoire, and what a rich tradition this is and how well itis treated by Sliabh Notes.
Sliabh Luachra style has for the best part of the century been associated with great solo players, Pádraig O'Keefe, Terry 'Cuz' Teehan,
Johnny Leary, Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. The real joy of this album is in the way in which the various groupings of musicians
still retain a sense of the single voice. There are only two tracks where the Big Trad Band is let loose on the music and even here the individual instruments are allowed breathing space. Credit for that must go to Pearse Dunne on the mixing desk.
The Rushy Mountain provides most of the tunes, there's a short excursion to nearby Cúil Aodha for Aisling Gheal played as a fiddle and guitar duet (lovely glissando note in the penultimate bar, listen out for it). Palmer's Gate and The Baltimore Salute may have been composed elsewhere (Leitrim and America) but here they take on a distinctive West Kerry accent.
The two songs are down home products, The People of West Cork and Kerry by Jimmy McCarthy and The Welcome by Tony Small.
Both are given a new Irish twist by Tommy O'Sullivan, playing on a high strung guitar and backed by Mary Green on harmony.
Great liner notes richly illustrated with photographs from Cristina Gando and Liz McNamara. This is a treasure to own, and as we have come to expect, another classic from Ossian. Andy Ryan

Hot Press
It's been a while in the making,  but boy is it worth the wait. Sliabh Notes, a.k.a. Matt Cranitch, Donal Murphy and Tommy O'Sullivan whetted our appetites royally back in 95 with their eponymous debut. With their ears trained to the holy ground of Slaibh Luachra, they gathered up a gabáil full of the finest local tunes, much to the delight of the aficionado and beginner alike.
With Gleanntan they continue on their peregrinations round that nepulous region that straddles the Cork, Kerry and Limerick,
taking the odd detour to their spiritual brothers in Cúil Aodha en route.
They take their title from the gentle rolling hill country that the great Sliabh Luachra fiddle master, Pádraig O'Keefe called home. Located on the bowl of a hill outside Castleisland, Gleanntán is granted the finest of accolades in this reflective collection.
Fiddle, accordion and guitar and voice mesh effortlessly throughout, with Donal Murphy's accordion meriting particular mention for it's double-jointed manoeuvres that somehow sound like they were born and reared in the ether, with neither hide nor hair of human interference.
Balance and control whisper from every recess of Gleanntan. Whether it's the meditative restraint of Cranitch's fiddle and O'Sullivan's guitar on Ashling Gheal or the uncluttered lope of accordion, guitar and fiddle alongside the trademark bass guitar of Steve Cooney on Michael Burke's Jig/Pádraig's Lark in the Morning/Tom O'Connor's Jig. This is music that
Gneeveguilla accordion connoisseur Johnny Leary must surely be grinning at, safe in the knowledge that the home tunes are alive and thriving.
O'Sullivan contributes two tunes, both sitting seamlessly with the tunes. Jimmy McCarty's, The People of West Cork and Kerry is a particularly inspired choice, with Cranitch's fiddle underscoring the ode-like mood of the piece. Here, Mary Green lends subtle backing vocals that add just the right amount of light and shade.
Elsewhere, there is enough of a scattering of old time dance tunes to urge even the comatose to schlep around the room. Look no further than, The Baltimore Salute suite if it's good old fashioned dance music you seek.
Occasionally Gleanntan tiptoes where it could just as readily high kick its way out of the speakers, but such regrets are few and watery in the face of a baker's dozen of fine tunes and songs that rekindle the spirit and set the compass south west.
If Sliabh Luachra was looking for ambassadors for the new millennium, she couldn't have found a better trio to spread the word. O'Keefe is dead. Long Live O'Keefe. Siobhán Long  11 out of 12

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