Dezi Donnelly & Mike McGoldrick: Dog in the Fog

Dezi Donnelly: Fiddle
Mike McGoldrick: Flutes & Uilleann Pipes

August 2018 release of Mike and Dezi's second duet album and this time on Mike's label so no mistakes with the second coming and  as the Irish adage goes ..  Ni thagann ciall roimh aois!
Dezi sums up their musical relationship with these words  - " One of the reasons we were put on this earth was to play music together" and such beautiful,symbiotic, hearty traditional Irish music.

The first thing Dezi and Mike did together, nearly 40 years ago when they were about age 8 or 9, was play music. They met in South Manchester at the O'Carolan Branch of Comhaltas Ceolteiri Eireann having been introduced by the then teacher Delia Buckley - a Delia Buckley's Jig can be found in the CCE archive from a trip to Dublin by the branch around 1980. In the relatively small world of Irish traditional music, new acquaintances find that their paths cross regularly. Dezi and Mike frequently found themselves playing together in classes and at Fleadhs. They have been the very best of friends ever since.

In their teens and early twenties Dezi and Mike were bandmates in Toss The Feathers. Since then they have worked alongside each other on a number of Mike's solo albums and on the Transatlantic Sessions. Despite their involvement in many different, separate projects, they always come back to playing together, whether at home in Manchester or on stages across the world.

Dezi and Mike's enduring relationship has allowed them to develop a wonderfully symbiotic way of playing music together. The sound of their fiddle and flute melds to the point where much of the time you can't separate one from the other. The closeness of their playing is so natural that is seems on occasions to take even them by surprise. Watching them live you can see that playing together always gives them, never mind the audience, great pleasure.

Making an album of traditional tunes with just the two of them is something Dezi and Mike have wanted to do forever. The music was gathered over the years from many different sources and they chose the tunes in tribute to their very supportive families and to all the inspiring teachers and musician friends they have met along the way.

The Dog In The Fog will sit very comfortably alongside other classic fiddle and flute albums. Where it differs from most of what exists in that rather small sub-genre is in the rare absence of guitar or piano accompaniment. Even rarer is the relaxed pace at which many of the tunes are taken, opening up space to appreciate the beauty of the melodies in a gratifyingly unencumbered and reflective way. This is music to linger over.

'I've enjoyed recording this album immensely, especially the tracks on which Dezi has tuned the fiddle down a tone to C and lin playing the low C flute which makes you want to play at a slower. more relaxed pace. It reminds me of my East Galway roots and the steady music from there'. Mike

'finally we got around to doing this after a long time. One of the few times in life when no words need to be spoken is when playing music with Mike. There's communication there, humour, love, history, character, respect and attention to detail. I suppose the most important thing though is fun and the everlasting smile en the inside when it's happening because it just feels so right. One of the reasons we were put on this earth was to play main together. Dezi  Dave McNally

Audio

Track 1: Sweeney's Dream

Track 2: Paddy Murphy's Wife

Track 3: An Buachaillin Droite/The Lark in the Morning

Track 4: The Ladies Cup of Tea

Track Listing

1. The Killavil Jig/Fox In The Thatch/ Peter O’Byrne’s Fancy (Jigs)
2. Manchester Reel/Eanach Mhic Coilin (Reels)
3. The Walls of Liscarroll/Rooney‘s Favourite/Connaught Man’s Ramble’s (Jigs)
4. St Patrick’s Cathedral (Air)
5. The Humours Of Carrigaholt /The Ladies Cup Of Tea (Reels)
6.  Colonel O’Hara’s/The Humours of Westport (Planxty/Reel)
7. The Wheels Of The World/Paddy Murphy’s Wife (Reels)
8. Happy To Meet – Sorry To Part/The Stolen Purse/Maude Millar’s (Jigs/Reel)
9. The Galtee Rangers/Meet You Down The Station/Dog In The Fog (Jigs)
10. An Buachaillin Dreoite/The Lark In The Morning (Jigs)
11. Black Swan On The Turlough/Boys Of Tandernagee (Jigs)
12. The Humours of Lissadell/The Queen of May/Sweeney’s Dream (Reels)

Also available from Copperplate: Dezi Donnelly: Familiar Footsteps

Press Reviews

The Living Tradition
Flute and fiddle from two of the very best in the business! McGoldrick and Donnelly have played together for many years, notably in the Mike McGoldrick Band, but have not recorded a duet album before - although there was a Two Champions recording of very similarly-named young musicians in the late seventies or early eighties. This new recording presents both Mike and Dezi at the top of their game, wonderfully effortless playing, intuitive duets, and a great sound from flute, fiddle and pipes. Dog In The Fog is not a flash showpiece CD, but a return to the old music of their shared childhoods, the heart of the Irish tradition, performed with feeling and deep understanding. The Killavil Jig, The Connaughtman's Rambles, An Buachaillín Dreoite, Maude Millar's - these are tunes which youngsters still learn today, and which can be heard in any Irish session around the world, but which you will hardly ever hear played better.

Some of the music on Dog In The Fog is not session fare: John Sheahan's air St Patrick's Cathedral, the Carolan piece Colonel O'Hara, and Mike's composition for Dezi, the slow jig Black Swan On The Turlough. McGoldrick switches to uilleann pipes for a couple of tracks, and Donnelly tunes down to accommodate Mike's C flute on some of the more atmospheric numbers, but that's all the variation needed to keep the listener's attention throughout this album. The Humours Of Westport and The Boys Of Tanderagee, a spirited version of Happy To Meet And Sorry To Part, a slightly unusual take on The Galtee Rangers and a final rake of reels ending with Sweeney's Dream: these are just some of the highlights here. Irish music enthusiasts will need no urging to acquire this CD, and it will doubtless soon take its place beside recordings by Molloy and Keane, Finn and Horan, and other great flute and fiddle duets of the tradition.  Alex Monaghan

www.trad-connect.com
The Dog In The Fog, the first ever album by Manchester’s Dezi Donnelly on fiddle and Mike McGoldrick on flute and uilleann pipes.  Making an album of traditional tunes – their ‘bedrock’ - with just the two of them is something Dezi Donnelly (ex of Stockton's Wing, Sharon Shannon, Tradivarious) and Mike McGoldrick (ex of Flook and Lunasa; currently Mark Knopfler Band, Capercaillie, trio with John Doyle & John McCusker and Usher’s Island) have been intending to do for many years. It's one thing wanting to make an album together but it can be quite another making it happen, even if there are only two of you and you live in the same city. Dezi said: “Finally we got around to doing this after a long time”.

The first thing Dezi and Mike did together, nearly 40 years ago when they were age about 8 or 9, was play music. They met in South Manchester at the O’Carolan Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and have been the very best of friends ever since. In their teens and early twenties, Dezi and Mike were bandmates in Toss The Feathers. Since then they have worked alongside each other on a number of Mike’s solo albums and on the Transatlantic Sessions. Despite their involvement in many different, separate projects, they always come back to playing together, whether at home in Manchester or on stages across the globe.

The music on The Dog In The Fog was gathered over the years from many different sources and Dezi and Mike chose the tunes, most of which are traditional, in tribute to their very supportive families and to all the inspiring teachers and musician friends they have met along the way. There are three of Mike’s compositions on the album, one of which, Black Swan On The Turlough, was composed for Dezi after he had ended up buying a new viola having gone out to buy a fiddle.  The other two Meet You Down The Station/Dog In The Fog were written after a good Manchester pub session - the later provides the album’s title and is an expression used when, at end of a night out that has involved a few too many pints, a friend suddenly disappears without saying goodbye.

Mike said about the album: ‘I've enjoyed recording this album immensely, especially the tracks on which Dezi has tuned the fiddle down a tone to C and I'm playing the low C flute which makes you want to play at a slower pace. It reminds me of my East Galway roots and the steady music from there’.

Dezi and Mike’s enduring relationship has allowed them to develop a wonderfully symbiotic way of playing music together. The sound of their fiddle and flute melds to the point where much of the time you can’t separate one from the other. The closeness of their playing is so natural that is seems on occasions to take even them by surprise.

Dezi’s said this about their playing:‘One of the few times in life when no words need to be spoken is when playing music with Mike. There’s communication, humour, love, history, character, respect and attention to detail. I suppose the most important thing though is fun and the everlasting smile on the inside when it’s happening because it just feels so right’.

The Dog In The Fog is an album that will sit very comfortably alongside other classic fiddle and flute albums. Where it differs from most of what exists in that small sub-genre is in the absence of guitar or piano accompaniment on any of the tracks. Even rarer is the relaxed pace at which many of the tunes are taken, opening up space to appreciate the beauty of the melodies in a gratifyingly unencumbered and reflective way. This is music to linger over.