The Suffering Gaels have several recordings available. If lots of folks buy them, they promise to make more recordings, a double edged sword, to be sure. Finn has even taken to being a full time musician to insure it!

The first, 'Bout Time, has just been re-released on CD, but is still available on cassette tape, whereas The One-horned Cow is available only on CD. Both recordings are well worth having. Dale Russ also has his own audio recordings and a video available. Further information on obtaining any of the Suffering Gaels recordings, see here.

Dale and Finn's latest CD is called North Amerikay and is available on Aniar Records. Aniar has a couple of MP3 samples available. Finn and Dale also collaborate (aka "Plot and Scheme in fine musical tradition) with Hanz Araki in a band called Setanta.

"'Bout Time", released in 1991, and just re-released on CD, consists of:

The Doon / Boil the Breakfast Early / John Stenson's The Battle of Aughrim / James Kelly's / The High Part of the Road Heather on the Moor Lad O'Beirne's / The Galway Hornpipe The King of Rome Russell Daly's Fling / Fling MacGinty's The Broisna / Eileen O'Riordan's / Is Maith le Nóra É (Nora Likes It) Ah! Surely / The New Demesne The Scholar The Turf Man from Ardee / Andy McGann's / The Liverpool Tadhg Casey's / The Oak Tree / The Concertina

Here's what Jams O'Donnell had to say about the Gaels on this recording in October 1991:
"The Gaels road to obscurity has not been an easy one. The constant barrage of internecine bickering, backstabbing, and beer-guzzling would have sounded the deathknell for many a lesser band. Having waited so long for this minor opus, one can only wonder if a more appropriate title might have been 'Too Late'."

"All seriousness aside, 'Bout Time' is a most welcome addition to the annals of Irish music. I can only hope that you, the listener, derive as much pleasure from this album as I do, and that this is just the first of many recordings from the Suffering Gaels."

Sound samples now available in Real Audio format. Check the site to get the player. Of course, compromises in quality had to made to get the sound file samples below to manageable sizes for downloading. We recommend you buy the CD for a much fuller dynamic appreciation of the Suffering Gaels.

"The One-horned Cow", a 1996 release, has:

1. The Millpond / Cornelius Curtin's Big Balloon / The Tailor's Thimble
   Dale learned the first of these jigs from an old ceili band recording. The second tune is from Jimmy Powers and Tony Ledwith. The Tailors Thimble is # 91 of O'Neills 1001 Gems. Not-so-famous Seamus Egan joins us on banjo for this track. Seamus has his own CD out now as well.

2. The Trooper
   Learned from Shegui's recording, this song tells the story of the unfortunate trooper, the tailor, the trooper's wife and her gamecock . It's a cautionary tale, especially if you are a trooper or a tailor, not so much so if you are married to either and of course a gamecock will get nothing out of the song at all.

3. If There Weren't Any Men in the World / James Gannon's
   We found these barn dances on a recent recording by one Dale Russ. He learned them from a record by the Granuaile Ceili band, an obscure early feminist group in Ireland. James Gannon was an influence on Michael Coleman.

4. Dennehy's / Doherty's / The One-horned Cow
   Bill Dennehy, the fiddling fireman of Oakland passed the first of these reels onto us. Bill suggests that the tune is a Charlie Lennon composition. Doherty's, of course, comes from the late great fiddler, Johnny Doherty of Glenties, County Donegal. The One Horned Cow comes to us from the playing of the old Waterford piper Liam Walsh via ex-Seattleite Denis Brooks.

5. Whiskey in the Jar
   This arrangement popped out of nowhere one night and just wouldn't go away. The song itself has been around for years. It made the Dubliners famous in the sixties and Thin Lizzy cracked the British Top Twenty with it in the seventies. It's another tale of woe that applies to all of us, highwaymen or not.

6. Galen Slide / Hills of Glenorchie / Mick Duggan's
   Dale learned The Galen from the delightful recording of Jimmy Doyle and Dan O'Leary. The second one is from a book of Sean Maguire tunes that Dale found somewhere. Dale (it's always Dale Dale Dale ) also found Duggans by rooting around Vol.2 of Ceol Rinnce na hEireann.

7. Jack Haggerty
   A song from North Carolina with a message for the unwary . It was gleaned from a recording by Mick Hanley, who also wrote the melody .The song recommends that before you make an eejit of yourself by putting jewels, muslin and the finest of lace on the credit card, make sure she's worth it.

8. The Banks of the Suir
   Hanz Araki joins us on the shakuhachi, the traditional Japanese flute. Hanz hails from a long line of shakuhachi makers and players. The tune comes from Liam Walsh. Initially set in G we had to step it up a half-tone after Hanz's dog ate his favourite flute. No ordinary flute this, but handcrafted by his father from generations-old bamboo for his 21st birthday. He has yet to tell his Dad but will have to after our world - wide release. Someone should introduce the pooch to bodhrans.

9. The Little Black Pig / Grainne's Jig / The Little House Under the Hill
   Tom learned the first and last tunes from Jams Pelletier, who learned them from the redoubtable Micho Russell. Grainne's jig is from the bow of Tommy Peoples and written for his daughter.

10. Colonel McBains / O'Mahony's
    The Colonel is from O'Neill's. O'Mahony's came from an album by the late Tom McHale. It was composed by box-player Martin Mulhaire in honour of his wife, Carmel. This duet was in jeopardy a couple of weeks before the recording after Finn's guitar took a spill on stage at a gig and suffered a near fatal neck injury, gratis Tom. The incident added a certain piquancy to this duet and a lot of character to the guitar.

11. The Bonnie Irish Maid
    An Irish girl cautions her soon-to-be-departed lover to watch out for those damn' Yankee girls. The Gaels ignored this advice and the four of us have found happiness and bliss with our long-suffering Yankee gals. This lovely song was learned from the singing of Tony Holloran from Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

12. Charlie Harris' / Bank of Ireland / Twomey's #9
    Dale and Tom learned Charlie Harris' from Kevin Burke. They were in St. Louis in 1985 during the All-Missouri World Series. It was the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded and so was the band. Kevin had arranged the gig and so forced the boys to learn the tune in D. Once they were out of his sight they quietly changed it to G, thus making it their own. Seamus Egan joins us here again on banjo for the next two. The Bank of Ireland is a widely played old warhorse chestnut. That same year fiddler Richard Twomey of Seattle wrote a blast of great tunes. This was the first one, so in the great tradition of Irish music we call it #9.

Dale Russ Recordings

• Basic Irish Fiddle Video, published by Mel Bay. It is a 55-Minute Video (95141VX) $40.00. It is alternately available via Internet from Elderly Instruments for $34 plus shipping. Dale demonstrates the exciting elements of the Irish fiddle style. Included are exercises to develop coordination in both hands, basic bowing techniques, slides, grace notes, rolls, and bowed triplets.

• "Irish Fiddle" on CD, available from Dale directly.

• Jodi's Heaven with Jack Gilder on flute and concertina and Junji Shirota on guitar. It is called "A Garden of Butterflies". They did a Japanese tour in 1997.

• "Reeds and Rosin"" with uilleann piper Todd Denman on Aniar Recordings. It is described as an uilleann pipes and fiddle adventure.

  You can contact:

---

Suffering Gaels Collaborations

Séamus Egan - A good Gaels friend who sometimes sits in with the band is Seamus Egan, out of Portland.