There’s no better example than my sister-in-law, who in the past received whistle lessons from Laura Byrne Egan in Baltimore and took intermediate classes on whistle from Mary Bergin and on piano from Felix Dolan at CIAW this year. It was her first time in East Durham.
Several music instructors and performers told me this year’s event was the best in memory, and I’m inclined to agree. Though I arrived only on early Thursday afternoon and stayed through Saturday, what I experienced clearly typified the entire week.
On Thursday evening, July 16, I saw the Bohola duo of piano accordionist Jimmy Keane and guitarist Pat Broaders light up the Michael J. Quill festival grounds pavilion stage with a blistering set of dance tunes. Later that night I headed over to the Shamrock House, where the launch of the “Pride of New York” album by Joanie Madden, Brian Conway, Billy McComiskey, and Brendan Dolan drew a raft of set dancers amid a wall-to-wall crowd. That quartet performed up to their name, and following them on stage was a talented blend of New York (all of the band Girsa included) and Baltimore musicians.
On Friday afternoon, July 17, in Weldon House, Pride of New York pianist Brendan Dolan gave a lecture on the history of the Irish in the Catskills. Drawing on his M.A. thesis for New York University, he used a Power Point presentation that included still photos projected on a screen, archival, prerecorded, and field music, and live music from his father, Felix, on keyboards, Mike McHale on flute and whistle, Billy McComiskey on button accordion, and Jimmy Kelly on drums. At one point they played the “Stack of Barley,” which prompted some impromptu set dancing in a side aisle.
In its heyday the Irish Catskills attracted half a million visitors during the summer season (customarily July 4 through Labor Day), Dolan said, but those numbers dropped off with the advent of the “three A’s”: air-conditioning, airlines, and assimilation. Dolan called up to the microphone Billy McComiskey’s mother, Mae, who talked about meeting her husband in the Catskills and having their first date at a Joe Derrane concert there. Dolan also invited to the microphone Catskills singer-guitarist Peter McKiernan, who choked up in reminiscing about another Catskills performer, accordionist and singer Vinny Brown, once a fixture at Jerry Shea’s Irish Center in nearby Leeds.
This was the keynote lecture of the week, and Brendan Dolan did a masterful job of covering an oft-overlooked subject in 90 minutes.
On Friday evening at the Quill festival grounds pavilion stage, I had the privilege of emceeing a tribute concert to beloved button accordionist Joe Madden, who passed away in November. As rain pinged the roof of the open-sided pavilion, a standing-room-only throng witnessed a slew of unforgettable performances.
Establishing a high standard of playing from the outset were Msgr. Charlie Coen on concertina, Martin Mulhaire and John Nolan on button accordions, Mattie Connolly on uilleann pipes, his daughter Deirdre on vocals, Felix Dolan on keyboards, John Walsh and Pat Broaders on guitars, and Tom McHale on flute. Born in Tulsk, Roscommon, and a long-term resident of Catskill, N.Y., McHale played in a way that reminded me of “The Schoolmaster’s House,” his excellent solo album from 2000.
Next on stage were fiddlers Seamus Connolly and Eileen O’Brien, backed by keyboardist Felix Dolan and featuring stepdancers Kieran Jordan and Kevin Doyle. Seeing Connolly, a former playing partner of Tipperary button accordionist Paddy O’Brien (1922-91), and O’Brien’s daughter Eileen performing together was a treat, especially in light of the terrific new book Eileen O’Brien wrote, compiled, and edited, “The Definitive Collection of the Music of Paddy O’Brien 1922-91.”
Flutist Mike Rafferty and fiddler Willie Kelly make up “The New Broom” CD duo, and they were in absolute peak form, playing music with a beautifully relaxed tempo and mesmerizing melodicism. They were expertly accompanied by keyboardist Felix Dolan, doing yeoman service throughout the night, and nimble-footed Regan Wick, Willie Kelly’s brother-in-law, came out to stepdance.
Drimnagh, Dublin-born and Queens, N.Y., resident button accordionist James Keane, a former member of the famed Castle Ceili Band, joined Cavan-born, Meath resident fiddler Antoin Mac Gabhann for an inspired set together, with Felix Dolan’s son Brendan supplying sure-handed backing on piano.
Culminating this July 17 tribute to Joe Madden was a performance by the Pride of New York quartet, and it was the perfect ending for a night where every performer gave his or her all. When Joanie Madden played whistle on the slow air “Slan le Maigh” in memory of her late father, the moisture welling in the eyes of the suddenly hushed audience had nothing to do with rain. It was a stunning solo, and the playing of her three PONY bandmates — McComiskey, Brendan Dolan, and fiddler Brian Conway — was also exceptional. The stepdancing of Donny Golden, Regan Wick, Holland Raeper, Caitlin Nic Gabhann (Antoin’s daughter), Hannah Dreibelbis, Kieran Jordan, Kevin Doyle, and Ottawa Valley-style hoofer Nathan Pilatzke added visual and percussive power to a brilliant PONY performance.
But on stage, nothing could eclipse in poignancy the presentation of Vincent Crotty’s painting of Joe Madden to members of his family, especially Joe’s wife, Helen. That moment and memory will never fade.
At Gavin’s later that night, Girsa celebrated their debut album with a spirited performance, further graced by Julie Glaub and Mark Weems’s singing and by a Conway-Flanagan family set featuring Brian Conway, Rose Conway Flanagan, and her daughters Maeve and Bernadette.
Saturday’s Andy McGann Traditional Irish Music and Dance Festival ran from noon to about 7:30 on the Quill festival grounds pavilion stage. Keeping the audience thoroughly absorbed were button accordionist James Keane and fiddler Antoin Mac Gabhann, fiddler Seamus Connolly and his accordion-playing nephew Damien Connolly, the husband-and-wife duo of harper Michael Rooney and flutist June McCormack, the Pride of New York quartet, fiddlers Liz and Yvonne Kane with concertinist Edel Fox, flutist Mike Rafferty and fiddler Willie Kelly with Felix Dolan, Newry singer Len Graham, the trio of fiddler Matt Cranitch, button accordionist Jackie Daly, and guitarist Paul De Grae, and flutist Catherine McEvoy and fiddler Eileen O’Brien linking up with box player Billy McComiskey and keyboardist Felix Dolan.
Closing out Saturday’s festival was Girsa, a band based in Pearl River, N.Y., whose reputation was partly sparked by previously performing at CIAW and is now rising rapidly.
On the adjacent field tent stage, I also managed to catch dancers Kieran Jordan and Shannon Dunne with fiddler Cleek Schrey and accordionist Sean McComiskey (Billy’s son) in a set featuring some deftly choreographed, hard-shoe, call-and-response steps by Jordan and Dunne.
Virtually everything I saw and heard at this year’s Catskills Irish Arts Week reinforced its status as the best Irish traditional music and dance summer school in America.