The Swallowtail Reel/The Wind that Shakes the Barley/The Merry Harriers

Grey: Irish flute and harmonium
Cindy: guitar

Produced by Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet
Recorded and mixed by Grey Larsen at Sleepy Creek Recording, Bloomington, IN, USA
Mastered by Mark Hood at Echo Park Studios, Bloomington, IN, USA

Here are three traditional Irish reels from the repertoire of melodeon player Michael J. Kennedy (1900-1978), who hailed from the village of Flaskagh Beag on the south side of the border between Counties Galway and Roscommon. Michael learned all of his music from his neighbors there and, when he was 11 years old, purchased his melodeon (a diatonic button accordion with one row of only ten buttons) for the equivalent of $1.50. He said, "There was never anyone as crazy for a melodeon as I was." In 1923, having had enough of the hard labor of farming, Michael emmigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio (Grey's home town). Eighteen-year-old Grey sought out Michael in 1973 and the student and mentor became fast friends, Michael passing on to Grey, during the remaining five years of his life, the precious legacy of his local, rare and lovely tune settings.