Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1350 (Mountain Road)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Mountain Road
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MGm (track 6) (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Mountain Road, The (3rd in set The Worlds End on Drv 4; follows The Devils of Dublin on track 7 of MtRd) (also with up to 6 parts, also with parts doubled, also in F) (composed by Michael Gorman)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded
Track
#Tune
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
~19552.6#1[MGm] Michael Gorman. The Sligo Champion. The Fiddle Music of County Sligo. Michael Gorman (fiddle, vocals).View album details
19682.7#1[MGm] Michael Gorman. The Sligo Champion. The Fiddle Music of County Sligo. Michael Gorman (fiddle, vocals).View album details
~197422#1[JD 5] John Doherty. The Floating Bow. John Doherty (fiddle).View album details
~197614#1[AMPR] Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. Andy McGann (fiddle), Paddy Reynolds (fiddle).View album details
19786#2[NHTL] Noel Hill and Tony Linnane. Noel Hill and Tony Linnane. Noel Hill (concertina), Tony Linnane (fiddle).View album details
~19781#1[Dbl] Paddy Glackin and Paddy Keenan. Doublin'. Paddy Glackin (fiddle, viola), Paddy Keenan (pipes).View album details
~19891.5#2[JK 1] James Kelly. "Capel Street". James Kelly (fiddle).View album details
~19911#3[SS 1] Sharon Shannon. Sharon Shannon. Sharon Shannon (accordion, fiddle).View album details
~19938#1[4MD 2] Four Men and a Dog. Shifting Gravel. Cathal Hayden (fiddle, banjo), Gino Lupari (percussion, vocals), Kevin Doherty (guitar, vocals), Arty McGlynn (guitar), Conor Keane (accordion), Gerry O'Connor (banjo, fiddle).View album details
~19968#3[LN 1] Laurence Nugent. Traditional Irish Music on Flute and Tin-Whistle. Laurence Nugent (flute, whistle).View album details
19972.11#3[Drv 4] Dervish. Live in Palma. Cathy Jordan (vocals), Liam Kelly (flute), Shane McAleer (fiddle), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Brian McDonagh (mandola, guitar), Micheal Holmes (bouzouki).View album details
19987#1[KB IC] Kevin Burke. In Concert. Kevin Burke (fiddle).View album details
~19997#2[MtRd] various. The Mountain Road. A Compilation of Tunes Popular in South Sligo. View album details
~199927#1[MtRd] various. The Mountain Road. A Compilation of Tunes Popular in South Sligo. View album details
20001#2[ACB 1] The Abbey Céilí Band. Bruach an tSuláin. Ger Murphy (accordion), Andrew O'Connell (fiddle), Liam Forde (banjo), Micheál Creedon (bass, keyboards).View album details
20011#1[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).View album details
~200110#3[PK 4] Paddy Keenan, Tommy O'Sullivan. The Long Grazing Acre. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Tommy O'Sullivan (guitar, vocals).View album details
200710#2[Aths 1] Áthas. Áthas. Heather Lewin-Tiarks (fiddle, viola, cello), Amy Richter (bodhrán, djembe, whistle), Jeff Ksiazek (guitar, whistle, flute).View album details

Bibliography

Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

As tune #38 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
As tune #14 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As reel #8 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As tune #20 in [DM 1] Dave Mallinson. 100 Essential Irish Session Tunes. [available]
On page 47 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
As reel #13 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. [available]
On page 77 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #227 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
In [LM] L[arry]. E. McCullough. ? [available]

If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1955