Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 172 (Blackthorn Stick)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Blackthorn Stick
 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 MC (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):
Blackthorn Stick, The / The Real Blackthorn Stick / Blackthorne Stick / The Irishman's Blackthorn Stick / The Old Blackthorn / The Old Blackthorn Reel / The Auld Blackthorn Reel / The Blackthorn Reel / The Blackthorn / An Sean-draighneán / An Maide Draighin / An Bata Draighin / Jolly Clamdiggers / Jolly Clam-diggers / The Jolly Clamdiggers / Rising Sun / The Rising of the Sun / Strone Johnny / Clear the Road / The Inch of Garth / Jack McGuire (also doubled, also in Bb) (compare The Rising Sun #1678)
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
~19242.7#1[MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle).View album details
192716#1[IDM 2] various. Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. View album details
~19647#1[CmA 1] various. The Coleman Archive Vol. 1: The Living Tradition. View album details
19722#1[JC] Joe Cooley. Cooley. Joe Cooley (accordion).View album details
~199714#2[PCny] Paddy Canny. Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler. Paddy Canny (fiddle).View album details
19992(11:17)#5[MH 4] Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill. Live in Seattle. Martin Hayes (fiddle), Dennis Cahill (guitar).View album details
19997#2[Dnu 2] Danú. Think before You Think. Tom Doorley (flute, whistle), Eamon Doorley (bouzouki, mandola), Brendan McCarthy (accordion), Jesse Smith (fiddle, viola), Noel Ryan (guitar), Donnchadh Gough (bodhrán, pipes), Ciarán Ó Gealbháin (vocals).View album details
20004#2[Ch W] The Chieftains. Water from the Well. Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle, accordion), Derek Bell (harp, harpsichord, piano, tiompán), Seán Keane (fiddle), Martin Fay (fiddle), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán, vocals), Matt Molloy (flute).View album details
~200313#1[KitRec] Seán O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. The Kitchen Recordings. Seán O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki), Larry Egan (accordion).View album details
~20036#1[MatH] Brendan Bulger, Marty Fahey, Kathleen Gavin. Music at the House. Brendan Bulger (fiddle), Marty Fahey (accordion, piano), Kathleen Gavin (piano).View album details
~20032.19#3[WFO 2] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 2. View album details
~20079#2[PHGH 2] Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington. The Merry Love to Play. Peter Horan (flute), Gerry Harrington (fiddle).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 #136 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
On page 106 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]
As tune #155 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As reel #210 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As tune #1 in [DM 2] Dave Mallinson. 100 Enduring Irish Session Tunes. [available]
As reel #157 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [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): 1924