Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2653 (High Part of the Road)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of High Part of the 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 TP 2 (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):
High Part of the Road, The / The Top of the Road / Ard an Bhóthair / Ard a Bhóthair / Ard an Bhothair / Ard An Bothair / Willy Clancy's / West Clare / The Blooming Meadows (1st in Gerry's Set on Dnu 5) (compare 2nd part with 2nd part of Blooming Meadows #180)
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
~19764#1[TP 2] Tommy Peoples and Paul Brady. The High Part of the Road. Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Paul Brady (guitar).View album details
~19802#1[JKn 1] James Keane. Roll Away the Reel World. James Keane (accordion).View album details
19981#2[Chlr] Chulrua. Barefoot on the Altar. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Tim Britton (pipes, flute, whistle), Pat Egan (guitar, vocals).View album details
200112#2[KlmFcy] Catherine McEvoy and John McEvoy. The Kilmore Fancy. Catherine McEvoy (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle).View album details
200411#1[Dnu 5] Danú. When All Is Said and Done. Donal Clancy (guitar, electric bass), Donnchadh Gough (bodhrán, pipes), Tom Doorley (flute, whistle, vocals), Eamon Doorley (bouzouki, fiddle), Oisin McAuley (fiddle, vocals), Benny McCarthy (accordion), Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (vocals, 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 #18 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
As tune #133 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
As jig #59 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
On page 58 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
As jig #50 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): 1963
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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