Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 3430 (Fair-Haired Boy)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Fair-Haired Boy
 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 RF (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):
Fair-Haired Boy, The / The Fair Haired Boy, The / The Fairhaired Boy / An Buachaillín Fionn / Micho Russell's / The Flower of the Flock (1st in set Micho Russells Set on 4MD 2; 3rd in set Oil for the Chain on MSHtn 1) (also doubled)
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
197416#1[RF] Miko, Pakie and Gussie Russell. The Russell Family of Doolin, County Clare. Miko Russell (whistle, flute, vocals), Gussie Russell (whistle), Pakie Russell (concertina).View album details
199313#1[MoD] Tony Mac Mahon, Noel Hill, Iarla Ó Lionáird. Music of Dreams. Tony Mac Mahon (accordion), Noel Hill (concertina), Iarla Ó Lionáird (vocals).View album details
~199310#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
~20037#3[MSHtn 1] Matt and Shannon Heaton. Dearga. Shannon Heaton (flute, whistle, vocals), Matt Heaton (guitar, vocals, bodhrán, dobro, electric guitar).View album details
~20061.15#2[WFO 3] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 3. 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 #255 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
As reel #524 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. [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): 1966
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!
Start at