Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#536 (Dowd's Favorite)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 24 | ABC | G Dorian |
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 HG (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Dowd's Favorite / Dowd's Favourite / O'Dowd's Favourite / O'Dowd's Reel / Dowd's/ Dowd's Reel / O'Dowd's / Braes of Bushbie (also in A Dorian, also all parts doubled or only 2nd part doubled, also with a 4th part)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| 1922 | 4#1 | [IDM 1] various. Irish Dance Music. |
| 1938 | 1#1 | [HG] Hugh Gillespie. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. Hugh Gillespie (fiddle). |
| ~1966 | 9#1 | [TMC] Joe Burke, Andy McGann, and Felix Dolan. A Tribute to Michael Coleman. Joe Burke (accordion), Andy McGann (fiddle), Felix Dolan (piano). |
| 1971 | 3#1 | [TPtts] Tommy Potts. The Liffey Banks. Tommy Potts (fiddle). |
| ~1975 | 10#2 | [PCt] Paddy Carty. Traditional Irish Music. Paddy Carty (flute). |
| ~1976 | 1#1 | [KClns 1] Kathleen Collins. Traditional Music of Ireland. Kathleen Collins (fiddle). |
| ~1982 | 10#1 | [TP 4] Tommy Peoples. The Iron Man. Tommy Peoples (fiddle). |
| 1998 | 14#1 | [JWh] John Whelan. Come to Dance. John Whelan (accordion). |
| ~2004 | 3#1 | [Ovld] Randal Bays and Dáithí Sproule. Overland. Randal Bays (fiddle, guitar), Dáithí Sproule (guitar, vocals). |
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.
| On page 64 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. |
| As tune #5 in volume 2 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As tune #15 in [P50] Brian and Eithne Vallely. Play 50 Reels. |
| On page 89 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
| As tune #75 in [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. |
| On page 28 of [SK] Sean Keane. Fifty Fiddle Solos. |
| On page 24 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As reel #67 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As reel #230 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
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): 1922