The debut album from Tom McElvogue (Flute) and Paddy Kerr (Bouzouki, Guitar, Bodhran) features original compositions from both Tom and Paddy as well as traditional tunes.

Latest news: CD Now Available via download from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Napster, Zune, Rhapsody and many more. The digital download is available at a much reduced rate and more than likely at your local currency.

I am happy to report that the Dublin launch event happened on Sunday 30th January 2011 in the Oliver St John Gogarty's pub, Temple Bar. The event was featured as part of the Temple Bar Trad Festival 2011 and was hugely successful. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came along and a very special thanks to Tom Morrow, Michelle O'Brien and Paul Doyle who supported myself and Paddy in helping to make the launch both relaxing and entertaining.

Photographs by Mella Travers

Video Clip of Radio Performance captured for the John Murray Show, promoting Temple Bar Trad Festival, 2011 - Courtesy of RTE

Video clip of CD Launch, Oliver St John Gogarty's - Courtesy of Gogarty's pub, Temple Bar, Dublin

All tracks arranged by Tom McElvogue and Paddy Kerr
All tracks recorded during September/October 2003 and June/July 2004.
Tom McElvogue’s Slip Jig 01(track 02), Jig in G 01 (track 05), Jig in D 10 (track 05), Jig in E Minor 02 (track 10), Jig in A Major 04 (track 10) composed by Tom McElvogue.
Baltic Rocks (track 08) composed by Paddy Kerr
Master McDermott’s (track 01) composed by Sean Maguire
Cacodemon/Jackie Daly’s Reel (track 14) composed by Jackie Daly
The Mathematician (track 13) composed by James Scott Skinner


Tom McElvogue: Flutes (B♭. D, E♭, F)
Paddy Kerr: Bouzouki, Bass Bouzouki, Guitar, Bodhran


Paddy's Bodhran's made by Seamus O'Kane
Tom's B Flat flute by Chris Wilkes

Engineer: Norman Holmes
Mixing: Paddy Kerr (Tracks 5, 7, 9, 11, 14)
Paddy Kerr (Backing)/Tom McElvogue(Flute)(Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13)

Mastering: Robyn Robins, Robyn Robins Productions
Sleeve Design: Tom McElvogue
Cover Photographs: Tom McElvogue
CD Digipak printed and packaged by Dutec, Limerick

Click on the download link to download a PDF of selected sheet music from the CD.

Download Sheet Music

4. THE LONG HARD ROAD by Tom McElvogue (self-issued)

"Born and bred in Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England, Tom McElvogue has distant Irish lineage on his mother’s (Connemara) and father’s (Tyrone) sides of the family. Highly respected as a flutist and composer in England, where his admirers included fellow flutists Kevin Crawford and Michael McGoldrick, McElvogue deserves far wider acclaim, especially with the release of this long-awaited solo CD. Playing B-flat, D, E-flat, and F wooden flutes, this All-Ireland senior champion from 1990 delivers “pure drop” music of the finest nectar. His playing is technically flawless and articulate but avoids flash, even though he could readily dazzle if he wanted. The emotion in his playing is honestly won; he conveys passion without any overheated effects. Backed unobtrusively by Sligo native Paddy Kerr on bouzouki, guitar, and bodhran, McElvogue, now a resident of Dublin, renders five of his own compositions with uncommon skill. No matter how long and hard the road was to get to this point (all 14 tracks were recorded in 2003-2004), this is the best solo flute album I heard in 2010."

-- Earle Hitchner, "Ceol" Columnist, Irish Echo, New York City; column was entitled "Top Ten Traditional Albums of 2010" and published on January 12, 2011; Tom McElvogue's "The Long Hard Road" finished #4 in Earle Hitchner's top ten list.

For full review of the top ten of 2010 visit Irish Echo

"A LONG time a-coming this album, originally recorded in 2003/4 and only just released by the Newcastle-born, now Dublin-based, Irish flautist Tom McElvogue. It proves worth the wait, however. A musician's musician, McElvogue combines lyricism and meticulous technique with a zest that doesn't need to break sound barriers to make a point, although he can certainly fly with style and elegance. He's accompanied peerlessly by Paddy Kerr on bouzouki, guitar and bodhran – listen, for example, to the bouzouki skittering neatly along under the flute in Jackie Daly's Reel, or the drumming damped strings carrying along a fluid version of Colonel Fraser.

McElvogue has a considerable repertoire of jigs, both his own compositions as well as some old chestnuts like Gan Ainm, but for an unadorned showpiece, listen to the unaccompanied Old Walls of Liscaroll, velvet-toned flute rolling it out unhurriedly but with perfect poise and intonation."

-- Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman. Published February 2nd 2011.

For full review visit The Scotsman

"....Essential listening for anyone with an ear cocked for finesse...."

Siobhán Long, February 11th, 2011

For full review visit The Irish Times

"What I love about this album is that there is nothing fancy about it, no special effects, no egos, but there is masterful playing from both Tom and Paddy. Anyone who listens will come away with a new found respect for the Irish tradition, Tom McElvogue and Paddy Kerr."

Alex Gallacher, January 2011

For full review visit Folk Radio UK

TOM MCELVOGUE & PADDY KERR – The Long Hard Road (TMc Productions) Flautist Tom McElvogue is a name highly regarded by many musicians on the Celtic ‘session’ circuit. His tunes are often credited by those that should know better as traditional but in a back-handed sort of way what finer compliment can a musician have than for your own melodies to be soaked up sponge-like into the tradition. Come to think of it the same thing happened to Hughie Jones “Ellen Vannin Tragedy” many years before. On this CD, Tom is accompanied by Paddy Kerr’s precise, but never boring bouzouki, guitar and bodhran where required and it’s really refreshing to hear the full beauty of the melody unadorned by flashy displays of decoration. This recording proves to be a real joy as the emphasis is placed on sets of tunes which wouldn’t be out of place performed at an Irish Step Dance class bringing back many fond memories of my own experiences working with accordionist James Montgomery and ‘Doctor’ Michael Moriarty who often used Tom’s tunes in their sets as well. This is an album that perhaps non-musicians might judge too quickly as stark but personally speaking if you are looking for an articulate and artistic approach without all the bells and whistles I’d say you’ve come to the right place.

PETE FYFE, February 2011

Recorded back in 2003-04, the title hints at the difficulties encountered in getting the recordings through the editing, production and release processes. The wait is worth it however, as this recording is shot through with warmth and colour, the result of a rich tone combined with great technique, timing and judgement.

Gordon Turnbull, December 2010

For full review visit The Flow

"Great playing and lovely tunes...this is the real thing. I've always been a fan of Thomas McElvogue's flute playing...I've been waiting for this album for 30 years!"

Kathryn Tickell, February 2011

"Growing up and playing Irish music in England during the 1980's I always thought that Tom McElvogue was the "cream of the crop" among the flute players of our generation.

Twenty years on and Tom's long awaited solo album has confirmed my theory and proven that he has something 'extra special' when it comes to flute playing.

The Long Hard Road is a remarkable display of true musicianship and I really hope we don't have to wait another twenty years for it's follow up."

Kevin Crawford, December 2010

"Tom is one of the greatest technicians of the Irish wooden flute and he employs his exceptional ability for the expression of an intense musicality. To add to this he is an outstanding and individual composer, showing us new possibilities and compositional artistry in the traditional form.

Evidence for all this can be heard on every corner of this beautiful CD which is an accurate testament of Thomas' flute playing and to the communities that have nourished and supported his genius. Basically Tom McElvogue is the best flute player and composer of our generation by a very, very long shot."

Nial Keegan, Course Director, MA Irish Traditional Music Performance, University of Limerick
December 2010

The recordings for this CD took place during September/October 2003 and June/July 2004. The "studio" was actually the bedroom of my flat mate at the time (Tom Morrow) who was on Tour with Dervish. The idea of the CD started in the late eighties/early nineties when both Paddy and myself were living back in Newcastle Upon Tyne. We had always discussed the idea of making a CD and put it on a list of things to do. We attempted to record some demo tracks back in Newcastle which didn't turn out too well for a number of reasons. Needless to say, the experience gave us both time to reflect upon whether this was ever going to happen.

Shortly after that, Paddy and I both left Newcastle and it was not until the late nineties/early 2000's that we both ended up in the same country again - Ireland. Things were never simple, I was in Dublin and Paddy was in Galway! We did however send mp3's and wav's back and forward trying out ideas for recording and eventually decided to book in some time to put down some tracks.

In all honesty, we ended up starting from scratch with most of the tracks and the bulk of the CD was recorded in 5 days. The remaining time was used to re-record two or three of the tracks to "fix" the settings in some of the flute playing.

Unfortunately, I am an absolute control freak. A number of things I learned from our first run at the recording back in Newcastle was:
- I didn't enjoy the experience of the studio (time is money etc)
- I didn't know or understand the equipment being used
- I didn't know enough about mixing/engineering (and probably still don't)
- I play better when I am in relaxed surroundings
- I play better when I know what I am playing next

Taking all this into consideration, I decided that I was going to try and record this at home with my own equipment. The only problem was, I didn't have any equipment. To remedy this I researched and bought the following:

Recording (Tom)
4 x Boom Mic Stands
1 x Neumann TLM103 Large Diaphragm microphone
1 x Rhode NT2 Condenser Microphone
1 x AKG C1000s Condenser Microphone
2 x dBx386 hybrid valve/solid-state preamp units
1 x M-Audio Omni I/O
3 x Delta 66 sound cards
2 x HHB Circle 5's
1 x Cubase Score software
1 x Headphone amp with 8 outputs
2 x Sennheiser professional headphones
1 x Waves Diamond edition software plugins
1 x DT150 headphones
Lots of cables


Mixing (Paddy)
Roland VS2480CD hard disk recording desk
2 x Sennheiser professional headphones
2 x HHB Circle 5's
1 x Patience of a saint and determination not to give up!


I then spent about a year learning how best to configure and record the flute to a point where I was happy with the sound going in and coming out. I got a huge amount of knowledge from Norman Holmes on this as he had an equally expensive addiction to "Sound on Sound" magazine and he helped me enormously with the kit selection. I am also a bit of a computer geek so I was able to figure out how to stop Windows 2000 from interfering too much with the audio hardware (basically building a PC and turning off all the operating systems bell's and whistles - not recommended).

Everything seemed to be going fine with my research and testing except I lived on a road which had buses and lots of traffic going by constantly, the flat below had a loud washing machine, and because I lived on the seafront in Dublin, the seagulls would occasionally sing their heads off! At this point I realised that I needed to figure out a way to quieten down the background noise sufficiently in order to record in good enough quality for CD - cue Norman again. He suggested using some household items (mattress, duvet's etc) to dampen external noise and reduce internal reverb etc. It certainly didn't look pretty but it worked.

Once we had the music on disk, we then had to mix the CD. I had first attempt at this with Cubase and spent the guts of a year without much success. I realised I was either too close to the mix, not skilled enough at mixing, didn't have good ears for understanding what I was listening too or possibly all three. At this stage, Paddy had his own Roland VS2480CD hard disk recording desk and was producing some great work from the desk. He was keen to mix and I was close to giving up. Over the next period of time Paddy made great progress with the mix and we got to the point that we thought we were ready to master. We booked into Robyn Robbins Mastering in the North of Ireland and headed up for the day's mastering. We got about 5 hours in and Robyn informed us that he couldn't go any further for technical reasons in the mix. He advised that we had "digital elastics" in the audio - something I still don't fully understand but apparently it is a form of digital distortion. The bottom line was that we had to ditch the mix and start again from the original audio. That didn't sit well with either Paddy or myself.

Thankfully, after a year and a severe loss of momentum, Paddy had the whole thing re-mixed again from scratch - an absolutely huge effort. The whole mixing process was largely comlplicated by the number of instrument tracks to mix - eg Colonel Fraser has at least 30+ different instrument tracks, although from first listening you may not appreciate that. This meant that to mix more than 22 tracks on the Roland, multiple tracks had to be bounced into one track - a one-way process that cannot be reversed. If you want to change any of the components of the bounced track you have to go back to the beginning - pre-bounce and start again. Added to that, there were a number of minor edits which are always very time-consuming and due to the nature of these, they have to be done right otherwise the listening experience would be lessened. Time for another run at the mastering then. We now had to get the mix off the desk as WAV files which is not a quick task on a VS2480CD. As Paddy was tweaking the last track on the album, the desk crashed and wouldn't start up. I got a call from Paddy concerned that he had not only lost our CD but also a number of other personal projects he had worked on over the years. My geekery intervened and I had volunteered to attempt to repair the VS2480CD as I couldn't bear the thought of all that effort being in vain from myself and Paddy.

One week later, the desk was working again and I had to start exporting the finished tracks from the desk to CD so that they could be sent to Robyn Robbins (who had since moved back to the USA). After the first few tracks came back from mastering, I realised I wasn't entirely happy with the mastered version of the mix. The flute had more reverb and compression than I had wanted and had lost some of the expression in the playing as a result. I then tweaked the compression and reverb in the mix on the track's which I felt needed tweaking (mostly the Rudall D tracks) and resent the tracks back to Robyn. This time all was sitting much better for my ears.

The cover photograph was taken in January in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains specifically for the CD. Myself, my wife and a good friend of ours drove up to the mountains to take some photographs. My car at the time was a big heavy Chrysler 300c and it got stuck in the snow! We thankfully got help in the form of other motorists who were similarly stranded and thanks to my wife's ingenuity in using some cardboard I had in the trunk, we managed to get the car moving and made it home safely. That evening nine people were rescued by helicopter from the mountains. We were quite lucky to back in one piece. I had to use one the photographs I took that day for the album as it was so in-keeping with the general theme of the whole project.

The layout and artwork was then put together by me using Adobe Indesign/Illustrator/Photoshop and printed/duplicated by Dutec in Limerick and Sony in Austria.

I hope you appreciate all that went into "The Long Hard Road"!

Lessons learnt:
- Being a control freak is expensive, frustrating, annoying
- Studios aren't all bad, some are actually really good
- It doesn't have to be either studio or home, it can be a bit of both
- Recording a CD at home can be just as expensive as a studio (if not more!)
- Mastering is not magic, it requires a great mix to achieve a great master (thanks Paddy!)
- I've since converted to Apple Mac and Pro Tools and life is much simpler (they just work!)

Whilst searching through my hard drive to re-convert some wavs to mp3 format, I found the following audio files. These are either tracks that didn't make it onto my CD or tunes I was just messing around with. They are not to be taken too seriously as the standard of play on some of the tracks leaves a lot to be desired, however, they may be of some use to people looking for tunes to learn or examples of how not to play! (in some cases). If you want to use the samples below as examples in technique (good or bad in some cases), teaching resources, please feel free.

They are not to be used for any commercial recordings or any other activity in which my playing is re-sold commerically.

Please contact me by email and provide feedback if you found them helpful. I can be reached at tom(at)tommcelvogue.com.

They are not to be used for any commercial recordings or any other activity in which my playing is re-sold commerically.

I also recently found some older recordings including material from over twenty years ago which I have uploaded to my Soundcloud account. To listen to these click on the following link Soudcloud Recordings

All tunes recorded one day in 2003. Flute used was a fully keyed boxwood Rudall & Rose in concert pitch (D). The playing is a bit suspect on some of the tunes as I was a bit wrecked towards the end of the day. These recordings were made for Andy Morrow/Tony O'Connell so that they could evaluate some new tunes for a forthcoming CD (due out July 2004). Only one tune made onto the CD but there may be something here for somebody out there. All tunes are copyright Tom McElvogue and may not be downloaded and distributed without my permission. If for some strange reason you want to use the samples below, please contact me by email to discuss further. I can be reached at tom@tommcelvogue.com.

A number of the above tunes have actually made it to the open and been recorded commerically. I have detailed the CD's below for information. If you know of tunes appearing anywhere else I would appreciate an email to let me know.

Thank you to Maarten Marchau for the sheet music transcriptions

Jigs 11 and 12 are new additions and as such I don't have any sheet music yet. When I get around to writing them up I will update accordingly. In addition to the compositions listed here there are a number on my new CD which I haven't got around to recording separately for this listing. They are as follows - One slip Jig (Track 02 - Tom McElvogue’s Slip Jig 01), Two Jigs (Track 03 - Tom McElvogue’s Jig in G 09 & Track 5 - Tom McElvogue’s Jig in D 10). Feel free to listen to the track previews or purchase a CD if you feel so inclined!

There are also another couple of dozen tunes that were composed throughout my life but for whatever reason I never got to organise or record. I will be making an effort to get these up on the website over the next six months (time permitting).

In order to access the sheet music at full size, click on the tune within the playlist and then right-click on the sheet music and select "view image". If you want the sheet music to appear in a new window, hold down the shift key while right-clicking.

CD Title	Track	Track Details
The Kathryn Tickell Band	Track 2, 4th tune	Out on the Ocean/The Cacodemon/Coast of Austria/Thomas McElvogue's No.1
	Track 5, 1st and 3rd tunes	Thomas McElvogue's No.2/Cuckold Come Out of the Amrey/Thomas McElvogue's No.3
The Best of Kathryn Tickell	CD2 Track 7, 1st and 3rd tunes	Thomas McElvogue's No.2/Cuckold Come Out of the Amrey/Thomas McElvogue's No.3
Vin Garbutt - 'Plugged!'	Track 6, 2nd tune	THE BIRK BROW JIG (Garbutt)/THOMAS McELVOGUE'S JIG
Cara - 'In Full Swing - live DVD'	Track 8, 1st tune	Tom McElvogue's No. 3 / The Flying Sofa / Good Morning, Squirrel / The Millbridge Reel
Cara - 'In Between Times'	Track 2, 1st tune	Tom McElvogue's No. 3 / The Flying Sofa / Good Morning, Squirrel / The Millbridge Reel
More Maids - 'Mary Is Busy... Too Busy to Marry'	Track 6, 2nd tune	Niall Keegan's / Thomas McElvogue's / Andy Renwick's Ferret
More Maids: Live	Track 11, 2nd tune	Niall Keegan's / Thomas McElvogue's / Andy Renwick's Ferret
Seána Traditional Irish Harp - Seana Davey	Track 10, 1st tune	Tom McElvogue's, The Woods of Old Limerick
Peter Mcalinden With Pete Quin - Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part	Track 7, 3rd tune	The Mist Covered Mountain/Health to the Ladies/Tom McElvogue's
Claire Mann and Aaron Jones - Secret Orders	Track 1, 2nd tune	Flowers of Brooklyn/McElvogue's R#6/Highest Hill in Sligo
Harriet Earis - Jumping Ahead	Track 4, 2nd tune	The Mathematician hornpipe, McElvogue’s, The End of Christmas
Tony O'Connell & Andy Morrow	Track 4, 2nd tune	Tom McElvogue's no. 3 / The Heights of Muingbhartha / The Boy in the Boat
Tom McConville - Tommy on the Bridge	Track 12, 1st tune	Thomas McElvogue's/ Paddy O'Rafferty
Cé – Cé	Track 5, 3rd tune	Ernestine Healy's/Timmy Clifford's/Tom McElvogue's/Mimi and the New Generation/Cúchulainn 8:2
From a Distant Shore - Irish Traditional Music from Donegal, England, America & Cape Breton Island	CD 4, Track 5, 1st tune	Tom McElvogue's - Jig, New Irish Barndance, Untitled - Reel
A Taste of Ireland, Traditional Irish Music	Track 3, 1st tune	Tom McElvogue's - Jig, New Irish Barndance, Untitled - Reel
Across The Waters - Irish Traditional Music from England	Track 5, 1st tune	Tom McElvogue's - Jig, New Irish Barndance, Untitled - Reel
Flook – Flatfish	Track 9, 4th tune	Flutopia   Munera de Casa, Gavotenn bro. Dardoup, Macedonian Oro, Thomas McIlvogue’s
FYACE – Ian Carr, Karen Tweed	Track 4, 4th tune	Christmas Christmas day in the morning, skymningspolskan, reel madrid, thomas mcelvogue’s no 5
Niall Keegan – Don’t Touch the Elk	Track 6, 1st and 3rd tune	Tom McElvogue’s Jig, Hardy’s Jig, Tom McElvogue’s Other Jig
Kevin Crawford – In Good Company	Track 2, 2nd tune	Young Tom Ennis, The Mouse in the Mug
Sin É	Track 7, 2nd tune	Reels for Luke (2nd reel in this medley - uncredited on CD - this is reel 01 above)
The New Anthology of Music	CD4, Track 19	Tom McElvogue's - Jig, New Irish Barndance
An old recording of me playing the Prattens F flute for a Comhaltas Tour recording. At the time of this recording, my left leg was in plaster having torn the ligaments in my knee a day earlier. One take and therefore a bit rough around the edges. Drones by Padraig Donlon and Harp by Kim Fleming. An Irish Interlude, 1988 Track 1 – The First House in Connacht, Top of the Dresser (the thrush in the storm), Touch Me if Dare

These compositional pieces represent my recent endeavours into composition, orchestration and recording.

All of the pieces were composed within the last six weeks for the wedding of my son Joost to his fiance Miriam (June 2011). They are part of a collection/suite entitled "A wedding in Rocca". Some were composed specifically for the wedding ceremony and were played during the service and some (particularly the "wedding dinner" piece was composed immediately following the wedding. I am sure that in terms of composition, orchestration and performance, they are not perfect however I have become quite fond of them and given that they were all composed, orchestrated and performed within the space of a couple of hours each, I am still particularly fond of them. I hope they are a fitting welcome to Miriam into the family and I hope you enjoy them.

These compositional pieces represent my recent endeavours into composition, orchestration and recording. (July 2011)

I recently re-mixed and recorded some of these compositions, as well as some newer works which I have uploaded to my Soundcloud account. To listen to these click on the following link Soudcloud Recordings

OK. A short biography - November 2010. Born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England in 1968 - that makes me 40 something? Youngest of family with three sisters. My grandfather on my Mother's side was from BallyConneely, Connemara. This was enough of a connection for my Mother to strongly encourage all of us kids to participate in full Irish indoctrination. All three sisters took part in Irish dancing classes which meant I used to hear the same Irish Dance records over and over and over again when I was young. Thankfully there was a couple of records which weren't too bad musically. After actually dancing in competitions myself, I decided that I actually preferred the music. I also realised that it wasn't as embarrasing explaining that I played Irish music rather than doing Irish Dancing.

I started playing tin whistle at about age eight/nine and also attempted the fiddle at this early age. Fiddle seemed way too hard so I stuck to the whistle. I was taught and mentored by Patrick Knight, one of the kindest and generous of people around the music scene in Newcastle. I moved onto the wooden flute at age 12/13 and progressed steadily thereafter. I won several fleadh titles at various levels and eventually won the All-Ireland Senior Flute through shear persistence.

I continued playing until aged 23 and then stopped playing almost completely for about four years. I moved to Ireland and started playing again at 26/27. I've been based in Dublin, Ireland since then and have moved around a good bit through work but I have tried to keep playing throughout.

My main influences on my flute playing are probably Matt Molloy, Seamus Tansey, Tommy Peoples, Frankie Gavin, Sean McGuire, Kathleen Collins and Paddy Keenan.

My Sister, Sheena, also learned music at the same time. She played (and still does play) a very sensitive piano accordion which taught me how to understand musical phrasing on different instruments a lot better. Probably like every other flute player, I tried analysing Matt Molloy's breathing and ornamentation from a very early age and have to say that I was completely in awe of his control and sensitivity. At the same time, the shear uncontrollable exhuberance of Seamus Tansey's playing allowed me to look beyond the notes as they were written and from this I learned how to better interpret and feel the music.

Not very long into my competetive playing days, I realised that many other players were copying individual styles almost note for note to the extent that they were playing Molloy's variation in "The Boy's of the Lough" year in, year out. Whilst compying such great styles helps develop technique, I did not feel that I wanted to do this (at least not in public). I had also attempted to copy the great flute players whilst practising and very soon realised that I was never going to be as good as them at what they do, they had pretty much been there and done that. At about the same time I was introduced to a Tommy Peoples recording "The Iron Man" by my flute teacher Pat Knight. At this stage, the flute lessons were not really about learning to play the flute but more about learning to learn (if that makes sense). We would often discuss different approaches and styles of music and Patrick would be directing me to different recordings and telling me to go get the recording (or he would loan me a copy) and he would tell me to figure it out after giving me some direction as to what to listen out for and also correcting any bad habits I had developed. At this time I would be practising at least three/fours hours per day, every day. This wasn't so much a chore as I was so caught up with so much to learn.

Apart from Patrick Knight, the other mainstays and big influences on my playing in Newcastle at that time would have been John Doonan - a fantastic piccolo player from Jarrow, Chris Jordan - an inspirational fiddle player from Bohola, Co Mayo but living in Newcastle most of his adult life, Michael Moriarty - a gem of a flute player from Kerry and Mary Larkin - a superb accordion player originally from County sligo but living in Newcastle. I had many a fine session with Chris, Mick and Mary at various stages of my teenage years and in particular, Mary Larkin would have been instrumental in introducing me to some of the recordings and tunes of the Sligo area - in particular Josie McDermott, Bobby Gardiner, Marcus and PJ Hernon and Seamus Tansey. Another big influence would be Tony Corcoran who was heavily involved in Comhaltas throughout my years in Newcastle. Tony would often get me to play in Ceili bands he ran and I would fill in when John Doonan or Mick Moriarty weren't able to play. Both Tony Corcoran and John Doonan played for the local Feis and got me involved in playing for the local feis - something I am happy to say is well behind me. The thought of twelve hours of playing for dancers does not appeal to me now but in hindsight it gave me great discpline, stamina and an excellent sense of timing.

I would also acknowlege the support and encouragement of Kathryn Tickell who was probably one of the first musicians to commercially record some of my compositions. Kathryn pretty much stood out on her own in Newcastle as an example of how to go about becoming a successful professional musician. I always admired her professionalism, musicianship and manner in which she presented herself and also her deep-rooted enthusiasm and promotion of the Northumbrian folk music.

In addition to Kathryn, Karen Tweed helped enormously in encouraging my passion for composing music. I met Karen through the Fleadh Ceol network via one of the adjudicators, Siobhan O'Donnell. For a number of years in my late teens, Karen played a big part in introducing some of my compositions to a wider audience than I could ever have done. Musician's in London and beyond probably learned a number of my tunes via Karen or at least from sessions involving Karen. For that I am very grateful and I could never underestimate the impact that Karen had on my musical development.

In my late teens another musician appeared on the scene in Newcastle which provided me with a drinking and playing partner. This was Paul Ruane of Leeds. Paul was a couple of years younger than me but with an enthusiasm and talent for playing second to none. Between myself and Paul we had a whale of time for a couple of years. We also met up with Norman Holmes, a sleeping giant of a flute player from Sedgefield, Co Durham, a couple of younger musicians were just starting to make their mark on the music scene also - namely Claire Mann - a fabulously talented multi-instrumentalist and Paddy Kerr - a gifted bodhran and Bouzouki player. There was great music and craic to be had at this time in Newcastle. Naturally enough, the normal order has been since restored as most of us either settled down or moved away and now a new generation has taken over where we left off.

Also a great source of encouragement at that time and still a very distinctive and stylish player today would be Des Hurley of Leeds. Des introduced me to many of the musicians throughout the UK who were really firing at that time. It was also a relief to find that other people existed on the planet who were as obsessive about the music as I was. Amongst these musicians were Joe, Enda and Ronin Molloy, Kevin Crawford, Ivan Miletitch, Brendan Boyle, Marco Pollier and Mick and Pauline Conneelly to name but a few. These were truly incredible times and the sessions in Birmingham at that time were second to none in my eyes. They were mostly orchestrated by Ivan Miletitch who was an accompaniest without compare at the time. It was a great shame when these days were coming to an end however, given the frenetic pace at which things happened, it was inevitable that it would come to an end. Happy days all the same.