Paddy Heaney (b. 1934)

Track 1: His childhood on a small farm at the foothills of the Slieve Bloom mountains. The two blacksmiths who practiced in the Cadamstown area and his earliest memory of working the bellows at the blacksmith’s after the school day was over. Jodie Whitfield’s stables, where horses stayed overnight, and also the beer drays that parked here overnight. Track 2: Memories of the village cooper whose name was Connor. Recalled sitting on a hard stone at the forge, listening to tales of historical events of long ago. Track 3: Memories of his father who had been a local postman, who emigrated to New York in the early years of the last century, where he remained for a number of years, returning to Ireland in 1922 to take his part in the Civil War. Track 4: The caravans of Travellers, known as tinkers at the time, who would congregate in Cadamstown. Memories of hearing wonderful traditional music played by the Dorans and other great musicians. Recalled that his father, an uilleann piper, learned many traditional tunes from this group. Track 5: Memories of the great musician Johnny Doran and his mother, who was a member of the famous Cash family of musicians. Recalled tales of his father’s time in the Bronx, where he played the uilleann pipes. Memories of later years of his father’s life in Ireland, when he was visited by Captain Francis O’Neill, a famous collector of traditional Irish music.