hello everybody.  i don't know how many people will actually care, but i've decided to share some rare music that interests me every now and then, as sort of a mini-blog.  i love youtube because i can always find videos of the most obscure musicians imaginable, sometimes by accident.

below is a video of pecker dunne, and pecker is probably my greatest piece of youtube serendipity.  you see, i have a celtic soul; i have welsh blood, i love james joyce and w.b. yeats, i possess three tweed jackets, my three favorite pipes in my collection were all made by peterson of dublin, i carry a blackthorn shillelagh on walks, i've seen the quiet man 27 times, and i can put away guinness and bushmills like water.

of course, above all that pretension, there's the music.  van morrison can carry me into flights of contemplative ecstasy, the clancy brothers make me sing loudly, david hammond puts me into a melancholy mood, and the great margaret barry...well, margaret barry makes me cry.

margaret barry was known as "the queen of the gypsies," because she came from the peculiar race of irish traveling people.  she was a woman who made her living by "busking": playing fairs and street corners, making music on her banjo and singing in a powerful, sweet voice.  while looking on youtube for videos of margaret barry one night, i came across another busker of a slightly later generation: pecker dunne.

pecker's fame, unlike margaret's, never spread much beyond ireland, but he was a strong influence on the world-famous singing group, the dubliners, and if you listen to his version of "whiskey in the jar," you can see where metallica got theirs (though most likely via the dubliners).  pecker, like barry, accompanies himself on a zither banjo--a rare, old type of banjo that was popular in ireland and britain in the early 20th century.  his voice is deep and full, perfect for soaring above a noisey crowd.

in this video, pecker sings a haunting tune called "tinker's lullaby" on irish television in 1985.  i hope everyone here can appreciate this gnarled old wellspring of beauty as much as i, and that you'll follow him up with a youtube search.

peace.