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Tar Road to Sligo (D)

Road to Sligo, turn left

Tar Road to Sligo, turn left ahead

Coach Road to Sligo

Coach Road to Sligo, from Ballina

This is tune #836 in O’Neill’s 1850 (1903), #99 in O’Neill’s 1001 (1907), and is also in Phil Rubenzer’s Midwestern Irish Session Tunes (2000).Ā  It is another tune made popular by Michael Coleman in the early part of the 20th century and the Bothy Band in the latter part.Ā  On their eponymous first album, The Bothy Band (1975), they pair this tune with Paddy Clancy’s, with the result that at many sessions this the expected jig set when “Tar Road” starts up. Ā It is in the jig family which includes “Fasten a Leg in Her,” “Rose in the Heather,” and “Wandering Minstrel.” Ā The tune is also called “Coach Road to Sligo,” and Sligo fiddler James Morrison (1893-1947), a.k.a. “the Professor,” was born in Drumfin, which is on the main road into Sligo from Ballina in co. Mayo, and the road is still called “Mail Coach Road” . . . though it is paved now.

For the ABC clickĀ Tar Road To Sligo

Tar Road to Sligo, slow tempo (fiddle, Dave Agee)

Tar Road to Sligo, med tempoĀ (fiddle, Dave Agee)

 

Tar Road To Sligo

Tar Road To Sligo, jig in D

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