Junior Crehan tunes: Caisleán an Óir & Her Long Flowing Hair

Two lovely tunes composed by legendary west Clare fiddle player Martin “Junior” Crehan.

I’ve been playing the fiddle two and a half years, and this is my first recording. I can’t really do justice to the beauty and simplicity of Junior’s compositions, but here it is, and forgive the attempt.

The first tune is called “Caisleán an Óir” — The Castle of Gold, (or Golden Castle, whichever you prefer).
The second is harder to name because I’ve come across many variants, e.g. “Her Long Dark Hair”, or “Her Lovely Golden Hair”. In Angela Crotty’s great book “Martin Junior Crehan: Musical Compositions and Memories 1908-1998” it has the longer title of “Her Lovely Hair was Flowing Down Her Back”. (The book is available from Custy’s music shop in Ennis, Co. Clare — highly recommended!)

Anyway, here they are and I hope you like them.