"The pipes, the pipes are callin'…"

Originally published in "The North Shoreian," Volume II, Issue 2 - March 2009

Performing hither and thence on Long Island, John Corr brings traditional Irish melodies to audiences young and old.

John Corr grew up hearing the traditional songs and melodies that would stick with him throughout his life. His parents, originally from the emerald isle, and he spent many of his childhood summers there with their extended family. Having no formal musical training, John learned to play by ear, the way his father had. And when he, at the age of nine, got his first instrument (a Hohner harmonica which he still has) it was both the beginning of a life filled with music and a continuation of an ages-old musical legacy.

Traditional Irish music has its roots in rural Ireland and comes to contemporary performers primarily through oral transmission. Nicholas Carolan, writing for Oxford Music Online, describes that, "[T]he reasons for the strength of Irish traditional music are partly historical and social: political conditions have fostered the oral arts of song, instrumental music, dance and storytelling rather than the visual and plastic arts; traditional rural society, non-industrial and conservative, survived longer in Ireland than in western Europe generally; and the relative smallness of the country and its population enables easy access to all varieties of live performance. There seems also to be a particular affinity to music in the Irish national character." The majority of the traditional Irish musical canon is not learned from notated music, but rather by listening to and learning from other players.

The 1960's and 70's saw a resurgence of folk music in America and artists like Simon and Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, and the Clancy brothers were the standard by which the coming generation of musicians, Corr among them, would model their musical concepts. For John, in the 1960's, the Clancy bros. were the archetypal Irish folk music performers. He modeled his playing after them and admits to learning many songs by listening to their albums and reproducing what he heard. By the 1970's John was an English teacher at Longwood High School in Middle Island. There, along with fellow teachers Stephen Sanfilippo, and John Trubisz, he formed the Longwood Folk Music Workshop. John and his workshop students performed regularly. "We took them camping at the National Folk Festival in Vienna, Virginia, the Hartford Folk Festival, and the Great Hudson River Revival (Clearwater Festival)."

In 1981, in response to budget cuts, all school clubs were cancelled at Longwood High School. The Longwood Folk Music Workshop was discontinued, but Corr, Sanfilipo and Trubisz continued to play and, with the addition of Larry Moser, formed "Paddy Doyle's Boots". "We played all over Long Island for 26 years. We were the perennial opening concert for the Islip Arts Council's summer series, and we were regulars at the Brookhaven Town Fair, Riverhead Fair, Sayville Seafood Festival, Kings Park Day, Greenport festivals, Stony Brook evening concerts on the green, and at practically every library in Nassau and Suffolk. We also played in dozens of bars and for years we were the house band at The Quiet Man Inn in Southold and at The Printer's Devil in Port Jefferson." They were joined by (and learned many songs from) top-notch Donegal fiddle player Ed Keeney and the renowned button accordion player Eugene Kelly, and they had the privilege of performing with Mike McCormack, who Corr describes as, "a marvelous raconteur and bodhran player." Paddy Doyle's boots continued to play until 2008, when Sanfilipo and Trubisz moved upstate. Since then John has done more solo work and occasionally performs with Larry Moser's band "Fiddler's Green". He maintains a busy performing schedule and has two CDs (Tappin' the Boots, and Come 'Round Ye Northeast Mariners) which are available at several Long Island Merchants.

Corr sings as well as plays and is accomplished on the guitar (6- and 12-string), banjo, tin whistle, Irish wood flute, bamboo fife, bodhran, and the spoons (you try to play 'em!). His style is traditional but he welcomes more contemporary instruments in his performances. Traditional Irish music employs a small group of instruments, not all of which are Irish. The harp, although not as popular in contemporary performance, is closely tied to the music of Ireland, as well as the fiddle, bagpipes and the bodhran (a circular, hand-held drum). The tin (penny) whistle, accordion, and concertina are widely accepted as traditional instruments and are regularly employed. The banjo, mandolin, guitar, and Greek bouzouki make up a group that is not considered traditional by all, but are nevertheless popular with contemporary performers. In his solo performances, as well as with "Paddy Doyle's Boots", Corr regularly includes the banjo, guitar, jaw harp, spoons, and harmonica, which are more closely associated with American folk music and emphasize the American influence on Irish music. Despite his 20th century influences, his performance practice remains more traditional than contemporary.

Corr holds to the monophonic (only one note sounding at a time, no harmony) melodies that are essential in traditional Irish music. He includes the prose preamble, or údar an amhráin (the story of the song), to several songs which supplies material relevant to the song. The accompaniment on his CD Tappin' The Boots does get quite busy at times but, to his credit, Corr retains the conversational and everyday language of the songs, allowing the beauty of the text and the music to convey the emotion. He has also written dozens of songs, including The Ballad of Moby Dick, The Flying Dutchman, Shoals, Paddy Doyle Ah Ha Ha, The Ballad of the Baymen, The Wreck of the Louis V. Place, John Stone the Hijacker, and Lumumba. In writing these new songs he demonstrates the same understanding of form and tradition that is evident in his performance of traditional repertoire and on his CDs these songs fit seamlessly with the traditional tunes.

John Corr is uniquely poised to deliver traditional Irish music to contemporary audiences. Having grown up immersed in the music and culture of both Ireland and America, a product of the folk resurgence of the 60's and 70's, he offers a true representation of traditional Irish music both as it was and as it is.