Andrew John Cairns

I'm in love with Leveret. This is another of their tunes that I've pinched. Played here on a hardwood-topped cutaway guitar I finished last month. I hope you like it Matt Rusby.

A tune we played back in the days of the Ship and Castle Irish session in Aberystwyth (mid-late 90's), though in those days I did it on tenor banjo. This arrangement is heavily influenced by Martin Hayes' treatment of the tune. Played here on the D-neck of my double-neck guitar.

Paddy Fahy wrote many fine tunes. I'm told this is his #20. I initially had this tune many years ago from the recordings of Martin Hayes. My son Dylan's being playing it a lot recently. It sneaked into my head so I had to arrange it. Played on the D-neck of the double neck guitar.

I made this double-necked instrument to reflect my playing habits. I play fingerstyle in open tunings. I don't get on very well with capos because I find that I loose volume and resonance. Also, I play a lot up the neck and rely on the dot markers, which go "out of phase" when using a capo. I find this somewhat disorientating. To avoid these problems I usually take out two guitars, one in open D the other in open G, the two most common keys for traditional music. This G/D double-neck does both open keys, without the hassle of two instruments. It has the added advantage that the strings on the neck that's not being played resonate sympathetically, like hardanger fiddles and the nyckelharpa. To my ear, this enhances the sound when played solo and is particularly good for arrangements with a lute-like vibe. The tune is my arrangement of an adapted Manx Primitive Methodist hymn. I stole it from Leveret's 2016 album, In the round.