Selected Jigs, Reels & Songs by the De Danann

    Formed in Spiddal, County Galway, in 1974, and spoken of in the same breath as the Bothy Band (1975-78) as being pioneering giants of the instrumental, tune-based revival of Irish music in the rock era - as opposed to the vocal, ballad-based music of the likes of Planxty - De Danann survived in some form through to last year when the two constants, fiddler/impressario Frankie Gavin and stony-faced bouzouki man Alec Finn, finally called it quits. No doubt occasional revival shows will happen, but in truth the band were at their peak in the 70s and early 80s, and never more so than on this, their second and rarest album.

Dolores Keane had sung on their 1975 Polydor debut (Gavin being aware that a few songs between the tunes made commercial sense), before giving way to former Sweeney’s Men/Planxty man Andy Irvine. Irvine, though, was also working as a duo with Paul Brady and when a US De Danann tour came up conceded the position was untenable. (Andy’s time with the band is represented only on a 1976 German various artists live album.)

‘Andy didn’t want to go to the States unless it was on his terms,’ says Johnny Moynihan, Andy’s old cohort from Sweeney’s Men days, ‘because it was the Smithsonian Institution that was bringing us out and giving us something like $ 10 a day pocket money. I happened to be in his house when Frankie phoned to talk about it, and he said to me, ‘Do you want to join a good band?’ ‘If it’s going to the States I do!’ So that’s how I joined De Danann.’

Never one to stay settled in any situation, and a man whose idiosyncratic genius is cap­tured on only a precious few records, Moynihan lasted long enough to record this album with De Danann - released on Decca in 1977. Featuring the classic team of Gavin, Finn, Charlie Piggott on banjo and Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh on bodhran, Johnny slipped four inimitably delivered traditional songs into the 13-track set, in between some of the group’s feistiest instrumental playing.

Says Johnny, Ί felt they were getting a bit too zippy — too fast. The speed was almost reaching bluegrass proportions so I went back to doing gigs here and there.”

Selected Jigs... has never appeared on CD, although one song and three tunes do feature on a CD best-of.