Tim Browne is a Kanturk based singer. The recording is a companion to a book which Browne compiled titled Stories in Song Vol.1. The book is a miscellany of songs, lyrics and anecdotes, from the Barony of Duhallow in northwest County Cork, Ireland, written by local songwriters, bards and poets. There are fifteen songs and a number of dance tunes on the disc which is 75 minutes in duration.

The book carries detailed information on most of the song/poems, i.e. who wrote them, where collected etc., and in some cases there are stories related to the songs. Full information can be obtained from the book which is available to buy from this website via the contact address given and which is also available to buy in digital format (PDF – Adobe Acrobat Reader req’d -).

The Girl from Glashakeenleen / Pull down the Blind (waltz)
See pages 120, 121 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This is a well known poem in the Newmarket area and may also have been known as a song. The melody used here was composed by Tim Browne who based it on a waltz, Pull down the Blind, which comes from the playing of Timmy Connors, a box player from Tureendarby, Newmarket, Co. Cork and which follows the song.
Tim Browne, vocals, bouzouki, mandolin,
Eoin Jordan, guitar

Down by Blackwaterside
See pages 47, 48 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This song is also known as The Bonny Irish Maid and is believed to have come into Ireland from England around 150 years ago. It is a song popular in the Duhallow area and is sung to a number of different melodies.
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki
Geraldine O’Callaghan, fiddle
Eoin O’Sullivan, keyboards


Step it Out Mary
See pages 165, 166 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This song was written by Sean McCarthy from Finogue, North Kerry. It is a very popular song and has been widely recorded. The song was inspired from children playing a skipping game and singing a jingle on the streets of Kanturk during a fair some time in the late 1940’s/early 1950’s. This is a modern interpretation of the melody which came via the oral tradition.
Tim Browne, vocal & bouzouki
Eoin Jordan, bouzouki, backing vocals

Brighidín Bán mó Stór
See pages 165, 166 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
Edward Walsh the famed folklorist and poet from Kishkeam, Co. Cork wrote this poem in honour of his wife during his time as a teacher in Co. Waterford in the early part of the 19th century. The melody used here is one which Tim Browne composed. The song is also sung to a number of other melodies among them Molly Asthore and Billy Byrne of Ballymanus.
(see also the album Fire in the Glen (Shanachie 79062) by Scottish singer Andy M. Stewart, for a similar version of this song).
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki

Cashman’s/Bridgie Con Matt’s (Polkas)
Two polkas from the repertoire of the Monks of the Screw Trio who recorded these polkas on their album, The Monks of the Screw Trio. The first tune comes from the playing of fiddle player John Walsh, Derrygallon, near Kanturk and is called after a local accordion player, Pat Cashman a musician and singer who was well known in the area and played with the Sean Lynch Ceilidh Band at the Stage in Knocknacolon, Kanturk and other places and who also played with the Duhallow Ceilidh Band for a time. The second tune comes from the playing of Bridgie Con Matt Kelleher (Bridgie Murphy, one of the famed Weaver Murphy sisters from Lisheen, Gneeveguila, Co. Kerry). The tune was learned from the playing of Johnny O’Leary, the renowned Sliabh Luachra accordion player.
Paudy Scully, flute
Dan Curtin fiddle,
Tim Browne, fiddle & bouzouki


The Ballad of High Mill Lane
See pages 88, 89 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This song was learned from the singing of the Newmarket fiddle player and antiquarian, Raymond O’Sulllivan who learned it from the repertoire of Dick Scanlon, Newmarket. It is called the Ballad of High Mill Lane for the collection as no name could be sourced for it locally. It is a very interesting song for many reasons, one of them being that there doesn’t seem to be any written historical account of the event described so graphically in the song.
Tim Browne, vocals

O’Donovan’s Daughter
See pages 36, 37 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
Another love song from the pen of Edward Walsh. It was published in The Nation newspaper in the 1840’s and is still a well known song in the Duhallow area. This version is taken from the book, A Tragic Troubadour, by Fr. John J. Ó Riordáin and the melody is one learned from Billy Boy Cashin, Kanturk who got it in the 1950’s from Aomhlaoibh Ó Loingsigh, a former Principal teacher at Scoil Treasa, Kanturk.
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki

Tureengarriv Glen
See pages 90, 91 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
Johnny O’Mahony of Tureendubh, Ballydesmond says that Denis Lane composed this song. It was published in Fr. John J. Ó Riordáin’s book, Kiskeam versus the Empire. The melody here is a version of The Wearing of the Green. The song commemorates a successful engagement by the IRA of an enemy detail at Tureengarriv Glen, near Ballydesmond on January 28th, 1921.
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki
Eoin Jordan, bouzouki

Ode to a Drink Boutique/The Sound Check /The Alleycracker Set (Reels)
See pages 263, 264 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This song was written in the 1980’s by Tim Browne, Kanturk, in praise of one of his favourite drinking establishments in the Duhallow area, The Alley Bar, Kanturk. The lyrics have been revised and the song as recorded here has had a melody change. A three week stint in Nampho, North Korea was part-inspiration for the song as loneliness and longing for a tune, a chat, and a few pints of porter set in while working in the Northern Yellow Sea region on board the bulk carrier, m.v. Reynold’s. The song is followed by a jingle learned from a well known scribe, Seán Bán Ó Hartagáin from Baile Mhúirne and a selection of three reels. The first reel of the trio is a version of a tune learned from the Kevin Burke album Up Close (1984) from a selection on the album called The Raheen Melody (3rd tune) which tunes are assoicated with the great harmonica playing of Pip Murphy & family from Co. Wexford. The second tune (Gan Ainm), and third tune, called The Flower of the Flock, were learned from the playing of fiddle player Dan O’Keeffe, Knockballymartin, Kilbrin, formerly from Ballyhoulihan, Boherbue, Co. Cork.
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki
Geraldine O’Callaghan, fiddle

Dear Kingwilliamstown
See pages 74, 75, 76 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This song is a very well known song all over the world and has been recorded by several well known performers. It is also well known as a slow air popularised primarily by Julia Clifford. It is a very poignant song of immigration. It is also known by the name Sweet Kingwilliamstown.
Tim Browne, vocals & viola
Geraldine O’Callaghan, fiddle
Eoin O’Sullivan, keyboards

The Doggie Due
See pages 147, 148 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This comical and satirical song was written by Ned Buckley, Knocknagree, Co. Cork and was published on the Cork Weekly Examiner in the 1920’s. The song relates the effects of doubling the cost of the dog licence around that time. The use of the melody of the great Republican ballad The Foggy Dew further adds to the satire, Buckley being a professed Home Ruler, Redmondite and later Blueshirt and Fine Gaeler.
Tim Browne, vocals
Eoin Jordan, bouzouki

The Lament for Limerick
See page 221 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This song was learned from the repertoire of Bill Flynn, Barley Hill, Newmarket, Co. Cork who wrote the song in the early 1950’s whilst working and studying in the Muscraí Gaeltacht region of Coolea.
Tim Browne, vocals



The Brogeen
See pages 162, 163 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
Written by D.J. Scanlon, Glenaknockane, Lyre, in the 1930’s, the poem is set to the melody of Fáinne Geal an Lae. The song Dawning of the Day was popular in the 1930’s, having been recorded by Count John McCormack and its melody was used for some contemporary poems including the Patrick Kavanagh poem, Raglan Road.
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki

The Old Banteer Branch Line - The Train Set - Jigs
See pages 185 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
This ballad was written in the early 1960’s by Bill Cody following the demise, in February 1963, of the branch railway line which ran from Banteer to Newmarket. The melody offered here was composed by Tim Browne, Kanturk. The song is followed by three jigs, the first one is called An Ceannabhán Bán, learned from the playing of Newmarket banjo player, Davy Piggott. The second tune came out of the bouzouki, one bright morning in Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA following an arduous journey on the Coastal Starlight, a train which connects the two great American cities of Seattle and San Francisco via Portland, Oregon. The third jig was learned from the playing of Rockchapel accordion player, Timmy Carmody.
Tim Browne, vocals & bouzouki
Geraldine O’Callaghan, fiddle
Eoin Jordan, bouzouki
Eoin O’Sullivan, keyboards

The Praises of Kanturk
See pages 40-43 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
John Christmas Deady wrote this poem in praise of the Duhallow Capital, Kanturk, probably around the 1870’s. It is well written verse and takes a comical look at the town of Kanturk during those times and offers an interesting insight into local matters. Accordion player Jackie Daly has composed many fine tunes over the years and one of his compositions, a lovely jig called The Kanturk Jig was adapted for the melody for this song.
Tim Browne, vocals





Duggan’s Polkas
These three polkas were learned at Scully’s Bar, Newmarket, Co. Cork at the Monday night session, now in its 35th year, from accordion player Timmy Connors who calls them Mikey Duggan’s, after the famed Sliabh Luachra fiddle player from whom Timmy got the tunes.
Tim Browne, fiddle
Geraldine O’Callaghan, fiddle
Eoin O’Sulllivan, fiddle

The Deserter’s Lament
See pages in 12, 13 in Stories in Song, Vol.1 for details.
John Philpott Curran of Newmarket, Co. Cork wrote this song about two hundred years ago and it is still a very popular song in the Newmarket area. It was learned from the singing of Raymond O’Sullivan and
Seámus Ó Croinín, Newmarket. It is also know as the Deserter’s Meditation.
Tim Browne, vocals

Musicians:
Geraldine O’Callaghan, fiddle
Eoin Jordan, bouzouki, guitar, backing vocals
Eoin O’Sullivan, fiddle and keyboards
Paudy Scully, flute
Dan Curtin, fiddle
Tim Browne, vocals, bouzouki, mandolin, fiddle, viola
The album, Pull out the Choke was recorded by Eoin Stan O'Sullivan in the kitchen of Tim Browne’s house in Kanturk, County Cork over a few very enjoyable days in August 2007. It is available from Moses Bridge Publications only. The cost of making the CD was part funded by the Irish Arts Council, DEIS scheme.

Beir Sult

Tim Browne / Tadhg de Brún
Ceann Toirc, Dúthalla, August 2007