"Speed 78" -- The title of Mike Rafferty's long-overdue solo debut refers both to this youthful septuagenarian's current age and to the old 78-rpm records that inspired him. A native of Ballinakill, Co. Galway, Rafferty grew up immersed in the East Galway tradition, learning to play both flute and uilleann pipes from his father, Tom "Barrel" Rafferty. Since emigrating to the USA in 1949, he's been based in New Jersey, and has recorded three albums with his daughter, Mary, who plays accordion on several of the tracks here; other guests include Mary's husband, guitarist Dónal Clancy, as well as fiddler Willie Kelly, accordionist Joe Madden and pianist Felix Dolan. His flawless sense of pace and rhythm are best appreciated, though, on purely solo tracks like "The Collier's Reel/St. Ruth's Bush" and the polka "I Have A Bonnet Trimmed With Blue". Spoken-word reminiscences about his family and his early years in music add to the fun.
Nine out of Ten Stars -- Sarah McQuaid, Hot Press Magazine
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"Speed 78" -- It may be something of a cliche, but "if I were stranded on a desert isle with only one CD..." it would be this one. - Gratefully, Cathal Morley
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"Speed 78" -- Irish Echo's Top 10 Traditional Albums for 2004
The 22 tracks include five spoken-word stories from Mike Rafferty that only add to the album's natural appeal. If you're unmoved by this solo CD, have a doctor check your hearing. Or pulse. - Earle Hitchner
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"Speed 78"
A Stirring Solo Debut at Age 78
CEOL, By Earle Hitchner
[Published on January 12, 2005, in the IRISH ECHO newspaper, New York
City. Copyright © Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by
permission of author.]
No Irish traditional musician on either side of the Atlantic has created a more impressive body of recordings over the past nine years than flute, whistle, and uilleann pipes player Mike Rafferty, the Irish Echo's Traditional Artist of the Year for 2003. Originally from the village of Larraga in the parish of Ballinakill, East Galway, he released "The Dangerous Reel" in 1995 with his daughter Mary, and the two followed up with "The Old Fireside Music" in 1998 and "The Road From Ballinakill" in 2001. Mike also guested on Mary Rafferty's 2002 solo CD, "Hand-Me-Downs," and two Cherish the Ladies' albums, "At Home" in 1999 and "The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone" in 2001. He has done all this since turning 69 years old, and now Mike caps an extraordinary nine-year output with something more extraordinary still: a refreshingly frills-free, utterly transfixing solo debut, "Speed 78" (Larraga Records MOR 1302). The title refers to the old 78-rpm recordings on which so many of the Irish traditional musicians Mike admired first appeared. They include his own locale's Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players, one of the greatest ensembles ever, who formed around 1926, the same year Mike was born, and recorded 78's from the early 1930s through the early 1940s. The inside of Mike Rafferty's CD booklet is a reproduction of that famed céilí band's 78-rpm release of the "Shaskeen/Green Blanket" reels, which he plays as the second track on his solo CD. "Speed 78" is also a pun, referring to Mike Rafferty's current age, when he upends any assumptions about slowing down physically by producing a solo CD that's the musical equivalent of a handwritten letter to each listener. It includes homespun (literally, since most of
it was recorded in his basement), beautifully paced, highly accomplished, melodically expressive, East Galway-style playing as well as five tracks of brief, spoken-word reminiscences by Mike. The admirable artwork and design by Marlow Palleja reinforce this motif of a musically autobiographical scrapbook. There are shots of
corner-tabbed or taped-down photos of Mike, Mary, her husband Dónal Clancy, the kitchen, the living room, the basement, a chair with a flute on it, a chair with uilleann pipes on it, and 20-year-old Mike standing beside his parents back in Ballinakill. But this is a scrapbook without any real scraps. The 22 well-considered, well-executed tracks form a surprisingly full picture of a life enriched by music and a tradition enriched by the dedication of Mike Rafferty. A lot of heart and thought went into this CD, and it shows. In February 2003, I interviewed Mike in the basement of his home in N.J. "Fast music is like fast talk: you can't understand what the person is saying," he told me then. "I like to play Irish traditional music at a nice, easy tempo. No speed. That's how I learned it, and that's how I teach it." His solo CD reflects that conviction. The way he performs a tune
compels closer attention to melody, not just in structure but in the mood and feeling it evokes. In the hornpipes "Tomgraney Castle/McMahon's," where he's backed ably by Dónal Clancy on acoustic guitar, Mike Rafferty renders notes on the wooden flute like pearls in a necklace, each appreciated for the luster it adds to the whole.
Rafferty plays unaccompanied flute on four tracks: "The Collier's Reel/St. Ruth's Bush," the polka "I Have a Bonnet Trimmed With Blue," the air "Sliabh na mBan," and the reels "The Bower/Jenny's Picking Cockles." Each conveys the grace and emotional depth of his playing, and the breath pauses he takes act as momentary rest stops to better savor the sinuous lines within a tune. Whether intentional, instinctive, or a mixture of both, what always emerges from Mike Rafferty's playing is unstoppable soulfulness. He is incapable of shortchanging a melody, nor would he ever think of using a melody to give flight to ego. The music performed by Mike Rafferty shines because he himself doesn't strive to. This isn't self-denial but the purest form of service to a tune. And by serving a tune so well, Mike Rafferty actually reveals how skilled and focused a player he is. His generous, altruistic musical spirit becomes explicit in "Cormac O'Lunny's/The Braes of Busby" reels and "Ballyoran" hornpipe. The first features Willie Kelly on fiddle and Clancy on guitar, the second features Joe Madden on button accordion and Felix Dolan on piano, and neither features Rafferty. Can you imagine any other soloist, on his own self-issued CD, absenting himself from two tracks entirely? Rafferty plays flute with Kelly on fiddle in "Pauline O'Neill's/Cúil Aodh" jigs, "Last Night's Fun/The Abbey" reels (great change here), and "The Piper's Despair/Peg McGrath's" reels (with Mary on Hohner accordion), and he plays C-sharp uilleann pipes with Kelly on fiddle and Mary on Hohner accordion in "Garrett Barry's/The Woods of Old Limerick" jigs. These are all superb collaborations, as is the flute, accordion, and piano playing of Rafferty, Madden, and Dolan in "Collier's Jig/The Lark in the Strand." If blood is thicker than friendship, then that may explain the special rapport between Mike and Mary Rafferty in their joint playing. This father-daughter combination is riveting, especially in their pipes-accordion duet in "Queen of the Rushes/Fr. John's Jubilee" jigs
and their flute-accordion work in the second jig of "Kevin Moloney's/The Scotsman Over the Border." The five brief stories from Mike Rafferty are no less a marvel on the CD. His 50-second recollection of why his mother gave away a good flute that he would have inherited--"it will make you go blind"--had more to do with the onset blindness of her flute-playing husband than any historic aversion to the instrument. It stemmed from frustration, not superstition, and Mike's own recognition of that is very moving: "I can't blame her for it." All his stories--the shortest is 20 seconds, the longest is 2:25--manage to paint a vivid portrait or scene with just a few strokes, and exert a surprisingly powerful hold on a listener's psyche. Looking for the pure drop? "Speed 78" has it in buckets. Looking for Irish music that won't give you whiplash? Your search is over. Mike Rafferty's solo debut is one of the most engaging and enjoyable releases of 2004, as my top 10 albums list will affirm in next week's "Ceol" column.
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"Speed 78" Review by Paul Keating, Irish Voice
THE Irish road sign outside the house in New Jersey leads you towards the driveway and the side entrance to one of the more impressive Irish music repositories you will find anywhere. A descent down the stairs to the basement lair of the resident Galwegian will transport you back to Ballinakill in East Galway, Ireland where traditional music has a fertile history. Inside the music room is a sea of tapes all documenting one of the richest treasure troves of traditional music in all formats (audio and video) in Irish America, lovingly produced by Terry and Mike Rafferty. More importantly, it is a living archive because the flute, whistle and uilleann pipe player Mike Rafferty has a fervent mission to keep as many tunes above ground as he can by either playing them himself, or encouraging others to do so before they are lost like so many fine musicians of yore. Since his retirement in 1989, few have been more prominent in teaching or playing and more popular in promoting the pure drop trad music that epitomizes the East Galway region where he grew up. Joe Burke, the great Galway accordion player and friend of Rafferty once told me that Mike's music was special because he held onto that style and the tunes that conveyed the essence of the music around those parts. The more leisurely days have inspired him to seek out the old tunes that he learned directly from his father Tom "Barrel" Rafferty, whose own devotion to Irish music on the flute and uilleann pipes overcame many physical handicaps like blindness and the loss of his teeth. Today's more accessible technology (though Mike still swears by the basic cassette tape recorder as his mode of capturing tunes to learn and enjoy) has allowed him to share this journey back to yesteryear on three albums with his daughter Mary (Mike and Mary Rafferty, 1995; The Old Fireside Music, 1998; The Road to Ballinakill, 2001.)  Playing as well as ever, Mike Rafferty has produced another recording in that vein entitled Speed 78 which is an inspired title. The CD jacket contains a photo of a well-worn 78 vinyl recording of the Ballinakill Ceili Band featuring the Shaskeen and Green Blanket, two familiar reels of the famed ensemble still popular today and played with great respect here by Rafferty as well. The 78-year-old master is no fan of fast music so common today, and this CD will be further testament to his argument that the music is to be savored and enjoyed without rushing through it.  Joining him on his "solo" CD are musicals friends Joe Madden, Willie Kelly and Felix Dolan, along with his box-playing daughter Mary. Her husband Donal Clancy co-produced and recorded the selections, fittingly enough, in the Rafferty's home where so many historic sessions have been held over the years.  Anyone who has spent time in Mike Rafferty's company as he delivered tunes and spun vivid yarns will appreciate the brilliant inclusion of stories as well about his mother, Kathleen, and father, Tom and how, each in their own way, instilled this life-long love for traditional music. 
Though Mike may have emigrated in 1949, his music brings us back to those earlier days. It is as if he never left the parish of Ballinakill and we are welcome visitors to that Rafferty fireside whether we arrived by cycle, shank's mare, the automobile or our audio vehicle of choice.

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*Hand-Me-Downs was in the Top 10 CDs for 2002 in the Galway Advertiser along with Feenish, Jesse Smith, Niall & Cillian Vallely, Christy Moore, Dolly Parton, Nickel Creek, Billy Bragg, Dinny McLaughlin & Maurice Lennon.

*Hand-Me-Downs was in the Top 10 CDs for 2002 in Irish America. Click here for the review.

*Hand-Me-Downs in the Top 10 CDs for 2002: Click here for review by the Irish Emigrant

*Hand-Me-Downs was in the Top 20 for 2002 in the Irish Echo. Click here for the review.

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HAND-ME-DOWNS: Judging from the cover, this young lady plays button box with her feet. In fact she's one of the best Irish American box-players around, and generally uses her hands, as you'll know if you've seen her as part of Cherish The Ladies. Here she plays a selection of tunes learnt from her father, flute-player Mike Rafferty, who learnt them in turn from his father Tom "Barrel" Rafferty. The CD title is a clear statement of the importance of aural family tradition, a practice which is strengthened by recordings such as this. On Hand-Me-Downs we can hear father and daughter sharing tunes, and we can appreciate the gradual evolution of styles through successive generations. So there. Mike Rafferty joins Mary on four tracks, and there are bit parts for most of Cherish The Ladies. I could also mention guitars, percussion, keyboards and step-dancing. Mary herself plays button box, Anglo concertina, flute in a duet with her father, and whistles. She has a rare lightness of touch on the free reeds, which gives a wistful tone to most tracks and brings out the beauty of the slow tunes. Between the jigs and the reels, Mary squeezes in a set of hornpipes and three slower tracks. The air I'll Mend Your Pots is a clear highlight, with its full arrangement and Dordan-like tone. Another exceptional track is the aforementioned flute duet, fine playing on two rarely-heard jigs, and as close to unison as you're likely to hear. Reels definitely take pride of place on this recording, though: ten tracks are devoted to that wildest of Irish musical forms. The last four tracks are reels all the way, and they give a pretty good idea of what the bright young things are doing with Irish American music these days. Grand stuff altogether. - Alex Monaghan (1/03)

HAND-ME-DOWNS: Mary Rafferty has finally released a solo album, following upon a number of albums with Cherish The Ladies and with her father, Mike Rafferty. Rafferty grew up in New Jersey, but her accordion playing goes straight back to the Ballinakill area of East Galway. Her phrasing and restrained use of dynamics give her playing more the sound of the flute tradition handed on from her father and his father than the fiddle-influenced style of fellow Galway accordion player Joe Burke. The other thing that makes Rafferty's style so special is her impeccable sense of tempo, not too slow but never too fast. About half the tunes feature Rafferty on accordion backed up by Dónal Clancy on guitar and bouzouki. A few tunes are duets with other members of Cherish the Ladies, and a couple more are with her father. Two sets of reels show Rafferty's talents on the whistle (one set features some excellent sean nós dancing by Seosamh Ó Neachtain), and she plays flute on one pair of jigs. The tunes mostly come from Mike Rafferty, though Mary picks some of the best newer tunes as well. With Hand-Me-Downs, Mary Rafferty clearly establishes her place as one of the finest players of Irish traditional music today, and we can but hope for more solo recordings like this one. --Bruce E. Baker, Dirty Linen Magazine (Aug.Sept.'02)

HAND-ME-DOWNS. While the title of Mary's new CD might conjure the image of old worn clothes, the translation into musical terms shouldn't be too literal. There are indeed a good number of old worn favorites among the tunes she performs on this CD, many of which she learned from her father, esteemed East Galway flute player Mike Rafferty (who appears on four tracks), but her fresh, direct, yet tastefully understated playing make them seem sparkling new again. There are also a few recent items, for instance the two great reels composed by fellow accordion player Tim Tully. Mary plays not only B/C box, but also concertina and flute, and is joined by her father, as well as fellow Cherish the Ladies members Joanie Madden (flute, whistle), Marie Reilly (fiddle), and Donna Long (piano). The guitar and bouzouki accompaniments by Dónal Clancy are first-class. Well done, Mary. Rating: **** -- Philippe Varlet Celtic Grooves

HAND ME DOWNS: It's homely, beautiful music played with good taste at a respectable pace, and it still carries its local identity, even though an ocean lies between the musicians and its place of origin. -- Claddagh Records, Dublin, Ireland.

HAND ME DOWNS: Mary Rafferty for the uninformed is the accordion, concertina and whistle player from the hugely successful US Celtic band Cherish the Ladies. So we already know we're onto a winner here. Indeed Mary's style which I would class as being more delicate than dynamic is a prime example of how to obtain the best from your chosen instrument. Hopefully you'll get the idea if I say that her performance is restrained (but never boring) and evenly paced so that the listener can relish the full scope of the tunes she has chosen for this, her first solo recording. Solo is perhaps a bit of a misleading statement as she is ably assisted by Cherish partners Joanie Madden and Donna Long and produced by Dónal Clancy. All of the sets are well constructed and as you would expect not a note out of place. On the slow air 'A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow' Mary's command of her instrument proves a thing of beauty segueing as it does into the jig 'The Thrush in the Straw'. Maybe I'm getting old but this is what music should be about, unrushed but sculptured with a love that is so obvious to the listener. -- Pete Fyfe - Folking.com

HAND ME DOWNS: Mary posted us copies of her new album and all of us in the shop fell in love with it. Her gentle competence on the accordion, concertina and flute amazed us and we gladly put it forward as a definite buy. -- Custy's Music Shop, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland.

THE ROAD FROM BALLINAKILL, by Mike and Mary Rafferty (Larraga): The flute, whistle, and uilleann pipes playing of Ballinakill, Galway's Mike Rafferty, who also plays Jew's harp and lilts, represents the melodic, naturally pulsing music of East Galway to the core. "The Road From Ballinakill" amply showcases his talents and completes a "hat trick" of traditional music making by him and his daughter Mary, a member of Cherish the Ladies who plays button accordion, flute, whistle, and concertina. ("The Old Fireside Music" in 1998 and "The Dangerous Reel" in 1995 are their previous duet releases.) This is music drawn from the heart, played with soul, and bound by a blood tie that invariably adds something more to the mix. It is, in short, the "pure drop," a distillation of touch, tempo, and taste, flowing from first to last track. Voted top ten for 2001. -- Don Meade - Irish Voice

I've listened closely to the "The Old Fireside Music" and "The Road to Ballinakill". They are brilliant cd's. I've been listening to Irish music for 30 years, playing it myself for 28, and putting it on the radio for 22. These two cd's are classic recordings in a class with Mary McNamara, Jacqueline McCarty, Mary Bergin, Noel Hill and Tony Linnane, Tony McMahon, the old album of the Russell Family, and the classic trio of James Kelly, Paddy O'Brien, and Daithi Sproul. Mike & Mary play what feels to me like the heart of Irish music. With the songs and lilting of Mike's sister, Kathleen & brother Paddy, I feel as if I'm leaning against their kitchen wall on a Sunday night. Needless to say, I played their cd's on the radio, a lot, and will again this weekend! -- Mark Cantor

A big thanks to whomever it was who gave the heads-up about "The Road to Ballinakill," the new CD by Mike and Mary Rafferty, and also for pointing the way to cherishtheladies.com as a good source for getting all the M&M stuff. I've been enjoying "The Dangerous Reel" ever since it came out a few years ago, but although I'd known about "Old Fireside Music," I'd not exerted myself to find a copy. My mistake. I ordered both that and "The Road from Ballinakill", and had the CDs within a week, and have hardly stopped playing them since. It is so refreshing to hear CDs of just straight Irish Traditional Music, especially when the music is as unfailingly lovely as it is on these. I also love it when a CD brings a totally unexpected treasure. As much as I love all the instrumental work here, Kathleen Glynn's singing of "May Morning Dew" is the real chill-producer for me. Even after multiple listenings. Can it get any better than this? -- Paul Wells -Murfreesboro, TN