Trip to Athlone

Two names sit on the same jig: "Trip to Athlone" and "The Newport Lass," Newport being the town in County Mayo. The Rosaleen Quartet — with the Leitrim flute player John McKenna among them — made the first recording in New York in 1937, issued on a Decca 78 under the "Newport Lass" title. Breathnach later printed it in Ceol Rince na hÉireann (1963), notated from the piping of Matthew Tiernan. East Clare fiddlers Paddy Canny and P.J. Hayes recorded it in 1959. Much of the tune's character comes from its C, sharp in some settings and natural in others, which tilts the later parts toward mixolydian.