Johnny Og is Johnny’s senior’s son and plays the slightly larger two-row button accordion with a beautiful fluent, light touch.The great Joe Burke was one of his early influences.Virtuoso banjo player Brian McGrath, one of the founders of Four Men and A Dog, currently plays in Sean Keane’s Band and At The Racket.He and Johnny Og have played together for years; there’s both tightness and an easy give and take in their duo playing.Distinguished accompanists here too, James Blennerhasset on cello and double bass, Eugene Kelly and Peter O’Hanlon on guitars and McGrath on piano.The title is apt.Several of the tunes are recent compositions by, among others, Charlie Lennon and Johnny Og himself, whose fine, intricate tunes include the lovely set of jigs Poirt Inis Bearachain (also featured on his father’s CD) and named after the now uninhabited Island off the Connemara coast, where Johnny Connolly Snr was born.
Tracks:
Disc 1Side 11. Gan Ainm / Doberman's Wallet2. Paddy Ryan's Dream / Jimmy Batty's3. Mick O'Connor's Reels4. The Happy Hornpipe / The Souvenir5. The Inis Bearachain Jigs6. Ril Johnny Phadraig Pheter / Ril Joe Mhaire Mhicilin7. Christmas in Spiddal / Twelve to the Bar8. The Carraroe Jig / Homage to Rooney9. Mountain Dew / Loughrea Reel10. Dillon's / Marion Egan's11. Bean Phaidin / Seanamhach Tube Station12. Michael Coleman's / Flanagan Meets O'Hanlon Barndances