The Parting Glass: A History of Irish Pub Music

The Parting Glass is a warm, unhurried journey through a thousand years of Irish music — from the harpers at the hearth of Gaelic chieftains to a Tuesday-night session in a small pub in County Clare. Walk with the travelling fiddlers of the penal age. Stand at the crossroads dance on a summer Sunday. Board the emigrant ships of the Great Hunger and listen as the songs cross the Atlantic and come home again.Along the way, meet the songs themselves — Grace, The Fields of Athenry, Carrickfergus, Spancil Hill, Whiskey in the Jar, Danny Boy, and the gentle goodnight of The Parting Glass itself — and learn where each of them came from, and why each still makes a room go quiet at the second verse. Irish words are woven gently through the pages, with their meanings close by: fáilte, sean-nós, céilí, seisiún, slán abhaile.A perfect gift for the traveller back from Ireland, the grandchild of an emigrant, the session musician — or anyone who has ever lingered after closing time just to hear one more verse. Read more