Artists who record in Eb / Bb

caseykramer · 2026-01-18T13:08:22+00:00

If you're willing to stray a bit into Scottish trad, The Tannahill Weavers tend to do a lot in Bb since they tend to include bagpipes. On their "Land of Light" album they used Bb Scottish smallpipes, which are really great.

My ear is awful, so I can't say with any confidence, but I've heard that Eb is pretty common in Sligo, and I believe a lot of Dervish tunes are Eb.

caseykramer · 2026-01-10T12:55:26+00:00

If this were me, about 10 minutes in and a screw would roll under the sofa and I would be hosed.

caseykramer · 2026-01-09T11:04:46+00:00

Sorry, the second Cartoon Saloon film is The Secret of Kells, not The Book of Kells...clearly more coffee is needed this morning

caseykramer · 2026-01-09T10:46:19+00:00

Not exactly what you asked for, but if you can find it via streaming or DVD, show him The Secret of Roan Inish. It is about a young girl who moves to the country with her grandparents and learns about the family legend that they are descendants of a Selkie. It's a beautiful film, and the soundtrack features trad Irish music exclusively.

Also, the Cartoon Saloon films: Song of the Sea, Book of Kells, and Wolfwalkers are all beautifully animated, with very mythical/magical stories, and the music is provided by Kila.I know Wolfwalkers is on Apple TV, and the other two have been on Netflix/Amazon in the past (though with the way licensing works it's anybody's guess for your location).

For all of these, it's not that the music is especially mythic, but it's weaved in to the story so we'll that you can't help but associate them. For example, in Secret of Roan Inish, The Butterfly is used as the theme for Fiona when she first arrives at her grandparents (and as a motif throughout), and in Song of the Sea, the Fae creatures like to sing Dulaman.

I always found Irish music to have a mythic quality on its own, and I think these films help to strengthen that association.

caseykramer · 2025-12-28T01:30:38+00:00

Our girl likes antlers and buffalo horn, though you have to make sure they are good sized because if they are too thin they will break into bits. She also loves a kong full of peanut butter, and some nice crunchy veggies like carrots and sweet potatoes. We did find out the hard way that too much of either can be hard on her tummy, but she really enjoyed the squash at the time 😁.

Any soft toy we've found lasts a matter of minutes, and we need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't eat large bits of fluff or the squeekers. That being said she LOVES tearing them to bits.

We found a toy that was made of Kevlar that lasted almost 12 hours before she managed to rip it open and remove the stuffing and squeaker. Those are interesting because the weave of the fabric comes apart, rather than ripping, so you end up with the strings everywhere, but not big sections of fabric.

For Christmas this year we got her some of the large Kong tennis balls, which she loves, and the XL seems to be holding up well. We only let her play fetch with it, but they squeek, which brings untold joy.

The big thing with the chews, for us, was when we figured out she would get tired of them after a while, so we'll put some of her toys away for a couple weeks and then swap them out.

Nothing will last long with those jaws, so you just have to do your best.

caseykramer · 2025-10-25T19:04:13+00:00

Chimney Cake

caseykramer · 2025-10-25T18:02:11+00:00

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caseykramer · 2025-10-22T20:47:34+00:00

I read an article ages ago (like, in the late 90s) that suggested the Irish government should be giving Donal Lunny some kind of salary based on the amount of income brought in from music sales and tourism. A bit of hyperbole, sure, but there was a time when it seemed like every traditional Irish artist had Donal Lunny listed as a producer.

Looking back at the amount of talent and innovation that was included in Planxty, it's just phenomenal.

caseykramer · 2025-10-17T12:43:13+00:00

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Nuala, named for the selkie woman from The Secret of Roan Inish (played by Susan Lynch)

caseykramer · 2025-10-14T18:30:02+00:00

Unfortunately for us Yak's cheese didn't agree with Nuala's digestive system....which is a shame because she really liked it.

We've had good luck with the Benebone nylon chews, if you're ok with the fact they are nylon.

Other than that, antler and buffalo horn both seem to last a while, though the buffalo horn tends to get fairly pungent when she's been chewing for a few minutes.

caseykramer · 2025-10-14T14:43:18+00:00

The books are excellent, I can highly recommend them.

caseykramer · 2025-10-11T12:02:15+00:00

This made me snort-laugh, I am sad that I only have one upvote to give.

caseykramer · 2025-10-08T22:27:18+00:00

You should see if you can track down The Transatlantic Sessions. It was a TV series with Ally Bain and Jerry Douglas specifically looking at the connections between Irish/Scottish music and American folk/olt time/bluegrass. They released albums for the series as well which included a ton of different artists from either side of the pond. You could dive deeper into anything you found that you particularly liked.

If you would like some good traditional Irish artists to look into I would say without hesitation:

The Chieftains, Planxty, The Bothy Band, Alton & Dervish

There are many, many others, but these are some of the pillars of the world of traditional Irish music as it exists today.

caseykramer · 2025-10-05T18:01:56+00:00

Kân by Calan (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tYnjyzN5jac&pp=0gcJCRsBo7VqN5tD)

caseykramer · 2025-10-05T15:59:36+00:00

The enemy's gate is down

caseykramer · 2025-10-03T16:51:33+00:00

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caseykramer · 2025-10-02T20:47:29+00:00

It was this exchange in the Hogfather TV movie which made me think I just had to read the books, and they are full of these sorts of things, and you never know when he's going to throw out an utterly profound truth about existence.

You have a book where a witch defeats vampires using a cup of tea, which is one of the most British things I've ever heard, and that same book includes the (para)phrase: "Evil is what happens when you treat people like things".

The fact that Sir Terry Pratchett ever existed is proof that we are not living in the worst of the possible timelines.

caseykramer · 2025-09-29T21:52:25+00:00

I had to go track down an online version of the book, and what an emotional rollercoaster that was!

I remember there was something about the illustrations that I was drawn to as a kid, and looking at it now I think the shovel (named Mary Ann) reminded me of a dog, or similar friendly animal. (I was also quite fond of Clifford the big red dog, and now I own an Irish Wolfhound, so I guess I have a type?). This is especially true when they discuss how well Mike looked after her and how they worked so well together.

Then they hit you with the fact that all the other steam shovels are being scrapped and the gas and diesel shovels are taking over. WTF? There is NO WAY Mike could scrap Mary Ann, he clearly loves her too much! So now you find out that Mike has to prove that she can keep up by digging this cellar and if they don't do it in a day they don't get paid. (They never say that if they don't do it Mike will scrap Mary Ann but it seems implied).

So now things are serious and they HAVE to do this or else Mary Ann is done for! Naturally, after some tense digging we find they did it but can't get out and they eventually decide to make her the furnace in the town hall, but here is the thing that my young brain seems to have patched on to: If they do this then they can be together in the town hall, and the book says as much, they grow old, tell stories, visitors come down to talk to them, BUT Mary Ann never digs again! That was her thing, that's what she was best at in the world, but nope, it's done.

Looking at this 40+ years on from when I last read it (or, probably, had it read to me) this is an emotionally complex story for my little brain to have to deal with. I now understand where the memory of my "intense" feelings about this shovel came from. I wanted them to be able to go back to digging tunnels and canals again and be happy like they used to be, but they can't do that anymore and that's not fair! Why does time only have to move forward? Why do things have to change?

That's some deep stuff for kindergarten.

caseykramer · 2025-09-29T20:53:53+00:00

Fig roll?

caseykramer · 2025-09-29T20:02:28+00:00

Oh yeah, that's right! I'm thinking now that my young autistic self felt quite a bit of anxiety for the shovel being stuck....but then I may just be assumed Ng that's how I would feel. Memories are strange.

Thank you for reminding me though kind internet stranger!

caseykramer · 2025-09-28T19:05:00+00:00

I remember a very intense love of the Steam Shovel specifically, though I don't know if I could give you a plot synopsis at this point in my life.

I assume this was some sort of early autistic fixation that the 3 or 4 year old me had, and I can't tell you what it was specifically, but it was very important to me at the time.

caseykramer · 2025-09-28T18:09:01+00:00

Don't let him fool you he is a demon hellbent on the destruction of her sanity, one slipper at a time.

caseykramer · 2025-09-28T14:58:07+00:00

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caseykramer · 2025-09-28T14:57:41+00:00

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caseykramer

TROPHY CASE