Julia Delaney’s

Reel, D Dorian, Traditional Irish
Also known as: Julia Delaney
TrailJams Tune of the Week for August 19, 2021; April 7, 2024

This traditional Irish reel is popular in sessions and has found its way into contra dance and American old-time music repertoires. Collected in Chicago by Francis O’Neill and James O’Neill, the tune was published in their O’Neill’s Music of Ireland in 1903. In his video lesson for this tune, Kevin Burke explains that Julia Delaney “was the sister-in-law of Francis O’Neill, Chicago’s police chief back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.”

Played in the key of D Dorian, this tune gives tin whistle players a good reason to get out their C whistles. For a brief and friendly explanation of the Dorian mode, see: Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell.

Recordings

• Video – The Bothy Band: Julia Delaney – from the album 1975
• Video – Eileen Ivers: Flowing Tide/Crock Of Gold/Julia Delaney’s – from the album Traditional Irish Music. (Julia Delaney’s starts at time 2:53 in this recording.)
• Video – Peakfiddler: Julia Delaney – Irish Fiddle Reel

Dots (Music Notation)

As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Sergeant Early’s Reel Set: Sergeant Early’s Dream (D Dorian) / The Maids of Mitchelstown (D Dorian) / Julia Delaney’s (D Dorian)
• Julia Delaney’s Reel (D Dorian) / Tam Lin (D Minor)

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• More Recordings
  • Video – The Whistler: Julia Delaney’s (Reel) (Note: in this recording the tune is played in E Dorian on a D whistle. Play it on a C whistle for D Dorian.) 
• Books
  • Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. By Susan Songer with Clyde Curley.
  • Book – John Weed and Stuart Mason: Slow & Easy Volumes 1 and 2
  • Book – Gary Coover: 75 Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina (Rollston Press). One of a series of Anglo concertina tune books by this author. Available as a printed book a e-book.
  • Book – Francis O’Neill and James O’Neill: O’Neill’s Music of Ireland – (published 1903)
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Claire Shirey: Julia Delaney’s Concertina Tutorial
  • Lesson – MandoLessons (Baron Collins-Hill): Julia Delaney (Instruction video for mandolin, with audio tracks and musical score.)
  • Lesson – Kevin Burke: Julia Delaney, Trad Irish Fiddle Lesson (Excerpt video of full lesson.)
• Additional Resources
  • Webpage – The Session: Julia Delaney’s (Reel) – crowdsourced sheet music, comment, and more
  • Webpage – irishtune.info: Julia Delaney – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng.
  • Article: Jonathan Lay (TrailJams): Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell – a brief guide to modes in Celtic, English, and American tunes