Rolling in the Ryegrass

Reel, D, traditional Irish
Also known as The Shannon Breeze

This is one of those tunes that is easy to play, sounds good, and comes up in sessions. As a single reel it is short, with only four measures (repeated) in the A and B parts of the tune.

Recordings

• Video – Dulahan Ireland: Rolling in the Ryegrass – played on fiddle and guitar. (Dulahan is the duo of Joe and Adele Green, County Mayo, Ireland.)
• Audio – Stephen Ducke: Rolling in the Ryegrass (Reel) – played on tin whistle. From the book Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
• Video – Matt Molloy: Rolling in the Ryegrass / The Killavil Fancy from the album Music at Matt Molloy’s.

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.

• Tulla Reel Set: Rolling in the Ryegrass / Humors of Tulla
• Rolling in the Ryegrass / The Killavil Fancy
• Rolling in the Ryegrass / Johnny When you Die / Anything for John Joe
• The Salamanca / Rolling in the Ryegrass

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Video – Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch: Rolling on the Ryegrass Medley – Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch at Augusta Irish Week 2016
• Books
  • Book – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music 400 Traditional Tunes
• Lessons
  • Video – Tom Morley Learn an Irish Fiddle Tune – The Shannon Breeze – lesson on playing the tune on fiddle.
  • Video – The Irish Mandolin: Rolling In The Ryegrass – a reel in D Major tabbed for mandolin and played by Aidan Crossey
  • Video – Shannon Heaton: Learning Irish Flute – Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton – Rollin in the Ryegrass [Reel]
  • Lessons – Online Academy of Irish Music — Lessons on playing the tune on fiddle, tin whistle, flute, uilleann pipes, and bouzouki (accompaniment). By subscription. Besides the lessons, the site provides a backing tracks to play along with.