Reel, G, traditional Irish
Also known as: An Bóthar Cam (The Crooked Road); The Crooked Road
TrailJams Tune of the Week: March 29, 2026
The Crooked Road to Dublin is a compact and energetic traditional Irish reel that has been widely played for well over a century. The tune was recorded in New York in 1927 by the great Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman, whose 78-rpm recordings helped establish much of the core session repertoire still heard today. Coleman learned most of his tunes in Ireland before emigrating in 1914, so the melody almost certainly belongs to the older traditional repertoire rather than to a modern composer.
The Illustration above shows a crooked Irish road. This particular road is at The Gap of Dunloe, County Kerry, Ireland. That’s just about as far from Dublin as you can get and still be on the same island.
Recordings
- Video – Floating Crowbar: Reels: Sporting Paddy / The Crooked Road / The Old Bush – from the album The Torn Jacket. (The Crooked Road starts at time 1:16 in this recording.)
- Video – John Whelan: The Crooked Road To Dublin Medley – from the album Come to Dance. (The Crooked Road to Dublin is the first of three tunes in this Medley. It is followed by Dinky’s Reel, Mrs. Carolan’s, and The New Copperplate.)
- Video – Paul Brady: The Crooked Road to Dublin / The Bucks of Oranmore – from the album The Missing Liberty Tapes (Paul Brady with Donal Lunny, Matt Molloy, Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin, and Liam O’Flynn, and Noel Hill.)
Sheet Music
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.
Play-along Tracks
Sets
Examples of sets that include this tune.
- Two-Fox Road Reel Set: The Foxhunter’s Reel (G) / The Crooked Road to Dublin (G) / The Foxhunter’s Reel (A)
- The Crooked Road to Dublin (G) / The Foxhunter’s Reel (A)
- Sporting Paddy / The Crooked Road to Dublin / The Old Bush
- Over the Moor to Maggie / The Morning Nightcap / The Crooked Road to Dublin
References and Resources
For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.
- Books
- Book & audio – Grey Larsen: 300 Gems of Irish Music for All Instruments
- Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes (The tune is in the key of G in this book.)
- Lessons
- Lesson – Marla Fibish (Peghead Nation): G Major Reel, The Crooked Road – video lesson for mandolin, with downloadable sheet music and audio track. (Requires subscription to Peghead Nation.)
- Lesson – Sean Cunningham (Whistletutor): Crooked Road to Dublin [reel] Tin Whistle Lesson – video lesson with part-by-part breakdown and suggestions for ornamentation. (Tabs and sheet music on Patreon / whistletutor.)
- Lesson – Hatao (hatao’s Irish tune of the day): – 339 The Crooked Road to Dublin (Single Reel, G) – video lesson. Tune played on flute with and without on-screen sheet music.
- Additional Resources
- Web page: The Session: The Crooked Road to Dublin – crowdsourced sheet music, comments and more