The Sligo Maid

Reel, A Dorian, Traditional Irish

Ireland’s County Sligo is known for its graceful and nimble “Sligo style” of tune playing. This tune, a traditional Irish reel, is named for a girl of that county, or perhaps of the harbor town of Sligo.

The seaport town of Sligo is at Sligo Bay in Ireland’s County Sligo. In the illustration above, the rock formation that is Benbulbin Mountain is seen across Sligo Bay.

There’s a girl in this harbor town
And she works laying whiskey down
They say Brandy fetch another round
She serves them whisky and wine

from “Brandy” a song by Elliot Lurie, performed by Looking Glass

Recordings

• Audio – Kevin Burke: The Sligo Maid / The Woman of the House / The Sailor’s Bonnet (medley) – from the album Sweeney’s Dream: Fiddle Tunes from County Sligo, Ireland (Portland, Oregon)
• Video – Chris Smith: The Sligo Maid / Hand Me Down the Tackle / Come West Along the Road – from the album Coyotebanjo, Irish Traditional Music from America, Chris Smith with Roger Landes and Randal Bays. Played on tenor banjo and fiddle with bouzouki backing.
• Video – The Dubliners: Reels – The Sligo Maid / Colonel Rodney Medley (Live) – from the album Originals

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.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Sligo Maid Reel Set: The Sligo Maid (A Dorian) / The Sally Gardens (G) / Swinging on a Gate (G)
• Jenny Picking Cockles / The Sligo Maid
• The Sligo Maid / The Maid behind the Bar

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Video – Pat Barton: The Sligo Maid – Irish traditional reel on button accordion – played on diatonic button accordion
  • Video – Alan McCartney: The Sligo Maid / The Sally Gardens – played by Alan McCartney, Paul Bradley, Jason O’Rourke, Brendan O’Hare, Ray Gallen. From the album Traditional Irish Music From Belfast
  • Audio – Comhaltas: Sligo Maid – session recording. From the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 2
• Books
  • Book & Audio – Matt & Shannon Heaton: In Harmony 
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 2 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
  • 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.
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Paddy Cummins (Online Academy of Irish Music): Irish Mandolin Tutorial: Learn The Reel ‘The Sligo Maid’ + [Ornamentation Technique] – video sample lesson. (Sheet music downloadable with subscription to OAIM.)
  • Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): Tin Whistle Lesson – Sligo Maid (Reel) – video lesson with part-by-part breakdown and suggestions for ornamentation. (Tabs and sheet music on Patreon / whistletutor.)
  • Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Sligo Maid (Reel) – Tune of the Month – flute video lesson with the tune taught phrase by phrase
  • Video – Hatao (hatao’s Irish tune of the day): 104 The Sligo Maid (Double Reel, A Dorian) – played clearly on flute for tune learning, with and without accompaniment, sheet music on-screen in video.
• Additional Resources
  • Article – Jonathan Lay (TrailJams): Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell
  • Article – Wikipedia: Benbulbin – about the mountain and rock formation
  • Article – Wikipedia: Sligo – about the town of Sligo
  • Video Series – Steve Wickham: Sligo Style – “master class” fiddle-in-hand interviews with Sligo style master fiddlers Declan Folan, Philip Duffy, Oisin MacDiarmada and Seamie O’Dowd