The Tarbolton

Reel, E Dorian, traditional Irish
Also known as: Tarbolton Lodge
TrailJams Tune of the Week: December 10, 2023

The Tarbolton is a well-loved Irish reel, made especially popular by Michael Coleman’s recording of it in the early 1900s.

Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman recorded this traditional tune in New York in 1934 as “Tar Bolton,” the first tune in his celebrated Tarbolton set. The tune is named for the Scottish village of Tarbolton. Tarbolton Lodge, another of the tune’s titles, may refer to the Masonic lodge in Tarbolton where poet Robert Burns was inducted in 1781. The village of Tarbolton is in South Ayrshire, Scotland.

About the Illustration
The illustration above is based on a depiction of Manson’s Inn in Tarbolton, as published in Auld Ayrshire of Burns in 1906. The inn was the meeting place of St James’s Masonic Lodge, where Robert Burns served as Depute Master, and it also functioned as a lively social hub for music, conversation, and dancing. The lodge was the kind of community setting where reels like “The Tarbolton” would have been played—linking the tune’s name to a real place.

Recordings

Video – Altan with Dervish, Haley Richardson & Declan McHale: The Tarbolton Selection (The Tarbolton, The Longford Collector, The Sailor’s Bonnet) – Live stage performance at Fleadh Cheoil 2014, Sligo. Originally aired: TG4, Fleadhtv.
Video – Comhaltas: Tarbolton – session recording, from the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 2
Video – Michael Coleman: Tarbolton / The Longford Collector / The Sailor’s Bonnet – fiddler Michael Coleman (1891-1945), accompanied by Michael “Whitey” Andrews on guitar. 1934 recording “XR remastered from a mint pressing provided from a private collection.”