1. The Kiss Behind the Door / Bonnie Ann / The Granny in the Wood.
2. The Humours of Ballyconnell / Swinging on the Gate.
3. The Mayo Snaps / The Boys of the Town.
4. Paddy Kiloran's Highland / Hannah Mhici Mhicheail's.
5. Farewell Dear Erne, I Now Must Leave You.
6. The New Copperplate / Patsy Hanley's.
7. The Bugle Hornpipe / Number 5.
8. Edward the Seventh / The Lark on the Strand.
9. The Shaskeen.
10. The Banks of the Clyde.
11. Na Ceannabhain Bhana / Dever the Dancer.
12. P. Flanagan's / The Gossoon That Beat His Father.
13. The Maids of Castlebar / The Morning Star.
14. Last Nights Fun / The Sligo Maid.
15. The Heel & Toe / Devlin's.

The three first met in Coleraine University. Gary is now Church of Ireland rector in Westport, Seamus is a Catholic priest in Monaghan, and Ciaran is from the parish of Altan. Seamus plays fiddle, Gary plays flute and Ciaran plays bouzouki. This is superb music, much of it based on the tradition of County Fermanagh where Seamus grew up. These men had the same mentors as Cathal McConnell, the musicians of South Fermanagh and North Leitrim. Seamus also has a special allegiance to the music of Coleman, and the couple of slow airs included are based on the songs and style of Fermanagh. It's as good as you are going to hear. Claddagh Records

Press Reviews

Live Ireland Web Site Sept 02

Another serious contender for Instrumental Album Of The Year will be Slan le Loch Eirne--Stories To Tell. It is out on one of our favorite labels, Clo Ior-Chonnachta. Featuring Father Seamus Quinn on flute, melodeon and fiddle and Reverend Gary Hastings on flute, this is a masterpiece stunner of an album for any traditional music fan. Both lads knew each other from their days in the North, where Father Seamus still resides in Monaghan, with Gary serving as Rector of Westport, Co. Mayo. We will resist the urge to point out the lessons of these two dear friends making music together and that whole metaphor. This album is the real thing and a tremendous work of art on its own merits. Fortunately, the album notes are in both English and Gaelic. Clearly, one of the central goals was to produce an album that harkens back to the wonderful 78's of the 40's and 50's. Success! The feel on this album is so joyful and so right, one is left gob struck at the conception and execution of the whole thing. Wondrous. Mighty! Ciaran Curran out of Altan is the producer. Charlie Lennon even appears on a tune pitching in on violin. Great musicianship and great production values really give the right feel. The last time we heard this sort of thing and were this moved by it was Moving Cloud's first album. At the end of it all, one sits back and realizes the specialness of the grasp of these two. Great tune sequencing. Slip jigs, airs, reels, polkas and barndances in abundance. Over the years, we have learned how impossible it is to write down the quality of a piece of music that makes it unique. Wonderful. Fresh. And, so we run into that problem here. Suffice it to say, that this is not only a terrifically album to listen to, it is important. These two know their tradition. A couple months ago, we outlined for you here what the current main streams are in traditional music. One was the strong re-emergence of those determined to keep the drop pure. Quinn and Hastings are in that camp. We, as much as anyone---and more than many---- enjoy the latest flashes of innovation so rife in the tradition right now. We have said that there is no such thing as a frozen point in time where you could look to any aspect of traditional music and say, "There! That's it!" Traditional music has always and forever evolved, changed and grown as it was being played. But, if there were such a magic time in history where you could point and say "there it is"----it would sound like this album. Perfection. We have listened to it about 25 times and still love every note. Find it! Get it! Bill Margeson of Chicago Irish Press. Rating: Four Harps

Irish Music Magazine Aug 02

This is an album full of those rich connections, which make Irish traditional music so attractive and compelling. Firstly there are the personal links, all three players originally met at Coleraine University, since then, professionally they've gone their own ways, but the music still binds them. Ciaran is best known for his work with Altan, whilst Seamus is a Catholic priest, based in Monaghan and Gary is the church of Ireland rector in Westport. In their formative years these three men came under the spell of the musicians of South Fermanagh and North Leitrim, Teeny McTaggert, Johnnie Maguire, Eddie Duffy, Mick Hoy and many more. Seamus also pays his dues to the classic Irish American recordings of Coleman, Killoran and Morrison, which he tells us in the extensive liner notes were key early influences. There's a special variety of tunes in the selections on this disc reflecting the rich heritage of south Fermanagh and the Northern counties in general, with reels such as, The Humours of Ballyconnell/ Swinging On The Gate, The Shaskeen, Last Night's Fun/ The Sligo Maid and jig sets such as Na Ceannabhain Bana/ Dever the Dancer. Gary Hastings gives us two fifing tunes from Country Antrim, The Bugle Hornpipe/ Number 5 and they are a revelation, bouncy, bright and totally captivating. And, with a special guest appearance from Charlie Lennon on the reels, The Maids of Castlebar and The Morning Star, this is assuredly a top-drawer trad album. Personal favourites are the pared to the bone slow airs, The Banks of the Clyde and Farewell Dear Erne I Now Must Leave You. Gary Hastings says in the liner notes, 'Traditional music isn't about music at all, it's about people. To really get a hoult on this music, you need to get close enough to smell the musicians, to be part of the web of experience and contact and toing and froing. This kind of stuff doesn't stick too well to shiny CDs and plastic tapes. People are People. Recordings are recordings'. Maybe so, but Reverend Gentlemen once you have a hoult you can make a real fine recording with it. Sean Laffey.

Folk Roots Review Aug/ Sept .02

An ensuing stream of delighted music pours forth from the pair's interactions, while Seamus also demonstrates his virtuosity on the melodeon and piano. Strangely, there are none of the slow airs for which Gary is renowned, but he does produce a sprightly collections of fifing tunes, The Bugle Hornpipe/ Number 5, on a thoroughly engaging album.

Traditional Music Maker Magazine.Aug 02

Irish Rebel Fifing tunes associated with the Orange tradition seems an unlikely combination, but Seamus Quinn, fiddle and Gary Hastings flute, have produced a barnstorming toe tapper and probably done more for ecomunical harmony than all the polititians put together. They started playing together as university students, but different paths led Seamus to become a Catholis priest and Gary to become a Minister in the Protestant church. Throughout their careers they have kept in touch and recently came together to record this collection of tunes from both sides of the divide. Track one Kiss Behind the Door is a lively medley of Barn Dance music with the wonderfully woody sound of the flute and lively fiddle playing. The duo showing their instrumental versatility by dubbing their own accompaniment. On track two. A collection of reels, they are joined by their producer Ciaran Curran, (of Altan) playing bouzouki. He also joins them on several other tracks. Charlie Lennon plays fiddle on one of the tracks, an exceptionally fine version of The Maids of Castlebar and The Morning Star reels. The whole feel about this CD is one of homespun zest, the kind of sound you expect to hear at a live performance. As they say in their own notes, they are keen on the sound of the old 78 recordings and this certainly comes across in the playing. No sterile studio sound here. Irish music has traveled the world and in so doing has often been sanitized and packaged by major recording companies and show time impresarios, keen to cash in on it's popularity. It's great to hear the real thing, as you would expect to hear it played in Ireland. Brian Healey.

The Folk Diary Aug 02

This is joyous, swinging playing of Irish traditional music on fiddle and flute. Gary is the flute player and as well as playing fiddle Séamus multi-tracks the adventurous driving piano accompaniments as well adding some viola and melodeon. There are also significant contributions from Charlie Lennon playing a second fiddle and from Altan's Ciaran Curran. The album is carefully programmed offering slip, jigs, hornpipes, polkas, Donegal highlands and two vibrant slow airs alongside the inevitable jigs and reels. Many of the tunes are taken from the famous Irish-American 78s of the 1920s and 1930s. Séamus is a Catholic priest and he plays with great empathy with the Rev. Canon Gary Hastings, a great expert on the Protestant Lambeg drumming. May their great example be copied! Vic Smith

Taplas June/July. The Welsh Folk Magazine

Two priests respectively from Fermanagh and Belfast, present a pleasantly balanced collection of fiddle and flute duets. They combine well-known and lesser-known tunes with care and affection. There's nothing flashy here — just good, solid, traditional Irish music.

The Irish Post 29.6.02

Two musical clergymen, Fr Seamus Quinn and Rev Gary Hastings have produced one of the best CDs of traditional music I have heard in a long time. Slan Loch Eirne is a truly delightful collection, which bounces happily along, full of fun and feeling. Most people will enjoy this one. Coming from a fiddle playing Catholic priest and a flute playing Church of Ireland minister, this CD appears like a worthy ecumenical effort. But it is far more than that, because both men are captivated by traditional music. Writing in a mixture of English and Irish, Hastings says that the music is given meaning by the people who play it and listen to it. 'The people are the heart of the music, you need to be close enough to smell the musicians'. Seamus Quinn tells of how as a child he was entranced by the Irish musicians recorded in the USA in the 1920's and 30s. 'They played with a raw, reckless, almost desperate abandon, always infused with human warmth. They seemed to be completely untrammelled by the damping and deadening, peer pressured, contemporary notions of traditional music etiquette. A love of music and carousing brought the two men together in what Gary Hastings calls 'their ill spent youth' as students at the University of Ulster at Coleraine. He claims to have acquired his tunes as a result of too much revelling. Born in Belfast, Hastings took a degree in Irish studies and is now Rector of Westport, Co Mayo. Seamus, who plays the piano and melodeon as well as the fiddle, is from Derrygonnelly in Co Fermanagh. He has a special interest in the Irish language, which he studied at university. Ordained in 1992, he lives in Co Monaghan. Two well known musicians join them on the album, bouzouki player Ciaran Curran of Altan and fiddle player, Charlie Lennon. Liz Curtis

Pay The Reckoning Web Site

The old ones would have you believe that every man of the cloth felt it was his sworn duty to mosey down by the crossroads with his walking stick or mitre or whatever and knock seven bells out of the hapless dancers and musicianers. (Which often left Pay The Reckoning wondering how come so many great tunes were named after priests; Father Dollard's Favourite, An t-Athair Jack Walsh, The Musical Priest, etc.!)

This isn't a digression ... both Quinn and Hastings are clergymen "in real life". Quinn, originally of Derrygonnelly in Fermanagh, is a Catholic priest in Monaghan. Hastings is currently the Church of Ireland rector in Westport, County Mayo. And instead of striding purposefully down to the crossroads to scatter and smite and drive all before them, it's easy to imagine Quinn and Hastings setting out with fiddle or melodeon (Quinn) and flute (Hastings) to give the dancers a lift and the other musicianers a hand to think with some crafty tunes.

We've established that the reelin' revs are - like the vast majority of people who make traditional Irish music - amateurs. Amateurs in both senses of the word. Non-professionals, clearly. But lovers. Lovers of the intricate, elegant, cheeky, yearning, heart-rending tunes of old. The sleeve notes tell their story; how they came to the music; how it came to them.

Quinn explains how he grew up listening to the old American 78s of Irish music. And the music of those giants of Irish music - Coleman, Morrison and Killoran - whose shadows still loom large over Irish music almost a century after their heyday - has obviously left a deep impression in his unhurried, aching style.

For Hastings, on the other hand, "Traditional music isn't about music at all, it's about people ... To really get a hoult on this music, you need to be close enough to smell the musicians, to be part of the web of experience and contact and toing and froing. This kind of stuff doesn't stick too well to shiny CDs and plastic tapes. People are people. Recordings are only recordings."

It may only be a recording, but this is a great collection of tunes, played with great affection for the music and great feeling for the listener by the pair. Ciaran Curran, bouzouki player par excellence with Altan, produces. Unlike some big-star producers, his presence doesn't dominate the album. He contributes to the odd set - in sparkling form as always - but generally he's content to let Quinnn and Hastings take centre-stage. The only other guest on the album is Charlie Lennon with whom Quinn plays a deft, highly-ornamented duet "The Maids Of Castlebar/The Morning Star".

The album opens with two barndances and a polka (The Kiss Behind The Door/Bonnie Annie/The Granny In The Woods). The choice of the delightful, but relatively rare, barndance rhythm is a statement. Quinn and Hastings are well-read musicians; their tastes are dictated by their own experience, their own ears, their own fingers. They know what they like and they're prepared to share their music with us. And we'll be entertained and educated in equal measure.

And so we are. There are classic tunes in abundance, as well as the less well-known regional tunes. In the latter category is the jig "Maho Snaps" - a Fermanagh tune - which they combine with the session favourite "The Boys Of the Town". Again in the latter category is the highland set "Paddy Killoran's Highland/Hannah Mhici Mhicheail's" - the second tune an original composition of Hastings'. And the classic tunes, played in a classic understated style are sprinkled throughout the album. Reel sets such as "The Humours of Ballyconnell/Swinging On The Gate", "The New Copperplate/Patsy Hanley's", "The Shaskeen", "Last Night's Fun/The Sligo Maid" and jig sets such as "Na Ceannabhain Bana/Dever The Dancer".

But there are three moments on the album which sent Pay The Reckoning into a state of fevered excitement. Two are slow airs - a genre which doesn't always make our pulse race. But we'd defy any lover of traditional music not to become excited by Quinn's lost and lonesome "Farewell Dear Erne, I Now Must Leave You" and Hastings' breathy/breathless "The Banks Of The Clyde". The stripped-down production highlights the beauty of each tune and the communicativeness of both players. Here's where the amateur virtuoso has the edge over the professional virtuoso! We believe the amateur believes passionately what he or she is trying to communicate; where the professional musician is concerned we may just retain a smidgeon of doubt. After all, it's their job to have us believe that they feel with the same intensity as the committed amateur.

The revelation of the album is Hastings' rendition of two fifing tunes from County Antrim, "The Bugle Hornpipe/Number Five". Mistakenly we sometimes label tunes from the "other tradition" as being all blood and thunder, noise with no real substance. Hastings makes us think again. Both are striking tunes, with the same insistence as the sprightliest of polkas. This unassuming album deserves a special place in any trad fan's collection. A reminder of the sheer wealth of music that can be had from two highly literate musicians. Get it from copperplate. Tell them you came via Pay The Reckoning.