Tim Collins is not only a gentleman and a scholar, he’s also one of the finest concertina players in traditional music. And, he’s just out with a brand new solo album called “Weaving the Tune” that’s only been 21 years in the making! Fortunately, I’ve had it in the media yoke all week and can report that it’s been worth the wait. On it, Collins plays with the same sort extraordinary taste and sensitivity we’ve come to expect from a musician of his caliber and since the nuance and creativity in his music has been so well captured on the recording, it’s a must-have album for traditional music lovers, especially if you’re a fan of the concertina.
Born in Kerry, reared in Limerick, but a longtime resident of Crusheen, Co. Clare, Collins is a celebrated musician and in-demand tutor. He grew up in a musical family, has toured extensively, both as a solo musician and, since 1994, as a member of the great Kilfenora Céilí Band. He can take credit for all sorts of innovations in the world of Irish music, including being the founding director of the Irish Concertina Ensemble and a co-founder of Consairtín: The National Concertina Convention, and in addition to albums like “Dancing on Silver,” his 2004 solo debut, “Reed Only,” his 2007 album with Brian McNamara in 2007, and 2015’s “ZERO” with ICE, Collins has composed several commissioned suites, including “An Pocaire Gaoithe: The View from Above” in 2016 and “Breith: A Clare Celebration of Irish Independence” in 2022. If this weren’t all, Collins also has a Ph.D. in Irish Studies from the National University of Ireland, Galway and is a U.S. Fulbright program alum.
In the liner notes to “Weaving the Tune,” Collins calls his direction with the album “more than a continuation” of his earlier work, but “also a renewal.” A reflection of his musical journey thus far, the recording includes a good few tunes that will be familiar to Irish music listeners, however it also makes a large number of his own recent compositions a real feature. For Collins, composing is a process he approaches as a way of “weaving” himself and his music into something much greater and it’s these tunes that really give the album not only its title but its identity. Joining Collins is a cast of distinguished musicians, including Aidan Quigney (piano), Conal O'Kane (guitar), Sharon Howley (cello), and Brian O’Grady (double bass), each of whom contributes in a way that enhances Collins’s vision for what the album should be.
There are many excellent tracks to be heard here. I love Collins’s playing on the reel sets “The Star of Munster/ …” and “John Naughtons / …,” both which have great lift and strong drive; his take on the well-known hornpipe “The Groves” is also superb in its expression. But it’s the tracks that include his own compositions are the ones that I feel give this album its real character. I think of “Helen's Paddy Fada / …,” a trio of slides, two of which Collins composed, and “Con Herbert’s” a set of three polkas named for his mentor, as excellent examples. The tunes in both tracks sound like they could have been collected a century ago, but the way they’re played confer the sense of being alive and grounded in a place like Clare.
Collins conveys this spirit again in the superb jig set “Biking to Ballinruan / A Lovely Bright Day / The Doon Cuckoo,” which features a pair of his compositions bookending a fine James Kelly tune. The set itself memorializes an outdoor adventure the Collins family took during Covid times and tells a wonderful story through a slow, bold tempo and build in melodic intensity.
One thing I really like about Collins’s work here is his embrace of slower tune types. I think of “On the Eve of May / March of the Fairy Queen,” a slow piece and march written in memory of his parents – which are elegant and stately in character, but also feel a bit “outside the box” in terms of approach. I think, too, of the waltzes “Burren Stones / The Flaggy Shore.” Both are lovely, very danceable, and have a maturity to them that gives them strength.
“Weaving the Tune” is a fabulous album. Collins’s compositional artistry elevates the approach from something that could easily have simply leaned on traditional convention, into something different, a powerfully expressive collection of tracks that evokes the experience of Clare as a place. The music here is rich and imaginative, echoing the sensibility of the Kilfenora’s more recent albums but with a slightly narrower, more intimate focus. Definitely one for the collection! (Tim Collins, by the way, plays Suttner concertinas, http://suttnerconcertinas.com/.) To learn more about purchasing, visit https://timcollins3.bandcamp.com/.
