About A Portland Play Along Selection

On A Portland Play Along Selection, Betsy Branch, Clyde Curley, and Susan Songer invite musicians to pick up their instruments and play along with this representative cross section of the music in the two tune books published by Songer and Curley, The Portland Collection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest (1) and 2. The tunes are individually tracked, even though they are played in medleys. Most of the tunes are played at a moderate tempo with only one lead and one back up instrument at a time. The recording is engineered so that the listener can pan right to hear the melody, pan left to hear the back up, or pan center to hear both together. The first and last sets on each disc are played faster with variations and harmonies to give a feel for how the music would be played at a contra dance. No tunes are duplicated from either of the two previous Portland Collection companion recordings.

Related Products

The Portland Collection Volume 1: $28Details

The Portland Collection Volume 2: $28Details

Selected Audio Clips

(Click here to see full track list)

Full Track List

(Tracks listed on the same line belong to the same set.)

Disc 1

1. Jamie Allen / 2. Scollay’s Reel
3. The Bottom of the Punchbowl / 4. Old Grey Cat
5. Camp Pleasant Jig / 6. Sonny Brogan’s / 7. Fair Jenny’s Jig
8. Grasshopper Sittin’ on a Sweet Potato Vine / 9. The 28th of January / 10. Buck Mountain
11. Batchelder’s / 12. Golden Wedding Reel / 13. Pacific Slope Hornpipe
14. The Banks of the Allan / 15. The Sailor’s Wife / 16. Bert Ferguson
17. Sheehan’s / 18. Mother’s Delight / 19. Hand Me Down the Tackle
20. Democratic Rage Hornpipe / 21. Dominion Reel / 22. Saratoga Hornpipe
23. Flat-Footed Henry / 24. Cuffy
25. Hughie Shorty’s Reel / 26. The Barrowburn Reel / 27. Trip to Windsor
28. Mrs. Monroe’s Jig / 29. The Grey Buck / 30. Up the River
31. Going to the Free State / 32. Black-Eyed Susie
33. John Brown’s March / 34. Johnny, Johnny, Don’t Get Drunk / 35. Little Dutch Girl
36. Miller’ Maggot / 37. Stan Chapman’s Jig
38. The Steeplechase / 39. Farrell O’Gara / 40. George White’s Favorite
41. Reel de Père Léon / 42. Reel Saint-Paul / 43. Reel Eugène
44. All the Way to Galway / 45. Doon the Brae / 46. The Road to Boston
47. Reel de Pointe-au-Pic / 48. Quadrille Bouchard Troisième Partie
49. Indian Ate the Woodchuck
50. Jeff City / 51. John Sharp’s Hornpipe / 52. Ducks on the Pond

Disc 2

1. 6/8 du Petit Sarny
2. Horace Hanesworth / 3. Paddy on a Handcar
4. The Rose in the Heather / 5. Out on the Ocean / 6. The Rambling Pitchfork
7. Reel Semeur / 8. Marie Sauce ton Pain / 9. The Telephone Tune
10. Big Scioty / 11. Twin Sisters / 12. Piney Woods Gal
13. The Cordal Jig / 14. The Orphan / 15. Cuil Aodha
16. The Gale / 17. Devil’s Churn / 18. Gondolin
19. Reel du Père Bruneau / 20. Le Diable Vert / 21. Reel Béloeil
22. The Reel of Mullinavat / 23. The Scholar / 24. The Old Copperplate
25. Bumblebee in a Jug / 26. Crockett’s Honeymoon / 27. Brushy Run
28. Road to California / 29. Boswell’s Fancy / 30. Sackett’s Harbor
31. Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies / 32. Mug of Brown Ale
33. Dick Gossip’s / 34. Tom Morrison’s Reel / 35. Lady Ann Montgomery
36. Séan Ryan’s Jig / 37. Up Sligo / 38. Foot to the Ground
39. Turkey in the Peapatch / 40. Stay All Night / 41. Moses, Hoe the Corn
42. Mouth of the Tobique
43. Reel Desjarlais / 44. Reel Saint-Jean / 45. Père Doiron