Johnny Cunningham Tribute - Town Hall, New York, February 5th 2005
Reviewed by Alice Farrell in New York email afarrell@jigtime.com

As I walked into Town Hall on Saturday night, I was greeted with many familiar faces from around the New York traditional music scene, all with mixed expressions of excited anticipation mingled with the sadness of the event that had brought us all together. There were few musicians that I can remember, in the 20 years that I've been living in New York , who have had an all-inclusive effect on audience and fellow musicians alike. In that realm, Johnny reigned supreme.

The gathering of musicians, headed by Johnny's brother Phil Cunningham on piano accordion and whistle, Kevin Burke on fiddle, Seamus Egan on whistle, banjo and flute, Aiden Brennan on guitar and Susan McKeown on vocals and bodhran, were also joined by New York singer/songwriter Casey Neill ( www.CaseyNeill.org ) and Dana Lynn on fiddle, who had both become colleagues and friends of Johnny during his time in New York. There was definitely an impish air inspiring everyone onstage during the evening as they tore through a broad range of the music that Johnny wrote for Silly Wizard, Relativity, and the Mabou Mines production of “Peter and Wendy”.

The concert was comprised of sprightly sets of jigs and reels, strathspeys and slow airs, peppered lusciously with anecdotal stories of Johnny's exploits, musical accomplishments, reminiscent of his own sly and delicious storytelling, with Kevin Burke coming out with “can you top this” one-liners to beat the band, leaving the audience in stitches more than once.

Casey Neill performed a particularly poingnant song he had just penned about Johnny, whose lyrics harken to Johnny's childlike spirit and the ways in which he touched people's lives, without ever intending to, in ways that they never could have imagined. Speaking with Casey after the show he assured me that he and Phil Cunningham are looking to record it in the coming weeks and as soon as I have any news on its release, I will certainly pass it on.

Phil played a haunting slow air, written at his home on the Isle of Skye for Johnny, and harkening back to the days of their youth spent with their father on a Dark Island that they used to visit. This was accompanied by the pre-requisite hysterical story connected with the tune, involving Phil, a windsurf board, and many pints of Guinness consumed with local sailors who came to his rescue. This was a wonderful moment, of capping off a sorrowful moment, by injecting a moment of hilarity, something that made me feel Johnny's smile encompassing the theatre.

Susan McKeown contributed a wonderful selection of songs that she and Johnny had performed and recorded together for their album and concert series called “A Winter Talisman”( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000066RUV/104-2321145-1651101?v=glance ) with Phil providing the vocals previously sung. by Johnny.  Susan also lead the selections from “Peter and Wendy” in which she helped create and performed the lead vocals, weaving a haunting web of the magical music that Johnny had created for this fabulous production .  I was fortunate enough to see  "Peter and Wendy" 5 times, only one of which did not include Johnny as part of the orchestra. I have not been able to listen to that CD since his death, and am happy that this performance helped me past that and I will once again be able to enjoy this lush and mystical music which I highly recommend. Copies of it can be found on Amazon at  HERE

Rounding out the evening, with a triple encore, Casey Neill brought everyone together with a thrilling version of one  of Johnny's favorite songs “The Mingulay Boat Song” a scots sea chanty which had the whole audience enrapt and singing along in glorious harmony, to which I could feel the warmth of Johnny surrounding us all. He loved laughter, music, good company, and of course great craic, and this show filled the hall with all of those in the most fitting of tributes to a great man and a musical master.

Hopefully there will be more meetings and performances of his music in the future and a foundation is being established in his name to annually bestow a commissioned fiddle on a worthy young player. I'll keep you posted. Until then, find a piece of Johnny's music, sit back with a beverage of your choice, have a good belly laugh, and think of a fiddler with a twinkle in his eye shining down on you from above!