My sisters found a reel to reel tape in our Drayton Valley, AB home labeled “Grandma Singing”. One of them had the tape transcribed to a CD and I turned the file into mp3s. Here is my dear Irish Grandma singing Irish ballads from memory. I remember helping to record these, it had to be somewhere around 1969/1970 when Grandma was in her late 70s.
I haven’t heard my dear grandma’s voice in nearly 40 years. What a blessing, thanks Maureen for taking the initiative on this.
- The Dear Little Girl
The Little Irish Colleen with Her Old Plaid Shawl
- The Little Irish Colleen with Her Old Plaid Shawl
- Impudent Barney O’Hay
What a great family memorial! Not to mention folk culture artifact. Was your grandmother an immigrant from the Old World?
Hi Dave, yes, my grandma was from Newtownards, Northern Ireland. I did a piece on her father five years ago. He was a founding member of the Baptist church that still preaches the gospel there. Grandma was famous for singing, I remember doing this recording with her when I was somewhere between 12 and 14. We did it on an old reel to reel tape recorder and thought we had lost the tapes until my sisters discovered them a couple of months ago. We have a few more tapes to go through, maybe we’ll find more gems on them… no idea what’s on the tapes. Mostly just weird kid stuff!!!
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3