Live at Mona's - America's First Live Session Album

by Scott B. Spencer

Eamon O'Leary and Patrick Ourceau ran a weekly Irish music session at Mona's pub on New York's Lower East Side for years, and the album Live at Mona's was a means for the musicians to document the scene. Sessions took place late at night on Mondays for a decade prior, and live field recordings were conducted between March and December, 2003. Selections were published as the cd, and featured session leaders Eamon and Patrick holding forth with dozens of local and international musicians, playing hundreds of tunes. This digital humanities site presents those field recordings, and everything else surrounding the Mona's session during 2003, and stands as an open resource for players and enthusiasts of Irish traditional music. The site includes liner notes by Mick Moloney and Scott Spencer, images, reviews, interviews, and over 350 field recordings from the weekly session.

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