Learn to Play Irish Tinwhistle. 60-minute video from Homespun Tapes. This complete guide to learning traditional Irish music on the tinwhistle will satisfy beginners picking up the tinwhistle for the first time -- and advanced players wanting to study in detail the intricate embellishment and expressive variation techniques of a Tinwhistle Virtuoso. *** Plus Homespun also publishes L.E.'s 120 Favorite Irish Session Tunes -- 4 one-hour audio tapes of solo whistle with accompanying tunebook. (Order by Phone: 800-338-2737)

The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor. 72-tune Book and 1-hour Audio Cassette from Music Sales. THE undisputed introduction to tinwhistle, Irish-style. Since 1977, The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor has taught the joys of tinwhistling to more than 500,000 people worldwide. (Order by Phone: 800-431-7187)

*** L.E. McCullough also performs on the smash-hit PBS soundtracks of Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (RCA), The West (Sony Classical) and The Lovers' Waltz (Angel/EMI), the outstanding CD-music romance novella by Jay Ungar & Molly Mason.

" To call L.E. McCullough a tin whistle player

is like saying Shakespeare could scribble a bit."

-- Folk Roots Magazine, 1990

>< REVIEWS ><

§ Feadanísta, Bluezette Records §

"To call L.E. McCullough a tin whistle player is like saying Shakespeare could scribble a bit. Feadanísta contains some of the most inventive and exciting music I've heard in ages. With the help of a host of excellent session musicians, McCullough creates a seamless whole from elements as disparate as Cajun and Charlie Parker. His command of a broad pallette of instrumental colour -- ranging from synthesizers to charango -- is quite magnificent." -- Folk Roots

 

"Feadanísta provides a new definition of fusion. .. . folk, pop, jazz, New Age -- the music may be hard to pin a label on, but it's sure easy to like." -- Austin American-Statesman

 

"Feadanísta contains some of the most exciting musical ideas I've heard this year."

-- John Schaeffer, Host of National Public Radio's "New Sounds"

 

"An eccentric ethnic stew concocted by McCullough, pennywhistler extraordinaire. . . a very convincing blend of traditional and original music." -- Option

 

"This recording shines in every aspect. . . the standout feature is McCullough's ability to penetrate to the soul of each style and meld them into a unique sound all his own that still remains faithful to the roots of each musical culture." -- Calliope House Newsletter

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§ Late Bloomer, Kicking Mule Records §

". . . wonderful original material, particularly those cuts with Irish influences. Late Bloomer is a round peg that fits a square hole." -- Ceili

 

"This is a richly textured, eclectic selection that defies simple description. Traces of rock, jazz, Irish, gospel, ragtime, oldtimey, blues and humor are woven into a tapestry which gracefully brings out the best in each style while becoming a work greater than the sum of its components." -- Austin Chronicle

 

"While quite a lot of American groups are trailing behind their European counterparts still stuck in the wake of the '70s Celtic fringe and not doing an awful lot that's original, McCullough shines out like a beacon. . . a good sign that something's beginning to stir out there in the colonies!"

-- Southern Rag

 

"The ultimate folk-fusion. . . multi-faceted, innovative, unorthodox, and slightly nefarious."

-- Buffalo Friends of Folk Music Newsletter

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§ His Own Kind, Wildebeest Records §

"Real music for real people -- that's L.E. McCullough's claim to fame. McCullough conjures up subtle, magical images of such legends as Pete Seeger, Jim Croce, and Woody Guthrie. Yet, McCullough is his own man. He's new blood with new ideas -- someone to pay attention to." -- Kaleidoscope

"Tasteful eclecticism. . . if you've ever enjoyed music by the Chieftains, the Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, the scathing political songs of Phil Ochs, or cried in your beer as a Conway Twitty number was punched up on the jukebox, this album is for you." -- Tex-Wax

"L.E. McCullough is more than an exciting new voice in contemporary American folk music; he's at least a half dozen exciting new voices fluent in a dozen musical styles." -- EAR Magazine

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§ The Ghost of His Former Self / with Devilish Merry, Wildebeest §

"McCullough introduces the tinwhistle, bodhran and Irish flute to Southern U.S. string band music. His playing is cleanly blown, nimbly fingered, intricately ornamented and highly spirited." -- Audio Magazine

"L.E. McCullough's tinwhistle, flute and bodhran add an entirely unique dimension to the American breakdowns, the final touch to an album that stands as the highest standard for American-British Isles fusion ensembles." -- Singout!

"McCullough's presence is that of a teacher. He draws you into his tale and his music like a magnet and paints vivid accounts of comedy and tragedy." -- Pittsburgh New Sun

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§ The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor, Music Sales, Inc. §

"McCullough is a first-rate whistle player and his love of his instrument and Irish music shines through in every line. He is never pedantic or presumptuous; he informs, never lectures. And his presentation of how to go about playing the whistle makes this simply the best tutor I've seen to date."

-- Michael Stoner, Lehigh Valley Folksong Society Newsletter

 

"Excellent food for thought for the tinwhistle student and graphically represented in a way that is concise and unambiguous. I particularly recommend The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor."

-- Sandy Davis, music instructor, Music Emporium, Cambridge, Mass.

 

"The best book on folk music I've seen all year."

-- Andy Spence, proprietor, Front Hall Folk Music Center

 

"Crammed with information about every conceivable aspect of whistle playing."

-- Singout!

 

"A really thorough job, and I mean thorough. Congratulations!"

-- Bill Ochs, education director, Irish Arts Center, New York City

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§ The Healing Cup: Guinevere Seeks the Grail, Ethos Records §

 

"Dark, brooding and mysterious, The Healing Cup: Guinevere Seeks the Grail, captures the spirit of the ancient legends with ethereal Celtic music." -- Nuvo

 

"Almost overshadowing the dance is the music by T.H. Gillespie and L.E. McCullough. The Healing Cup takes the audience back in time!" -- Indianapolis Star

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§ Connlaoi's Tale: The Woman Who Danced on Waves, Ethos Records §

"A bold, shimmering fusion of myth, music and dance, Connlaoi's Tale: The Woman Who Danced on Waves is a thrilling voyage into the past and a fervent prayer for the future." -- Indianapolis News

"Connlaoi's Tale is a timeless story about overcoming one's barbaric nature and embracing the finer possibilities life holds." -- Troy Times

>< BIO ><

Prize-winning performer, composer and producer L.E. McCullough is a pioneer and prime exponent of Celtic World Beat, an innovative musical fusion blending traditional Irish and British Isles folk music with contemporary genres from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

Trained as a youth in classical piano and jazz saxophone, the Indianapolis native took up the study of Irish traditional music on the flute and tinwhistle in July, 1972, after living in Ireland for a year and studying at the School of Irish Studies in Dublin, where he received a solid grounding in the music's scholarship from renowned folklorists Brendan Breathnach, Tom Munnelly, Hugh Shields, Sean Ó Súilleabhain, Richard O'Beirne and fiddler-seannchai John Kelly.

Once back in America, he learned the fine points of the music from several of the best Irish musicians living in America during the 1970s -- Seamus Cooley, John McGreevy, Paddy Cronin, Noel Rice, Joe Shannon, John Vesey, Andy McGann, Jimmy and Eleanor Neary, Sean McGlynn and Joe Burke and began to establish an international reputation as a young player of note.

In 1974 and '75, McCullough won First Place in the Midwestern U.S. Fleadh Ceoil for Senior Tinwhistle; in 1975 he was runner-up in the Senior Tinwhistle Competition at the All-Ireland Fleadh Ceoil in Buncrana, Donegal. At the All-Ireland competitions in Buncrana the following year, he won the 1976 New Dance Tunes Composition category.

McCullough's passion for Irish music led him to extend his activities into the scholastic realm. From 1974-78, with fiddler Miles Krassen and mandolinist Mick Moloney, he traveled across the U.S. recording Irish musicians for projects funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council and Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, turning his collection over to the Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music and contributing material issued by Rounder Records on two LPs. In 1976 he received an NEA grant to document the craft of 80-year-old Chicago uilleann pipemaker Patrick Hennelly, at the time the last remaining maker of Irish bagpipes in the U.S.

In 1976 McCullough wrote The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor, a highly acclaimed instructional manual now distributed by Music Sales, Inc. From 1977-86 McCullough operated Silver Spear Publications, a book publishing company devoted to issuing Irish music instruction books and tapes. His book/tape publication, 120 Favorite Irish Session Tunes, was produced by uilleann piper Patrick Sky and is distributed by Homespun Tapes, who issued McCullough's instructional video, Learn to Play Irish Tinwhistle in 1996. McCullough's book of 61 original Irish traditional compositions, St. Patrick Was a Cajun, was released by Ossian Publications in 1997.

Throughout the 1970s McCullough wrote dozens of articles on Irish music for academic and popular journals, including the entry on "American Irish music" in the New Groves Dictionary of U.S. Music, 1986 edition. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1978 by authoring the first dissertation-level analysis of Irish traditional music ever published, Irish Music in Chicago: An Ethnomusicological Study.

McCullough's chief involvement with Irish music has been in the area of performance, recording and touring during the past 20 years with a variety of groups including Trim the Velvet, Devilish Merry, Bourrée Texane, Money in Both Pockets and The Irish Airs. An accomplished performer on flute, tinwhistle, harmonica, alto sax, tenor sax, recorder, bodhran, bones, Irish bagpipes, piano, synthesizer, guitar and miscellaneous ethnic percussion, he has appeared on 33 albums for Angel/EMI, Sony Classical, RCA, Warner Brothers, Log Cabin, Kicking Mule, Rounder, Laserlight, Bluezette and other independent record labels with Irish, French, Cajun, Latin, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass and rock ensembles.

During the 1980s McCullough evolved into an inspired composer-arranger with a rare talent for shaping brand new genres based on traditional musical structures. His three solo albums -- His Own Kind, Late Bloomer, Feadanísta -- have spotlighted 33 of his own compositions while stretching accepted stylistic boundaries to create the fresh new musical hybrid of Celtic World Beat, an idiom critics have dubbed "the ultimate folk-fusion. . . multi-faceted, innovative, unorthodox, and slightly nefarious."

His Own Kind and Late Bloomer paired traditional Irish dance tunes and ballads with American rock, blues, jazz, folk and country riffs. With Feadanísta, McCullough expanded into a truly international dimension, leavening the Irish-Celtic base with heady doses of Mexican, Caribbean, African, French, Spanish and Cajun flavorings subtly seasoned with occasional hints of jazz, pop and ragtime. Feadanísta also made extensive use of state-of-the-art, computer-assisted studio technology. Every track featured MIDI-controlled synthesizer work, yet the electronics never detracted from the album's overall acoustic feel. The result was an album that flowed effortlessly through two dozen tunes and 42 minutes of music, taking the listener on an aural voyage spanning whole continents, cultures and centuries.

In the last decade McCullough has composed music for numerous broadcast commercials, PBS filmscores and incidental theatre music including soundtracks for John Kane, A Place Just Right, Together Alone, Waiting for Godot, Story Theatre, Shadow of a Gunman, Consider This, Puppet Strings, The Greeks and Painting the Universe. He performs on the music soundtracks of Ken Burns's PBS television series, The West and Lewis & Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery and the Warner Brothers film Michael Collins.

In 1993, with Indianapolis jazz musician T.H. Gillespie, McCullough composed the score to Connlaoi's Tale: The Woman Who Danced on Waves, a full-length Celtic Ballet choreographed by former Martha Graham soloist David Hochoy and hailed by critics as "a bold, shimmering fusion of myth, music and dance. .. . a thrilling voyage into the past and a fervent prayer for the future." In 1997 Gillespie and McCullough repeated their music/dance collaboration with Hochoy in the Celtic Ballet The Healing Cup: Guinevere Seeks the Grail, which explores the Celtic roots of Arthurian legend.

Though he ventured long ago into uncharted musical territory, McCullough has always maintained the highest respect for the great traditional musicians of Ireland. "Everything I know about Irish music I learned from listening to players like Willie Clancy, Seamus Ennis, Denis Murphy, Tommy Potts, John Kelly, Seamus Tansey, P.J. Hayes, Matt Molloy and records by legendary turn-of-the- century masters like Coleman, Morrison, Killoran and Tuohy. Yet each of these musicians, in their own way, were tremendously inventive, always pushing the limits of the idiom, always seeking a new way to bring the beauty and excitement of Irish music to more people all around the world."

That, in essence, is the prime musical directive L.E. McCullough has been following the last two decades. . . making an age-old tradition accessible to modern audiences, while infusing the contemporary music milieu with a much-needed dose of stylistic subtlety and melodic enchantment.

>< L.E. McCULLOUGH'S DISCOGRAPHY><

(year / title / performer / label; * denotes solo recording)

All of these recordings are available from the various producers who made them.
If you're interested in a particular one, E-mail us and we'll put you in touch!

L.E. McCullough is also an accomplished poet,
fiction writer and playwright. His creative writing
books are published by Smith & Kraus, Inc.