This album is the debut solo recording of concertina player  Jacqueline McCarthy.  Her family - Tommy Sen., Marion, Bernadette and Tommy Jun. - are also featured on the album.  This is their first recording together - having played together for over thirty years.  Tommy Sen. and his wife Kathleen lived in London for over forty years and their children were born, raised and learned their music there.  
 Jacqueline's style and repertoire is very much influenced by her father, Tommy Sen. who was from Kilmhil in West Clare - an area that has produced many fine concertina players.  Other Clare musicians who have influenced Jacqueline's music are Bobby Casey, Willie Clancy and John Kelly.

Track Listing

“Unhurried concertina from this superb Clare player ..... reflect McCarthy’s early years in London’s golden age of Traditional music, making the album and its notes an historical document.”
Fintan Vallely, The Sunday Tribune, Dublin, Éire

“The concertina …. A wonder in the hands of this lady …. Her constant, spontaneous swellings and squirting around the shape of the tunes. Lovely indeed.”
Mic Moroney, Irish Times, Ireland

“Brilliantly stylish concertina playing …. a superb collection.”
Jeff O’Connell, The Galway Advertiser, Ireland

“This is the unmistakable sound of a good session ..... a great collection.”
Pat Ahern, The Examiner, Cork, Éire 

“The music has a natural feel to it that is welcome amidst the 'turbo-trad' which prevails at present ..... excellent album.”
Alan Wallace, Arts West, Mayo, Éire


“Jacqueline plays the Clare music with unhurried ease and confidence.”
Aidan O’Hara, Irish Music Magazine, Dublin, Éire

“..... it shows the little hexagonal box at its very best with a very enjoyable album ..... Though generations removed from Mrs. Crotty, Jacqueline McCarthy is very much in the tradition of the old lady.”
Joe Crane, Folk Roots, UK


“Her extraordinary fluency brings back to life many a tired old tune.  The whole is undiluted pleasure.”
John Browne, Folk on Tap, UK


“Jacqueline's style harks back to the unhurried, less ornamented playing of the older generation - heart-lifting music, full of warmth and understanding  .....  a thoroughly wonderful album.”                                             
John Neilson, Taplas, Wales

“ …. it is as wonderful as you might expect. Excellent ‘pure drop’ music.”
Phillipe Varlet, Irtrad Internet List, USA

“Extraordinary …. A beautiful collection of concertina tunes from the heartland of that instrument, Co. Clare. This is an album your collection cannot afford to be without.”
Malcolm Rogers, The Irish Post, UK

“Anyone recalling the brilliance of ‘The wind among the reeds’ that McCarthy recorded with her husband, Tommy Keane, in 1995 will revel in this solo debut by the master concertinist. No. 18 in my top 20 Irish traditional albums of 1999.”
Earle Hitchner, Irish Echo, USA

“The playing is just what I think it ought to be – relaxed, simple, direct …. And no flash! ….it’s a real pleasure to hear ….her playing sounds so much more familiar to me than the majority of Irish music does.”
Rod Stradling, Musical Traditions, UK


“The Hidden Note is classic stuff ..... straight traditional music of the finest kind.”
Don Meade, Irish Voice, New York, USA


“This is a pure, clear album and the very picture of an instrument played by a master of the form.”
Bill Margeson, Irish American News, Chicago, USA