Joe Lamont Irish music recordings

Collection

Identifier: IM-M145-2005

Staff Only

Dates

Creation: 1930 - 1972
Creation: Majority of material found within 1950s-1960s

Scope and Contents

This collection contains Joe Lamont's recordings of live performances of Irish traditional music in the greater New York City area in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as recordings from radio and dubs of phonograph discs. A Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder was used to create the open-reel recordings. Phonograph disc dubs include published recordings and potentially some unpublished. Some of the recordings were shared with Lamont by contacts in the US and Ireland. A few photographs of Lamont are included in the collection, as are Lamont’s tracklists, which include details on performers and musical selections for each open-reel tape.

Lamont’s recording and collecting activities focused on traditional Irish instrumental music performed on fiddle, accordion, flute, and whistle. Tunes such as reels, jigs, waltzes, hornpipes, slow airs, and set dances are performed in solos, duets, and groups, sometimes with piano accompaniment. A few recordings feature informal group singing at social gatherings. Selected events of the Paddy Killoran Club are included, and Lamont’s fiddle playing can be heard on a few recordings.

Creator

Lamont, Joe (Joseph A.) (Person)

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. Recordings have been digitally copied; all original media was retained, but may not be played due to format. Digital use copies can only be accessed in the Burns Library Reading Room.

Conditions Governing Use

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Biographical Note

Joseph Anthony "Joe" Lamont was born on October 28, 1905 to John Lamont and Elizabeth (McGeehan) Lamont near Coleraine in County Londonderry, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). Of the couple’s seven children, four immigrated to the United States. Joe Lamont immigrated to New York City in 1926 and settled in the Bronx. In 1927 he began his career with the New York City Transit Authority. He became a U.S. citizen in 1933.

An accomplished fiddle player, Lamont performed traditional Irish music in the New York City area and beyond, collaborating with fellow musicians and dancers. He provided music for many occasions and for charitable causes. He helped establish clubs for traditional Irish music, serving as both president and vice president of the Paddy Killoran Club in Manhattan.

In 1965 he retired from the New York City Transit Authority. He died in 1972 and is buried in Tucson, Arizona. In 1974, at a Traditional Irish Musicians Association award ceremony in New York, a long-time musical colleague presented the Joseph Lamont Memorial Trophy to a young musician.

Sources

“Fleadh Cheoil Award Winners.” The Advocate. August 3, 1974, p. 1. Fultonhistory.com. Accessed July 2018.

Kelly Eugene. “A Tribute to a Great Irish Musician.” The Advocate. July 27, 1974, p. 2. Fultonhistory.com. Accessed July 2018.

“Killoran Music Club Makes Gunning President.” The Advocate. February 4, 1961, p. 11. Fultonhistory.com. Accessed July 2018.

New York, Naturalization Records, 1882-1944. Ancestry.com. Accessed July 2018.

New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Ancestry.com. Accessed July 2018.

U.S., Social Security and Claims, 1936-2007. Ancestry.com. Accessed September 2018.

U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Ancestry.com. Accessed July 2018.

Extent

2.25 Linear Feet (3 containers )

11.54 Gigabytes (111 files with approximately 80.5 hours of audio)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection contains Joe Lamont's audio recordings of live performances of Irish traditional music in the greater New York City area in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as recordings from radio and dubs of phonograph discs. Lamont’s recording and collecting activities focused on traditional Irish instrumental music performed on fiddle, accordion, flute, and whistle. Tunes such as reels, jigs, waltzes, hornpipes, slow airs, and set dances are performed in solos, duets, and groups, sometimes with piano accompaniment. A few recordings feature informal group singing at social gatherings. Selected events of the Paddy Killoran Club are included, and Lamont’s fiddle playing can be heard on a few recordings.

Arrangement

Arranged by reel number. Tracklists for all reels are in a single file at the beginning.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Joe Lamont's nephew, Jim Lowney, in 2005.

Related Materials

James W. Smith Irish music recordings, IM.M016.1991, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Séamus Connolly papers, IM.M064.1999, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Tommy Sullivan papers, IM.M176.2009, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Processing Information

Audio reels were digitized for access with funding from a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Recordings at Risk grant.

Performer attributions in the collection inventory come from Lamont’s box labels and tracklists. Most reels contain both live and dubbed recordings. In order to highlight the live recordings in the collection, the inventory reflects musicians represented in unpublished recordings only. Musicians who appear on copies of published phonograph discs are generally not included in the inventory.

A more complete list of musicians, tune titles and tune types—for both published and unpublished material—can be found on Lamont’s tracklists; the number penciled in a square in the upper right corner corresponds to the Library-supplied reel number used in the inventory.

Library-supplied reel numbers are somewhat arbitrary, recording the order of reels as received.

Recordings titled “Club” are probably the Paddy Killoran Club.

In cases where Lamont did not supply an attribution, an educated guess is signaled by “probably.”

Dates reflect the recording dates of the reels; some published recordings dubbed onto these reels may predate the live content.