Irish-Scottish Roots

What's in a name? Why name a folk group Clan Suibhne? Suibhne is an Irish and Scottish name meaning "well-going." Drop the h and Suibne is pure Irish. With the h Suibhne is Irish-Scottish and/or Scot-Irish. We kept the h because we like having a wee bit of "burl." The most proper way to spell Clan Suibhne is Clann tSuibhne, but just plain Suibhne is hard enough for most to pronounce so we left it at that. Sween is the Anglicized form of Suibhne and is where the name variant Sweeney comes from.

The Sweeney's, our Sweeney's, our immediate maternal ancestry, comes from Cappoquin, Waterford, Ireland. The Sweeney's have Scottish roots too. Notably, one of the oldest standing stone castles in Scotland today is Castle Sween - located on the eastern shore of Loch Sween, in Knapdale, on the west coast of Argyll, Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Sween Wow, say that 10 times.

Our grandfather, James Joseph Francis Aloysius Sweeney, emigrated to the United States in 1905. He departed Crow Hill after trade school at Mount Melleray http://www.mountmellerayabbey.org/ and came across on the SS Cymric, a steam ship of the White Star Line.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cymric  James landed in Boston en route to Newark, NJ. James took a wife, Catherine Sheehan, our grandmother, who emigrated from Limerick, Ireland in 1904.

The Yank-Irish-Celtic Folk Trio Clan Suibhne names their music group in honor of their grandfather. If it were not for James and Catherine - Clan Suibhne Folk Trio wouldn't be here.

A Sweeney from Cappoquin, Waterford, Ireland.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappoquin

SS Cymric ~ built in Belfast ~ in this pic @ Liverpool

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.242886643900.138661.240984553900&type=1

Clan Suibhne @ The Green Planet Coffee Co in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

We had a great time @ The Green Planet Coffee Co Friday evening October 21st. (http://www.greenplanetcoffee.com/). Go figure...Greengrass music at The Green Planet.

We made a lot of new friends and managed not to upset the old friends too much that we can still call them friends :).

Many thanks to Jennifer Peacock for taking some awesome pics and to Cat Galioto, Editor of the Toms River Patch (http://tomsriver.patch.com/) for doing an article and posting a video clip in the "Patch."
http://tomsriver.patch.com/articles/greengrass-is-local-band-s-specialty#video-8229092

Also a big thanks to "cousin" Reach Man for helping out with all his sound accoutrements. DNA and blood tests have confirmed that Reach Man is 33% Sweeney. However in order to receive land parcels and royalties one would need to be 33 1/3% Sweeney...and no one's ever gotten the extra 1/3%...at least while living.

Clan Suibhne w/ Reach Man @ The Green Planet Coffee Co ~ Point Pleasant Beach ~ 21 October 2011

Greengrass Music ~ Raw, Simple and Pure

What's in a word? Greengrass music? What is meant when some one says Greengrass? Is it a spin off of Bluegrass? Not quite. It'd be more appropriate to consider Bluegrass having it's roots in Greengrass Music.


Bluegrass is a term created as a result of the name of a country group - Bill Munroe's Blue Grass Boys. http://doodah.net/bgb/ . Bluegrass (now being one word) genre music was a specific arrangement unlike the country music of it's time. "In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called breakdowns. This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity and sometimes by complex chord changes." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music

There are other forms of hybrid'ing the term Bluegrass...like new grass, Gospel grass, plaid grass...all attempts at capturing the roots type music of their aim. But none come full circle like the genre of Greengrass music. Greengrass is a roots music concept that is totally different in sound and theorem. Greengrass goes back to the beginning with a mindset of "old-time, new again." Meaning before there were Country, Old-Time, Bluegrass and Appalachian music there was Greengrass music. Greengrass being the folk music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and other Celtic nations.


As Elvis Costello put it:
"I started with rock n' roll and...then you start to take it apart like a child with a toy and you see there's blues and there's country...Then you go back from country into American music...and you end up in Ireland and Scotland eventually."


Some groups do Irish folk songs bluegrass style, but it sounds bluegrass. Other groups do bluegrass tunes Irish-Celtic style, but it sounds Irish-Celtic. Greengrass music borders and sounds similar to Bluegrass, Irish and Celtic nations folk but has more of a conglomerate mix of all of the previous with a dose or two of American folk...which other than Native American music, and as Elvis Costello infers,  originated from somewhere else. 


Greengrass may be best described as raw, simple and pure. Like the early sounds of Woody Guthrie, Dylan, and Pete Seger (without most of the protest lyrics) combined with the Celtic Nations & Irish Folk flairs of Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers, a snippet of The Chieftains, The Dubliners and maybe a skosh of the Bard-like minstrel DNA of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Greengrass can even have an added pinch of a Ragtime-Dixieland bling for extra flavor. It is significant to note that Bob Dylan was greatly influenced and helped get his start through The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.


Clan Suibhne's original music compositions and arrangements are Greengrass...raw, simple and pure...old-time, new again.

Clan Suibhne (left to right) C.W., LepreJohn, Famous Seamus = 3 brothers from Jersey

Visit Clan Suibhne on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clan-Suibhne/240984553900

"They're Not Just a Band, They're a Clan"