Dusty Banjos has produced various resources to assist students in learning the tunes and sets that are played at the sessions. Three CDS are available:
![]() |
Dusty Banjos. This CD contains easy tunes played at a slow pace - absolutely slow tunes for absolute beginners. |
![]() |
The Learners Club. This CD contains tunes played at the open sessions. |
![]() |
The Learners Club 2. More tunes from the open sessions. |
The book Dusty Banjos - Session Tunes has been produced as an accompaniment to the first two CDs.
The CDs and book can be ordered by contacting us, and we can arrange payment and delivery. They are also available in Galway city at Powells Four Corners, Opus II, the Crane bar and Paul Doyle musical instruments. In Ennis they are available from Custys music shop.
This CD contains tunes played at a very slow pace, and is intended for absolute beginners. The tunes are played on mandolin by Mary Lovett, occasionally accompanied on guitar by Kevin Boatman. Click on a 'listen' link below to hear a 40 second segment of selected tunes.
| Polkas | 1 | Peg Ryan's | Listen |
| 2 | Newmarket | Listen | |
| 3 | Britches full of stitches | Listen | |
| Slides | 4 | Mary's spinning wheel | Listen |
| 5 | Brosna | ||
| 6 | Off she goes | ||
| Jigs | 7 | Paddy in London | Listen |
| 8 | Humours of Glendart | Listen | |
| 9 | The Kesh | ||
| 10 | Paddy's return | ||
| 11 | The black rogue | ||
| 12 | Out on the ocean | Listen | |
| 13 | Tobins | ||
| 14 | The Connaught mans's rambles | ||
| 15 | The rambling pitchfork | ||
| 16 | The Carraroe | Listen | |
| Hornpipes | 17 | Boys of Bluehill | Listen |
| 18 | Clareman's hornpipe | Listen | |
| 19 | Stack of barley | ||
| 20 | The Galway hornpipe | ||
| 21 | Off to California | ||
| Reels | 22 | Mountain road | Listen |
| 23 | Tulla | Listen | |
| 24 | Silver spear | Listen | |
| 25 | Miss McLeod's | ||
| 26 | My love is in America | ||
| 27 | Rolling in the Ryegrass | ||
| 28 | Man of the house | ||
| 29 | Concertina |
This CD contains 27 tracks of tunes which feature regularly at Dusty sessions, both student and open sessions. They are at an easy-to-follow medium pace, played by Mary Lovett on banjo and mandolin with guitar accompaniment by Kevin Boatman. Click on a 'listen' link below to hear a 40 second segment of selected tunes.
| Jigs | 1 | Boys of the town | Listen |
| 2 | The rose in the heather | Listen | |
| 3 | The wandering minstrel | ||
| 4 | The gander in the pratie hole | ||
| 5 | Tonra's | ||
| 6 | The mist covered mountain | Listen | |
| 7 | The cliffs of Moher | ||
| 8 | Gerry's beaver hat | ||
| 9 | The lilting fisherman | ||
| 10 | The humours of Ennistymon | ||
| 11 | Behind the haystack | ||
| 12 | Sliabh Russell | ||
| 13 | My darling asleep | Listen | |
| Hornpipes | 14 | The blackbird | |
| 15 | The fairies | Listen | |
| 16 | Chief O'Neill's | ||
| Reels | 17 | Father Kelly's | Listen |
| 18 | The red haired lass | Listen | |
| 19 | Cooley's | ||
| 20 | The wise maid | Listen | |
| 21 | The humours of Ballyconnell | ||
| 22 | Toss the feathers | ||
| 23 | The banshee | ||
| 24 | St. Anne's | ||
| 25 | The maid behind the bar | Listen | |
| 26 | The cup of tea | ||
| 27 | Master McDermott's | Listen |
This CD contains 28 tracks, all recorded by performers and students from the classes and sessions. The choice of material reflects the individual musicians' taste so there's a bit of everything, but all the tunes feature regularly at the sessions. They are played at an easy-to-follow medium pace and include accompaniment. Click on a 'listen' link below to hear a 40 second segment of selected tunes.
| Jigs | 1 | The Blarney pilgrim | Listen |
| 2 | The high part of the road | Listen | |
| 3 | Gallagher's frolics | ||
| 4 | Dooney rock | ||
| 5 | Scatter the mud | ||
| 6 | Maho snaps | Listen | |
| 7 | The scarce O'Tatties | ||
| 8 | Lyndhurst | ||
| 9 | Willie Coleman's | ||
| 10 | Trippin upstairs | Listen | |
| 11 | The lark in the morning | ||
| Reels | 12 | Tim Moloney | Listen |
| 13 | Handsome Sally | Listen | |
| 14 | Lad OBeirne's | ||
| 15 | The lads of laoise | ||
| 16 | Speed the plough | ||
| 17 | The hare's paw | ||
| 18 | Sporting Paddy | Listen | |
| 19 | The drunken landlady | ||
| 20 | Over the moor to Maggie | ||
| 21 | The green fields of Rosbeigh | ||
| 22 | Tom Ward's downfall | ||
| March | 23 | O'Sullivan's I | Listen |
| 24 | O'Sullivan's II | ||
| Hornpipe | 25 | From Galway to Dublin | Listen |
| Set dance | 26 | The three sea captains | |
| Mazurka | 27 | Skeltons | Listen |
| Air | 28 | No. 6 The Coombe |
The Dusty Banjos session tunes book contains the music for all the tunes on the Dusty Banjos and The Learners club 1 CDs, plus a few extra tunes. Sixty five tunes in total, they are presented in banjo tablature, ABC and standard sheet music notation. It contains notes on reading tablature, and the variations in tunes as they are played in Galway sessions. The table of contents references each tune to the track number and CD on which it features. Below are a few screen shots from the book. Click on a thumb to view a larger image.