Reel (2016)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

AlgomaTrad is an incredible organization based in Northern Ontario that builds community through the celebration, sharing, and learning of traditional music, dance, arts, and heritage craft. It is the brainchild of Julie Schryer and Pat O’Gorman, who are both brilliant musicians and great friends who have supported my music for many years.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)

Hornpipe (2016)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

My good friend Anthony Vial is a wonderful piano player and fiddler from Ottawa. We’ve played at jam sessions together in Canada, the US, and Ireland, and have performed together on many occasions. Anthony loves to play Irish tunes, and is also very good at playing out melodies on the piano, so this is a tune I thought would honour both those qualities.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)

Reel (2020)

Includes harmony part

In 2020, I found an old composition notebook of mine containing rough sketches of tunes I had started to write in 2013. This is one of the tunes I began writing in that notebook, and decided was worth finishing seven years later. Given that it should be played quite fast and is in the tricky key of C minor, it’s probably the toughest tune in this book to play.

RECORDED ON: Jane & Kyle: Of Hills and Valleys, Track 9 (2021)

Jig (2017)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

Bob Stone was a fiddler from Stittsville, ON, who was always very supportive of my fiddling and my compositions. I would often play tunes with Bob at the weekly jam sessions held at Naismith’s Pub in Almonte, ON. Sadly, he passed away in November 2021, at the age of 85.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)

Reel (2016)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

This tune was written for Amy Bogard and her son, Jack, whom I first met and got to know at the Swannanoa Gathering Celtic Week in North Carolina. Amy is a great flute player, and is also an incredibly talented visual artist (check out her work at www.amybogard.com). Jack, who is around my age, is a fantastic fiddler/violinist equally at ease playing Irish music, classical concertos, or improvising jazz solos. I fondly remember many late-night jam sessions with him at Swannanoa. Jack is now the concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic in Evansville, Indiana.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)

Jig (2020), co-written with Jane Cory

Includes harmony part

This is the first tune Jane and I composed together, and decided to dedicate it to her family’s dog, Mowgli, who is a beautiful husky/shepherd mix. Once in awhile when he manages to escape the yard, he enjoys going on a romp through the forest, often returning with many burs attached.

RECORDED ON: Jane & Kyle: Of Hills and Valleys, Track 2 (2021)

Jig (2019)

Two of my favourite Cape Breton fiddlers are Jerry Holland and Howie MacDonald. There is something special in their sound I am often trying to emulate: a combination of phrasing, tone, and vibrato, which gives their playing that unmistakably classic Cape Breton sound. This tune came to mind one day after listening and playing along to some of Jerry and Howie’s recordings.

Jig (2016)

I composed this jig while on my first road trip through British Columbia in 2016. One morning, as we were driving in the Kootenay Mountains, there was a blanket of clouds outside, but because we were so high up the mountain, the clouds were below us, and this eerie-sounding tune came to mind.

I was honoured to be named a winner of the 2017 Canadian Songwriting Competition for this tune, as well as “The Kettle Valley Railway”.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 7 (2017)

Reel (2020), co-written with Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy

Includes harmony part

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy shared the A part of a tune they wrote on Facebook, and started a friendly competition asking for others to send in their own versions of what the B part could be. After reviewing all the submissions received, I was chuffed to receive a call from Natalie and Donnell saying they’d chosen my B part as one of the winners! We recorded the tune together on their album, Canvas.

RECORDED ON: Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy: Canvas, Track 12 (2023)

Jig (2020)

This is a tune commission from the 2019 Gatineau Hills Fiddle Festival silent auction, won by Jan Hogg, who asked me to compose a jig in memory of her mother, who was an avid dancer and piano player. She also requested the tune be paired with Brian Pickell’s tune, “Hogg’s Delight”, which was written for Jan’s parents, Doug Hogg and Doreen Cleave-Hogg. I enjoy playing “Hogg’s Delight”, followed by this tune, in a medley.

RECORDED ON: Justin Thériault, Kyle Burghout, and Susan Toman: The Castle, Track 11 (2023)

Reel (2020), co-written with James Stephens

Includes harmony part

Leading up to the 2020 AlgomaTrad Family Camp, James Stephens and I were asked to compose a tune that could be played by the instructors and students at that year’s camp. James composed the B part first, then I wrote an A part to pair with it. We named the tune after the road on St. Joseph Island the AlgomaTrad Centre is on and where camp is held.

Reel (2020)

My good friend John Mitchell and I are both huge fans of Jerry Holland, and have listened countless times to every album, home recording, and video of him we can find. While we were in New Orleans for the 2020 Folk Alliance International Conference with Jane Cory and Kyle Waymouth, John said, “Some people have God to look up to; I’ve got Jerry Holland,” and that inspired this tune.

Waltz (2014)

I composed this waltz for my good friend Emily Yarascavitch, a wonderful fiddler and step dancer from Oshawa, ON. Emily plays a beautiful fiddle made by Dennis Alexander, and in 2014, Dennis asked Emily to record a track for Fiddlemaker 2, an album of music played by various owners of Dennis’ instruments. Emily asked me if I’d be willing to write a tune for her to play on the album, and this is the result.

RECORDED ON:

Dennis Alexander: Fiddlemaker 2, Track 15 (2014)

Kyle Burghout, Emily Yarascavitch, and Anthony Vial: Branches of Silver, Track 2 (2015)

Waltz (2017)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

Jane Smarzik is a fiddler from Ottawa, who is incredibly supportive of the local traditional music scene. She is at just about every fiddle workshop, concert, festival, contest, and jam session in the area, often volunteering to help make these events possible. She is also one of the kindest people you’ll meet. I know some of Jane’s favourite tunes are slow Scottish airs and waltzes, so this is my attempt at a tune in that style.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)

Reel (2017)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

Jim Hunter is a fantastic piano player from Ottawa, whom I first met in 2010 at the Ottawa Fiddle Club. Since then, I’ve had the honour of playing with Jim many times at the Fiddle Club, as well as at various jam sessions and concerts in the Ottawa area. I’ve always admired Jim’s ability to pick up difficult chord progressions by ear and on-the-fly, as well as being able to adapt his accompaniment to suit a variety of fiddle styles.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)

Jig (2016)

I composed this jig while on my first road trip through British Columbia in 2016. The tune came to mind while we were in the Kettle Valley, and it reminded me of the rhythmic chugging sound a train makes as it moves along the tracks, so I named it after the historic Kettle Valley Railway.

I was honoured to be named a winner of the 2017 Canadian Songwriting Competition for this tune, as well as “Clouds in the Kootenays”.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 7 (2017)

Jig (2017)

In 2015, I won the Eastern North American Irish Fiddle Competition and qualified to compete at the All-Ireland Fiddle Competition in Sligo, Ireland. I ran a crowd-funding campaign online to help make the trip possible, and one of the perks of donating was receiving a tune composed by yours truly. This is one of the eight tunes I was commissioned to write.

Bruce Barton is a great banjo player whom I met at the weekly jam sessions held at Naismith’s Pub in Almonte, ON. He asked me to name this tune “Lost for Words”, commemorating his trio, featuring bandmates John Henderson and Pippa Hall. Bruce now lives in Stratford, Prince Edward Island.

RECORDED ON: Kyle Burghout: The Prism Within, Track 9 (2017)