A second take on the Dunn Family Collection of Wax Cylinder recordings mentioned previously. Shannon Heaton’s excellent Irish Music Stories Podcast episode 18 features an interview with the curators of the collection. I highly recommend Shannon’s podcast to anyone with an interest in playing and listening to Irish Music. This episode features some interesting tidbits about O’Neill and his collection, apparently he spotted the device at the 1893 World’s Fair but had to save up for 10 years to purchase it. Then there is the story of how the collection came into the hands of his fire chief friend Michael Dunn: the O’Neill family was so disheartened by the loss of their 18 year old musician son Rogers that they decided to never have music in the house again.
Here is Geraldine O’Grady with the Lament for Rogers O’Neill, composed to commemorate his tragic death at such a young age.