@mouse ...session/Irish tunes slowed down...yeah me too.  Right now i dont have much choice but theres some i can play faster and like slow.. morrisons for instance.  castle kelly another that is fun to just meander through the notes. My love is in America and foxhunters slip jig seem nice slow.  But then listen to The Chieftans 2 album and you can hear how it can sound up tempo.  One of my favorite versions of foxhunter reel and slip jig are on that one.  And the way tbey arranged the parts its unique..

Heres some more 'Americana' type music.  i think theres an album top 40 type playlist similar to pop and rock.  some things are difficult to classify and its probably up to people other tha. the artist to sort.  Im sure the artist just call them songs

feature=shared

indie folk..singer songwriter...red dirt.. adult alternative...not sure where some groups fall according to hit list.   What i do is in pandora I create a station with a particular song i like then tell it to play similar artsist.   Ive found alot of new to me people and songs that way.   Ill text my son and say listen to this and he is like Dad thats 6 years old..where yah been 🤣

jamestown revival has alot of good songs.   may like them

@SharonC said
 I like both of your versions of the Christy Barry’s – tempo does change the mood of it.  I might be more drawn to the slower version.  I don’t know, maybe an age thing—I’m thinking that as I’m getting older, I think more like, “What’s the rush?”

thank you @SharonC I know what you mean.   Im definately not trying to sell play faster.. actually not either one.  I think was just trying to show that maybe tempo does has alot to do with what is recognizable as an irish tune.   It takes on a different flavor slower or faster. 

Im on the side if you can play it slow well then eventually the tempo comes.  if you try and practice it faster.  Ive not had many occasions where thats happened yet though.  still an infant as far as fiddling goes.  I think when i first started i had the typical conversation about ..how do you play so fast and the person said something along the lines of its actually easier to play that tune faster.  and it does seem from time to time when the stars line up ive got a peek at that.  not anything lately btw... its sorta like the sound barrier.  lol..  things seem like a struggle then theres a break through and it gets more relaxed and even though playing faster it seems like less struggle.  One thing that HAS to happen is not thinking.  I HAVE to know something without thinking about it... and any time i START thinkung about THE TUNE ..I lose it.  

and all this is relative.   what i call fast would be a dirge tempo for someone else.  

the good thing is most of these sound great either way.. so it really doesnt matter.  its what inspires someone to play.

@elcbk idk about where the terms came from and what definitively makes something one vs the other.  For me several years ago i started listening to groups like The Turnpike Troubadors and Reckless Kelly and maybe it was an article or music show that defined them as Americana.  They have a sound thats different than Garth Brooks or Blake Shelton.  Maybe it comes down to leans more on certain instruments... an open back banjo..mandolin..cello in the mix.  idk.    Maybe its more marketing.. say anything produced west of the mississippi and east of LA.  🙂

It seems like a mix of older style country and folk music.   If Buck Owens cut a record today..probably would be lumped in with Americana.   And I dont even know if thats still a term.  Maybe its 15 years dated.   I listen mostly to pandora and not the radio so my music is probably behind the times.
  

for me.. the above groups.. Ryan Bingham..Tyler Childers.. Cody Jinks...Randy Rogers ..Cross Canadian ragweed band.. id lump in the style of Americana.   The earlier steeldrivers to me was somewhere between bluegrass and americana.  others would probably say one or all are country.

its all sorta blurred.  sorta like now with you i bet.  people not familiar with fiddle music couldnt tell scottish, irish, or cape breton fiddling... it would probably all be called celtic music

***EDIT**

some of the above was in response to question since deleted.

just talk specifically about an individual performer or band and then no worries.  🙂  

So, looks like "Americana" is the genre/term I've been searching for - makes it SO MUCH EASIER for me to describe a lot of music I like! 🤗 

great!   welcome aboard!

I worked on The Sligo Maid tonight.  Another 4th finger on E string workout for me.  The cat rrally likes it.