he made with Finbar Furey after Furey's prized Indian bamboo whistle was destroyed while on tour. Unable to repair it, Overton attempted to produce a metal replica and Finbar and himself spent many hours in the shed at the back of Bernard's house in Rugby, designing, testing and ultimately perfecting the flute. The first few were named the Furey/Overton flute but when Bernard gave up his job to hand make them full-time, they decided to market them as The Overton Flute. The first resulting instrument was essentially an oversized tin whistle made of copper pipe with a wooden plug but was quickly replaced by the aluminium one. While Overton was unsatisfied with its performance, he subsequently refined the design with an all-aluminium construction, producing a whistle in A. Impressed, Finbar requested a G version for his trademark Lonesome Boatman performances. Later, according to Overton, Hence, the expression "Irish low whistle" is not denoting an Irish origin, but just an intensive use of this instrument in Ireland and, because of cultural similarity, in the whole British archipelago. While before long several notable instrument makers were producing low whistles, it is usually the Riverdance tour of the 1990s that is credited with giving the low whistle commercial exposure and recognition outside traditional music circles. Of particular note is Davy Spillane, whose work in fusing the sound of traditional instruments such as the low whistle with modern jazz or RnB, for example, has done much for the instrument's visibility. Some of the most famous low whistle players are: Michael McGoldrick, Kevin Crawford, Phil Hardy from England, Davy Spillane, Paddy Keenan, John McSherry (musician) from Ireland, Brian Finnegan from Northern Ireland, Fred Morrison, Rory Campbell (musician), Tony Hinnigan, and Ross Ainslie from Scotland. In British and Irish culture and traditional music Unlike the regular pennywhistle, the low whistle is a relative newcomer to folk music, and some criticise it for attempting to fill a musical role already well served by the tin whistle and Irish flute. To others it is viewed as a "transition instrument" for players seeking to eventually learn the seemingly more prestigious (and expensive) flute or uilleann pipes. While it is true that many skills learnt on the low whistle carry over to these instruments, "some of the greatest players of traditional music have been associated with the low whistle" and have helped foster its reputation as a highly versatile and