1960s: Dublin, Sweeney's Men, Eastern Europe Move to Dublin and transition from acting to folk music In 1962, when his two-year contract with the BBC's 'Rep' ended, In late 1963, he had a part in a few episodes of ''Down at Flannery's
, a forerunner of the popular RTÉ soapTolka Row One of his last acting performances was at the Olympia Theatre on 28 September 1964 as Sir Peregrine in Sir Buccaneer'', a musical by G.P. Gallivan. However, he very quickly noticed that a burgeoning folk scene was emerging, centred around the
Baggot Street–Merrion quarter of Dublin's city centre. "As soon as I found my feet there, I thought, 'That's it, goodbye acting!. as well as
A.L. Lloyd's
Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. He also drew inspiration from Ewan MacColl, notably the songs he wrote for his
radio-ballads. Irvine met like-minded people such as
Ronnie Drew,
Luke Kelly and
Barney McKenna, who would later form
The Dubliners. Decades later, he recorded "O'Donoghue's"—released on the album
Changing Trains (2004)—a song of eleven verses in which he vividly recalls these happy times, naming many of the people who were part of his transition from actor to folk musician. To quote
Colin Irwin: "They merged the familiar American folk style so popular in the early sixties with a distinctively home-grown Irish flavour; it was not Irish music but it was real and exciting, it had verve, imagination and style." A distinctive aspect of the Sweeney's Men sound was Moynihan's introduction of the
bouzouki—originally a Greek
instrument—into Irish music, albeit with a different tuning: GDAD' In June 1966, Irvine and Dolan played five nights a week as a duo at the Enda Hotel in
Galway and Moynihan would join them at weekends, since he was still working as a
draughtsman in
Roscommon. }} The trio recorded their first single "Old Maid in the Garrett"/"
The Derby Ram" for
Pye Records at
Eamonn Andrews Studios in the spring of 1967. and was replaced by
Terry Woods – later of
Steeleye Span and
The Pogues. produced by
Bill Leader at
Livingston Studios,
Barnet. Irvine contributed four songs: "Sally Brown", "
Willy O' Winsbury", "
Dance to Your Daddy", and "
Reynard The Fox". in August or September 1968." • "
Băneasă's Green Glade", • "Autumn Gold", and • "Rainy Sundays", During a series of
hitch-hiking journeys across
Slovenia,
Serbia,
Bulgaria and
Romania, In turn, Irvine's integration of characteristic elements of Bulgarian folk music into his playing, such as
asymmetric rhythms, would also have a profound influence on the sound of contemporary Irish music, including—via Bill Whelan—the original
Riverdance score. He also went to
Thessaloniki, a
Greek-Macedonian town near the Bulgarian border, to buy a bouzouki: While in Ljubljana, he met Rens van der Zalm, a young, classically trained violinist from the
Netherlands who also played guitar, mandolin, piano, accordion and tin whistle, and who was one of the founders of the Dutch folk group Fungus. They would later join forces in several of Irvine's projects. When he returned to Dublin in the autumn of 1969,
Christy Moore – Prosperous Before too long, Irvine and Lunny participated in a project that would lead to their big break. Moore, who had moved to England during the
National Bank Strike of 1966, "
Arthur McBride", "West Coast of Clare", and "The Blacksmith". "As I Roved Out", "Băneasă's Green Glade", The band's new line-up (Irvine, O'Flynn, Moynihan, and Brady) toured extensively but released no recordings, breaking up after playing their final show in
Brussels on 5 December 1975. Irvine was also invited by
Alec Finn to join
De Dannan after
Dolores Keane had left, playing "Martinmas Time/Danny O'Brien's Hornpipe", "Maíre Rua/Hardiman The Fiddler", "The Emigrant's Farewell", "The Boys of Ballysodare" and "The Plains of Kildare". In August 1976, Irvine and Brady recorded an album together at the
Rockfield Studios, The 40th anniversary of the album's release was celebrated by a tour of Ireland scheduled for May 2017, featuring the original personnel: Irvine, Brady, Lunny and Burke. The tour visited:
Cork, Dublin, Derry,
Limerick,
Galway and
Belfast. During October 2018, the anniversary tour was repeated with one-night concerts in Dublin, Cork, London and
Prague.
Duo with Mick Hanly – As I Went Over Blackwater Irvine also toured extensively in Europe with
Mick Hanly, They started their set with Irvine performing a full version of "Johnny Cope": first the song, Their set ends with Hanly singing "John Barleycorn" and "The Verdant Braes of Skreen". The following year, Irvine and Hanly were joined on stage by Liam O'Flynn at 'The 5th Irish Folk Festival' in Germany on 28 April 1978, playing "I Buried My Wife And Danced on Top of Her", a jig learnt from uilleann piper Willie Clancy; "Molly Bawn", sung by Hanly (with Irvine on hurdy-gurdy first, then on bouzouki); "Brian O'Lynn/Sean Bun"; "I Courted A Wee Girl"; "The Longford Weaver" sung by Irvine accompanying himself on hurdy-gurdy and harmonica; and "Masters Return/Kittie's Wedding". Two years later, in 1980, Hanly released his second solo album
As I Went Over Blackwater, featuring Irvine on four tracks: "Jack Haggerty" (harmonicas), "
The Guerriere and
The Constitution" (harmony vocals and hurdy-gurdy), "Every Circumstance" (mandolin) and "Miss Bailey/Jessica's Polka" (harmonica).
The Gathering Sometime during 1977, Irvine also recorded
The Gathering, along with Paul Brady, Dónal Lunny,
Matt Molloy,
Tommy Potts,
Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and uilleann piper Peter Browne. This album was funded by
Diane Meek, a
Guggenheim heiress who had used the pseudonym "Hamilton" as her maiden name to disguise her wealth. She was the owner of
Tradition Records and a patron of traditional music in Dublin at the time. She had lent Mulligan Records money in the early days and had also formed a small record label for traditional music called
Srutháin [a stream], on which she had intended to release
The Gathering. However, the album was finally released in 1981 on Greenhays, a label connected with
Rounder Records. and "The Mall of
Lismore". with a concert in the auditorium of
Liberty Hall in Dublin. He decided to record the concert on his own domestic
Akai reel-to-reel tape machine with Brian Masterson in attendance, who had engineered the album and was doing the sound that night. Performing with him were: Lunny, O'Flynn,
Paddy Glackin, Matt Molloy,
Noel Hill and Irvine, who played on nine of the ten numbers performed that night: "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" (harmonica, mandolin); "I Am A Youth That's Inclined To Ramble" (hurdy-gurdy); "The Creel/Out The Door And Over The Wall" (mandolin, bouzouki); "The Jolly Soldier/The Blarney Pilgrim" (harmonica, bouzouki); "Mary And The Soldier" (mandolin, harmonica); "Jackson And Jane" (hurdy-gurdy); "Don't Come Again" (mandolin); "The Lakes Of Pontchartrain" (bouzouki); "The Crooked Road To Dublin" (
Portuguese guitarra with 8
tuners [4 removed], re-strung with 4 courses and tuned like a mandola). released the same year. Irvine contributed three pieces to the album: "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure", "The Rambling Siúler",
1980s: Solo album, Planxty, Parallel Lines, Mosaic, Patrick Street Rainy Sundays... Windy Dreams At the end of 1979, Irvine recorded his first solo album at
Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin:
Rainy Sundays... Windy Dreams, produced by Dónal Lunny and released on
Tara Records in 1980. This first solo album showcased songs and tunes from two of his main influences: side one (on the vinyl
LP) featured pieces inspired by
Irish traditional music, and side two choices concentrated on
Balkan music. The original, vinyl album a compilation album showcasing tracks previously released by some of its artists:
Shaun Davey,
Oisín,
Jolyon Jackson, Paddy Glackin,
Paddy Keenan,
Stockton's Wing and Christy Moore. This album also included five previously unreleased tracks by Planxty, Irvine and Moore. Two of these, Irvine's "
The Bonny Light Horseman" and a set of
reels by Planxty, "Lord McDonald/The Chattering Magpie", were subsequently added to the CD version of
After The Break. The remaining three tracks were: "General Monroe" – a traditional song re-arranged by Irvine (bouzouki, harmonica) in duet with Lunny (guitar); at Windmill Lane Studios over two periods: 23–29 April and 16–19 May. "Roger O'Hehir", – others had already made number one. Assembled were my old friends Jack Elliott and Derroll Adams,
Alex Campbell,
Dick Gaughan,
Dolores Keane and John Faulkner and many others. That was some week! [...] We recorded in different combinations and I recorded "Thousands Are Sailing" with Dick which would lead to our making an album together a year later:
Parallel Lines. In August 1981, at Günter Pauler's Tonstudio in St Blasien/Herrenhaus, Northeim, Germany, released in 1982 on the German
FolkFreak-Platten label. It was produced by Gaughan, Irvine and Carsten Linde, with a line-up including Gaughan (acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar and vocal), Irvine (bouzouki, mandola, mandolin, harmonica, hurdy-gurdy and vocal), Nollaig Casey (fiddle), Martin Buschmann (saxophone), Judith Jaenicke (flute) and Bob Lenox (Fender Rhodes piano). Dónal Lunny also overdubbed the fiddle parts and remixed the album at
Lombard Sound Studios in Dublin.
Planxty – Words and Music The Planxty sextet continued to tour, but began to drift apart. In 1980, O'Flynn recorded
The Brendan Voyage with Shaun Davey. Irvine contributed three pieces to the album: "Thousands Are Sailing", and "Aragon Mill". A final line-up that Irvine dubbed "Planxty-Too-Far"—Irvine, O'Flynn, Whelan,
Arty McGlynn on guitar, James Kelly on fiddle and singer Dolores Keane, but without Casey—undertook a UK tour on Friday, 1 April 1983, followed by a series of live engagements in Ireland, an appearance on the
Late Late Show and some eight shows, including the National Stadium in Dublin on 27 April 1983. Two days later, Irvine went on tour in the Balkans and, on his return in mid-June, found that: "to my surprise, the band hadn't actually split up, it has just fallen asunder. An unfortunate ending to the second coming...". who would go on to participate in several of Irvine's projects, the first being the album
East Wind (1992), which featured Sebestyén. Irvine would later write a song about this period of his life in Budapest: "The Wind Blows Over The Danube", released on the album
Changing Trains. Their first public gig was in Budapest on 12 July 1985, followed by a further two gigs in Hungary and an appearance at the
Dranouter festival in Belgium in early August, prior to their English tour. Their set included:
Stan Rogers's "
Northwest Passage", an unspecified
Macedonian dance tune ("one of Andy's 90 mph specials" Irvine stated that he would have liked to try the experiment again by concentrating on the Irish and East European sound without bringing in the
blues influence.
Patrick Street Also in 1985, Irvine joined up with fiddler Kevin Burke and guitarist
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (who had been gigging together around America for some time) and toured as a trio in the USA; when Ó Domhnaill wasn't available for some of the dates, guitarist/vocalist Gerry O'Beirne stepped in. "This tour was such fun and so successful that we decided to expand the outfit into a four-piece by adding
Jackie Daly", Irvine wrote. Initially billed on a 1986 American tour as "The Legends of Irish Music", they soon chose to call themselves
Patrick Street. • from McGlynn to Ged Foley – after the band recorded their fourth album,
All in Good Time, released in 1993; • back to McGlynn – when they resumed touring after the completion of their ninth album,
On the Fly, released in 2007. After Jackie Daly retired from Patrick Street,
John Carty joined on fiddle, flute and tenor banjo in time to record
On The Fly. Originally agreed to as a part-time band, they have nevertheless recorded eight studio albums together, plus one live album (
Live from Patrick Street) and two compilations (
The Best of Patrick Street and
Compendium: The Best of Patrick Street). On their first album,
Patrick Street, released in 1986, Irvine sings four songs: "Patrick Street", "The Holy Ground", "The Dream/Indiana", and "The Man with the Cap". again features four songs sung by Irvine: "Tom Joad"; "Facing the Chair"; "Braes of Moneymore", to which Irvine changed the tune and added a verse; and "William Taylor" Their third album,
Irish Times, released in 1990, includes three songs by Irvine: "Brackagh Hill"; "Forgotten Hero", his composition about
Michael Davitt; and "The Humours of the King of Ballyhooley".
Playing style – The Irish Bouzouki In 1989, Irvine's style of playing the bouzouki was summarised thus in
The Irish Bouzouki, an instructional guide: The tutor also provided simple
standard notation scores and lyrics for two of Irvine's songs: "Brackagh Hill" (which he recorded with Patrick Street on the album
Irish Times released the same year) and "Bridget", produced by Bill Whelan. The line-up included Whelan (keyboards), Rens van der Zalm (fiddle, mandolin, guitar), Carl Geraghty (soprano saxophone), Arty McGlynn (guitar),
Davy Spillane (whistle) and
Fionnuala Sherry (fiddle). The album was released on
Green Linnet Records, later in 1991. So, shortly thereafter, he was rehearsing again with Davy Spillane (uilleann pipes and low whistle) to record
East Wind, a collection of
Bulgarian and
Macedonian tunes played Irish-style and produced by Whelan, who also contributed keyboards and piano. The project influenced
Riverdance: The extensive line-up included Nikola Parov on Bulgarian instruments (
gadulka,
kaval,
gaida) & bouzouki,
Máirtín O'Connor (accordion), Noel Eccles & Paul Moran (percussion), Tony Molloy (bass), Carl Geraghty & Kenneth Edge (saxophones),
John Sheahan (fiddle),
Anthony Drennan (guitar),
Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (piano), Márta Sebestyén (vocals) and
Rita Connolly (backing vocals). For a while, Irvine and Parov were joined by Rens van der Zalm and toured together in Europe as the 'East Wind Trio',
Patrick Street – All in Good Time Irvine contributed six pieces to Patrick Street's fourth album,
All in Good Time, released in 1993: "A Prince Among Men (Only a Miner)";
Lintheads, a trilogy comprising: "The Pride of the Springfield Road", "Lawrence Common", and "Goodbye, Monday Blues"; "Carrowclare";
Patrick Street – Cornerboys Patrick Street's fifth album,
Cornerboys, was released in 1996 and includes seven pieces provided by Irvine: "Sweet Lisbweemore"; "Morlough Shore";
Pity the Poor Hare (a suite comprising: "On Yonder Hill", "Merrily Tripping O'er The Plain", "The Kilgrain Hare", is the closest the listener could get to the experience of attending one of his gigs. It was the first release (product number "AK-1") on his own label,
Andy Irvine. The album mixes some of Irvine's compositions with traditional songs and Bulgarian tunes. As he explains in the sleeve notes: Other instruments were added (on four of the eleven tracks) by Rens van der Zalm (fiddle and mandolin), Stephen Cooney (
didgeridoo,
Kpanlogo drum),
Declan Masterson (low whistle) and Irvine himself, who played a second mandolin on two of the tracks. to which Irvine contributed four songs: "Her Mantle So Green", was Patrick Street's seventh album, recorded during a tour of Ireland and Britain in November 1998. It features five of Irvine's songs: "Braes of Moneymore",
Eddie Butcher's "My Son in Amerikay", "
Wild Rover No More", "
Stewball and the Monaghan Grey Mare", and "The Holy Ground". recorded between July and December 1999 and co-produced with Steve Cooney. Irvine was joined by Rens van der Zalm (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, Bulgarian
tambura and bass guitar), Lindsey Horner (double bass),
Máire Breatnach (viola), Cormac Breatnach (low whistle), Steve Cooney (Spanish guitar, percussion and
kalimba),
Declan Masterson (uilleann pipes and low whistle), Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes and tin whistle), Nikola Parov (
gadulka),
Brendan Power (harmonica), plus Lynn Kavanagh, Mandy Murphy and Phil Callery (backing vocals).—not to be confused with his earlier, similarly named group
Mosaic—featuring Irvine, Dónal Lunny,
Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov and Rens van der Zalm. The Australian tour that followed culminated in two gigs recorded at the
Brisbane Powerhouse on 30/31 March and released on the album
Live from the Powerhouse in 2004, under license to
Compass Records. Irvine contributed four pieces: "Barna Hill", "Down in Matewan", "Lost Indian", and "Green Grows the Laurel". A recording of this version of "As I Roved Out" where Irvine appeared as a guest and played it solo on his "Stefan Sobell mandola, tuned CGDG (Capo 0)".
Mozaik – Changing Trains In January and April 2005, Mozaik rehearsed new material for
Changing Trains, their first studio album recorded in Budapest during November of the same year.
Patrick Street – On the Fly Patrick Street's ninth album,
On the Fly, was released in 2007. debut album,
Dear Irish Boy, released in 2009. Personnel included: Marianne Green (vocals), Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, mandola, bass-bouzouki, harmonica), Colum Sands (double bass, concertina) and Gerry O'Conner (violin). The tracks are: "The Banks of the Bann" (trad.), "You Make Me Fly" (M. Green), "Tá Mé 'Mo Shuí" (trad.), "The Doffin Mistress" (trad.), "Bonny Portmore" (trad.), "Ar A Ghabháil Go Baile Átha Cliath Damh" (trad.), "Cian's Song" (M. O'Hare), "The Dear Irish Boy" (trad.), "The Wife's Lamentation" (M. Green), "The Road To Dundee" (trad.), "The Wreck of the Newcastle Fishermen" (trad.) and "Carrickmannon Lake" (trad.). recorded in Dublin, Norway, Australia, Hungary and Brittany between February 2009 and April 2010 and produced by Dónal Lunny, who also plays on all but one of the tracks. They were joined by Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes, tin whistle), Nikola Parov (
kaval,
nyckelharpa), Máirtín O'Connor (accordion), Bruce Molsky (fiddle), Rens van der Zalm (fiddle), Rick Epping (harmonica), Paul Moore (double bass), Graham Henderson (keyboards), Liam Bradley (percussion), Jacky Molard (violas, violins and string arrangement),
Annbjørg Lien (
hardanger fiddles),
Lillebjørn Nilsen (guitar), plus Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton (backing vocals). They played a set combining tunes and songs from the repertoires of: • Planxty: "Jenny's Wedding/The Virginia/Garrett Barry's", "Paddy Canny's" ("The Starting Gate"), "The Jolly Beggar/The Wise Maid", "Arthur MacBride", "As I Roved Out (Andy)", "The Blacksmith" and "West Coast of Clare"; • Irvine & Lunny: "My Heart's tonight in Ireland/West Clare Reel", "Braes of Moneymore", "Suleiman's Kopanitsa", "The Dream/Indiana", "O'Donoghue's" and "Siún Ni Dhuibhir"; • O'Flynn & Glackin: "Kitty's Rambles/Humours of Ennistymon", "The Green Island/Bantry Hornpipe", "Young Tom Ennis/Nora Crean", "A Rainy Day/The Shaskeen", "Two Flings", "Speed the Plough/Colonel Fraser" and "The Gold Ring". LAPD performed only occasionally, to rave reviews,
70th Birthday Concert at Vicar St 2012 On 16 and 17 June 2012, Irvine's 70th birthday was celebrated at Dublin's
Vicar Street venue in a pair of concerts. which were recorded and released on the CD
Andy Irvine/70th Birthday Concert at Vicar St 2012 and its associated DVD.
Playing Woody Guthrie again A week later, Irvine was invited to participate with
Billy Bragg in the
Woody 100 Legacy Show scheduled at Dublin's Vicar Street on Monday, 17 September 2012, to celebrate Woody Guthrie's Centenary. In his web journal, Irvine wrote at the time: "I recently located my old Gibson L0 guitar. It was in the shed where it has been languishing for some years. I used to be able to do a pretty good impression of Woody's
'Church lick' guitar playing. Hope I can get it all back! [...] I'd better get practising!..."
Parachilna with Rens van der Zalm On 13 November 2013, Irvine released his first duo album with Rens van der Zalm:
Parachilna, an album of Irish and Australian songs recorded live in July 2012 while camping in
Parachilna, South Australia and
New South Wales. It was co-produced by Irvine (vocals, bouzouki, mandola and harmonica) and van der Zalm (backing vocals, guitar, mandolin, fiddle and viola), and recorded by Cian Burke in disused buildings using top-quality microphones, a laptop and
Pro Tools. ==Selected discography==