Eddie Stack recalls St Stephen’s Day in Clare…

Broadcaster Ciaran Mac Mathuna’s contribution to Irish music was invaluable.

Pádraig O’Keeffe was born in October 1887 in Glounthane, near Scartaglen and Castleisland, Co Kerry. His father, John, was a school principal and he was the eldest of nine children. His mother, Margaret O’Callaghan came from a musical family and his uncle, Cal O’Callaghan, was a well-known fiddler.
After training in Dublin he became a schoolmaster [...]

Carey Parks of Cape Coral plays Irish music on his own tin whistles …

Legendary singer Liam Clancy has died aged 74. Liam, who found fame as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommie Makem, died in hospital in Cork on Friday, December 4. He had been ill for some time.

Interview with Joanie Madden of Cherish the Ladies …

Aided by screen photos, videos and recordings, Barney McKenna and John Sheahan were joined on the road in Germany by Dubliners past and present for a series of memorial concerts.

Marie Brouder learned her set dancing in Ireland before emigrating to Australia …

Donal Lunny talks about university life in Limerick …

It has rang out at packed sports arena, been done to death by drunks at closing time,denounced as sectarian, balladed, rocked and punked.
Often mistaken as a folk song, The Fields of Athenry was actually written by Dublin songwriter Pete St John in the mid 1970s. It is set during the Great Famine which devestated Ireland [...]

After a decade and a half and seven studio albums, Solas … Read More

Neck have a new album of songs based on the Granny link … Go to http://www.irishpost.ie/tabId/310/itemId/6655/Sticking-their-necks-out-for-music.aspx

Al Barr of the Dropkick Murphys interviewed as they prepare to tour …
Go to http://www.sfstation.com/al-barr-of-dropkick-murphys-a23331

Virginia-born Steve Earle established himself in country music and rock generally, with his 1986 album Guitar Town. Ten years and a spell in rehab later, he was living in Barna, west of Galway, writing songs and stories and contemplating a life without booze and heroin. It was during this sojourn that he wrote the slow [...]

Detailed interview with the man at the heart of the Pogues at http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2009/10/wayward_qa_interview_with_philip_chevron_the_pogues.php

In a rare American appearance, the Pogues still fill a venue with charged energy More at http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2009/10/concert_review_the_pogues_more.php

This is a tale of the unexpected insofar as nothing about it – except maybe the lyrics – conforms to the stereotype.
The song Danny Boy was written by an Englishman. Barrister Frederick Edward Wheaterly (1848 – 1929) wrote the lyrics in 1910. However his original air was so poor, the song was destined for obscurity.
It was [...]

There is only one Galway Bay – but there are two songs of that name. The first, known to many as The Old Galway Bay was written by-
Francis Fahy (1854-1935).
Born on September 29, 1854, into a family of 17, eight of whom survived. Francis Fahy’s father, Thomas, came from the Burren area and his mother [...]

Unless redheads start to breed, they could be extinct in 100 years, according to a study

Being Canadian lends a touch of the exotic to Enter the Haggis … More at TheUnion.Com