I wasn’t born on a calm night so I got into music at an early age, and got my first melodeon when I was seven years old.. In my early teens, I used to play with the Seán Lynch Céilí Band, and one of the gigs was at a crossroads platform at Knocknacolon, about a mile outside Kanturk in north Cork. It was run by Bill Sullivan, a wonderful local man, who used to show us how to dance as well.
I got a lot of music from Jim Keeffe who played fiddle with us, and he had been a pupil of the great Pádraig O’Keeffe. So it was Sliabh Luachra all the way, and I learned to read that distinctive fiddle notation.
In 1974, I won the All-Ireland accordion contest in Listowel. But I don’t play the usual style. My instrument is in C#/D rather than B/C.
Back in the seventies, I started to play with Séamus Creagh, and we had some great times together, and made an album in 1977.
I’ve played with a few different groups, Buttons and Bows, De Dannan, Arcady, Patrick Street, and duets with Kevin Burke and Matt Cranitch. When people ask me why so many, I say because I’m cheap!
Down the years, I’ve been exposed to many different styles, but it’s the music of Sliabh Luachra that has had the greatest impression on me. So, I’ll carry on till I’m carried out, and I might be good yet!
