James Keane was born in 1948 and grew up in a fiddling family in Drimnagh, Dublin, but bucked tradition by taking up the button accordion at the tender age of six. As teenagers, he and his brother Seán (who would later play the fiddle with the Chieftains) were among the founders of Dublin’s famed Castle Céilí Band in the early 1960s. Later in that decade, James found himself much in demand during the “ballad boom,” often playing multiple Dublin gigs in a single night. He moved to New York in 1968 and spent years partnering singer Jesse Owens before relocating to Nova Scotia and touring with the Canadian band Ryan’s Fancy. Quitting the road in 1983, James returned to New York City and settled down in Queens with his Kerry-born wife Theresa. He worked a steady desk job but continued to issue a series of new solo recordings, to play in some of the city’s pubs, in concert with Mick Moloney or singer Robbie O’Connell, and at many an Irish festival.