I grew up in Carrick-on-Shannon in Co. Leitrim and started learning the tin whistle at about 7 years of age and then progressed onto the fiddle a couple of years later.. My grandfather John Meehan was my first fiddle tutor and taught me how to read music. In fact, in the beginning I could not learn by ear but only from reading staff notation and after a couple of years I decided to bite the bullet and taught myself how to learn by ear. Because my grandfather mainly learned by reading music, he would ask me to write out any new tune that he did not know whether it was a tune from an album or one that was heard at a session. He particularly liked Paddy Fahy tunes or any tune that was a bit quirky and most of my repertoire was picked up at sessions in Cryan’s in Carrick-on-Shannon. The sessions at Cryan’s with musicians such as Oliver Loughlin, Damian O’Brien, Michael O’Brien (RIP), Dave Sheridan, the McGovern Family, Mick Mulvey, Sean Gilrane and many more frequent visitors were a big part of my musical development. I also attended workshops at the Joe Mooney each year in Drumshanbo where I learnt from great tutors such as Ben Lennon, Bríd Harper, Brendan McGlinchey, and the Kane sisters. Another major influence on my musical development in particular were the recordings of Michael Coleman and his fellow Sligo contemporaries James Morrison, Paddy Killoran, and James ‘Lad’ O’Beirne. My interest in 78rpm recordings was enriched by getting to know Alan Morrisroe who has an extensive collection of 78s and Gregory Daly who has a great knowledge of Sligo music and its history.

In terms of composition, Finbarr Dwyer, Paddy Fahy, Joe Liddy, Brendan McGlinchey, Josephine Keegan, Larry Redican, Charlie Lennon, Ed Reavy and many more are some of the composers whose tunes and imagination have provided me with inspiration.