Andy Irvine (musician)
Encyclopedia
Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine (born 14 June 1942) is a folk music
ian, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the popular band Planxty
. He is an accomplished player of the mandolin
, bouzouki
, mandola
, guitar-bouzouki
, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy.
, northwest London
to Irish-Scots
parents. His mother was an actress, and as a child Irvine made a few minor appearances on stage and in films and starred in a TV series, but he gave up acting when he reached adolescence. He studied classical guitar
, but gave it up for "trad" (traditional) music upon discovering Lonnie Donegan
and the Skiffle
boom of the 1950s, and, later, Woody Guthrie
, who was to become an enduring influence on his music and outlook.
(notably the songs he wrote for his radio-ballad
s), and the Child Ballads
. There he met Johnny Moynihan
, with whom he formed a musical partnership, which, with the addition of Joe Dolan, turned into Sweeney's Men
in 1966.
A year later Dolan departed, and was replaced with Terry Woods
(later of Steeleye Span
and The Pogues
). After recording several singles and an album Irvine left the band, and headed to Eastern Europe (he later wrote a song about his experiences there: "Baneasa's Green Glade", which was recorded years later by Planxty). During his trips to the Balkan states he soaked up musical influences which would emerge in subsequent projects and would have a major impact on the sound of contemporary Irish music, even including (via Bill Whelan) the original Riverdance score.
When he returned to Dublin, Sweeney's Men
was breaking up, and the music scene had changed. He met Donal Lunny
, and played with him for a while, but he got his big break when Christy Moore
, an established musician in the British folk music scene, decided to record his second album in Ireland. Among the musicians he asked to perform with him were Irvine, Lunny, and uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn
. The album,
Prosperous
, was released as an album by Moore, but the four musicians thereafter formed Planxty.
The group was an instant success, signing a six record contract and touring throughout Europe. They played mostly traditional songs and tunes, but several were Irvine compositions, making him the lone composer of the band. Instrumentally the group was notable for the intricate bouzouki and mandolin counterpoint of Lunny and Irvine, along with O'Flynn's exceptional piping; Irvine and Moore (who also played guitar) were the principal vocalists. After two albums Lunny left the group, and was replaced by Moynihan. After a third album together Moore departed and was replaced by Strabane
native, Paul Brady
, but soon Planxty broke up, substantially in debt.
Irvine continued to play with Brady, and briefly with De Dannan
(he soon left due to scheduling conflicts). But by 1978 Christy Moore was ready to reform the original Planxty lineup, complete with Lunny, who brought along flutist Matt Molloy
from The Bothy Band
. Planxty again broke up in 1982, and Irvine gathered a collection of musicians from throughout Europe and formed Mosaic, who were short-lived.
In 1985 Irvine joined up with fiddler Kevin Burke, guitarist/vocalist Gerry O'Beirne, and accordionist Jackie Daly. Originally billed on an American tour as "The Legends of Irish Music", they soon chose to call themselves Patrick Street
. The lineup for the band underwent several changes, but always included Irvine, Burke, and Daly. Agreed to as a "part time" band, they have nevertheless recorded seven studio albums together.
In recent years Irvine has been active in at least four ongoing musical projects: as a solo artist; with Patrick Street; in the original four-man lineup of Planxty, which reunited for several shows in 2003 and 2004; and in a multicultural group called Mozaik (not to be confused with his earlier, similarly named group), which features Irvine, Donal Lunny
, Bruce Molsky
, Nikola Parov, and Rens van der Zalm.
He is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World
(Wobblies).
Like other artists contracted to perform at Féile Iorrais (a community festival in Erris
) in August 2007, Irvine was disgusted to learn that Royal Dutch Shell
were partly sponsoring the events. Shell's plans for the Corrib gas project have caused serious division and hurt in County Mayo
. Irvine donated part of his fee to the Shell to Sea
campaign.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ian, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the popular band Planxty
Planxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...
. He is an accomplished player of the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, bouzouki
Irish bouzouki
The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
, mandola
Mandola
The mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
, guitar-bouzouki
Irish bouzouki
The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy.
Early life
Andrew Irvine was born in St John's WoodSt John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district of north-west London, England, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem...
, northwest London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Irish-Scots
Irish-Scots
Irish-Scots are people who live in Scotland who are of immediate or traceably distinct Irish ancestry. Although migration between Ireland and Scotland has an established history owing to their close proximity, Irish migration to Scotland increased exponentially in the nineteenth century, and was...
parents. His mother was an actress, and as a child Irvine made a few minor appearances on stage and in films and starred in a TV series, but he gave up acting when he reached adolescence. He studied classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
, but gave it up for "trad" (traditional) music upon discovering Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
and the Skiffle
Skiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
boom of the 1950s, and, later, Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, who was to become an enduring influence on his music and outlook.
Music career
In the 1960s he found himself in Dublin, and began an itinerant life of a musician. He found musical influences in the likes of Ewan MacCollEwan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
(notably the songs he wrote for his radio-ballad
Radio-ballad
The radio ballad is an audio documentary format created by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and Charles Parker in 1958. It combines four elements of sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary...
s), and the Child Ballads
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
. There he met Johnny Moynihan
Johnny Moynihan
John "Johnny" Moynihan , is a folk singer based in Dublin, Ireland. He is often credited as being responsible for introducing the bouzouki and the Irish bouzouki into Irish music in the mid 1960s. Known as "The Bard of Dalymount", as a young man he played in the band Sweeney's Men with Andy Irvine,...
, with whom he formed a musical partnership, which, with the addition of Joe Dolan, turned into Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the late 1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was 'Galway Joe' Dolan, Johnny Moynihan and Andy Irvine....
in 1966.
A year later Dolan departed, and was replaced with Terry Woods
Terry Woods
Terence 'Terry' Woods , is an Irish folk musician, specialising in playing the mandolin and cittern. He is known for his membership in such folk and folk-rock groups as The Pogues, Steeleye Span, Sweeney's Men, The Bucks and, briefly, Dr. Strangely Strange. Prior to being a founder member of...
(later of Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
and The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
). After recording several singles and an album Irvine left the band, and headed to Eastern Europe (he later wrote a song about his experiences there: "Baneasa's Green Glade", which was recorded years later by Planxty). During his trips to the Balkan states he soaked up musical influences which would emerge in subsequent projects and would have a major impact on the sound of contemporary Irish music, even including (via Bill Whelan) the original Riverdance score.
When he returned to Dublin, Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the late 1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was 'Galway Joe' Dolan, Johnny Moynihan and Andy Irvine....
was breaking up, and the music scene had changed. He met Donal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
, and played with him for a while, but he got his big break when Christy Moore
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
, an established musician in the British folk music scene, decided to record his second album in Ireland. Among the musicians he asked to perform with him were Irvine, Lunny, and uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn is a master uilleann piper and prominent Irish folk musician. In addition to an impressive solo career and his work with the Irish traditional group Planxty, O'Flynn has recorded with many prominent international musical artists, including Mark Knopfler, the Everly Brothers, Enya,...
. The album,
Prosperous
Prosperous
Prosperous is the second album by Irish folk musician Christy Moore, released in 1972. His first album, Paddy On The Road was recorded by Dominic Behan in 1969 and has long been out of print...
, was released as an album by Moore, but the four musicians thereafter formed Planxty.
The group was an instant success, signing a six record contract and touring throughout Europe. They played mostly traditional songs and tunes, but several were Irvine compositions, making him the lone composer of the band. Instrumentally the group was notable for the intricate bouzouki and mandolin counterpoint of Lunny and Irvine, along with O'Flynn's exceptional piping; Irvine and Moore (who also played guitar) were the principal vocalists. After two albums Lunny left the group, and was replaced by Moynihan. After a third album together Moore departed and was replaced by Strabane
Strabane
Strabane , historically spelt Straban,is a town in west County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It contains the headquarters of Strabane District Council....
native, Paul Brady
Paul Brady
Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age...
, but soon Planxty broke up, substantially in debt.
Irvine continued to play with Brady, and briefly with De Dannan
De Dannan
De Dannan was an Irish folk music group. They were formed by Frankie Gavin , Alec Finn , Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh and Charlie Piggott as a result of sessions in Hughes's Pub in An Spidéal, County Galway, subsequently inviting Dolores Keane to join the band...
(he soon left due to scheduling conflicts). But by 1978 Christy Moore was ready to reform the original Planxty lineup, complete with Lunny, who brought along flutist Matt Molloy
Matt Molloy
Matt Molloy is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at only seventeen years old...
from The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band was an Irish traditional band active during the late 1970s. It quickly gained a reputation as one of the most influential bands playing Irish traditional music...
. Planxty again broke up in 1982, and Irvine gathered a collection of musicians from throughout Europe and formed Mosaic, who were short-lived.
In 1985 Irvine joined up with fiddler Kevin Burke, guitarist/vocalist Gerry O'Beirne, and accordionist Jackie Daly. Originally billed on an American tour as "The Legends of Irish Music", they soon chose to call themselves Patrick Street
Patrick Street
Patrick Street is an Irish folk group.The band was formed in Dublin in 1986 with Kevin Burke on fiddle, Jackie Daly on button accordion, Andy Irvine on bouzouki and vocals, and Arty McGlynn on guitar...
. The lineup for the band underwent several changes, but always included Irvine, Burke, and Daly. Agreed to as a "part time" band, they have nevertheless recorded seven studio albums together.
In recent years Irvine has been active in at least four ongoing musical projects: as a solo artist; with Patrick Street; in the original four-man lineup of Planxty, which reunited for several shows in 2003 and 2004; and in a multicultural group called Mozaik (not to be confused with his earlier, similarly named group), which features Irvine, Donal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
, Bruce Molsky
Bruce Molsky
Bruce C. Molsky is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region.Molsky was born in 1955 at New York Infirmary in Manhattan, and grew up in The Bronx...
, Nikola Parov, and Rens van der Zalm.
He is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(Wobblies).
Like other artists contracted to perform at Féile Iorrais (a community festival in Erris
Erris
Erris is a barony in northwestern County Mayo in Ireland consisting of over , much of which is mountainous blanket bog. It has extensive sea coasts along its west and north boundaries. The main towns are Belmullet and Bangor Erris. The name Erris derives from the Irish 'Iar Ros' meaning 'western...
) in August 2007, Irvine was disgusted to learn that Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
were partly sponsoring the events. Shell's plans for the Corrib gas project have caused serious division and hurt in County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
. Irvine donated part of his fee to the Shell to Sea
Shell to Sea
Shell to Sea is a campaign based in Cill Chomáin parish, Erris, County Mayo, Ireland which opposes the proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline through the parish and the ongoing construction by Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Vermilion Energy Trust of a refinery at Bellanaboy intended to...
campaign.
Solo
- Rainy Sundays, Windy Dreams (1980)
- Rude Awakening (1991)
- Rain on the Roof (1996)
- Way Out Yonder (2000)
- Abocurragh (2010)
With Planxty
- Prosperous (album) – 1972
- PlanxtyPlanxty (album)Planxty is the first album by the Irish folk group Planxty, released in 1973. Because of its dark cover, it is sometimes referred to as "the Black Album."...
(1973) - The Well Below the Valley (1973)
- Cold Blow and the Rainy Night (1974)
- After The BreakAfter the BreakAfter The Break is a studio album by the Irish folk music band Planxty released in 1979. Now available to download from most major online retailers as well as on CD.- Track listing:#"The Good Ship Kangaroo"...
(1979) - The Woman I Loved So WellThe Woman I Loved So WellThe Woman I Loved So Well is a studio album by Planxty released in 1980. Now available to download from most major online retailers as well as on CD.- Track listing:# "True Love Knows No Season"# "Out On The Ocean / Tiocfaidh Tu Abhaile Liom"...
(1980) - Live At Olympia Theatre, Dublin (1980, cassette - withdrawn shortly after release)
- Words and Music (1983)
- Arís (1984)
- Planxty Live 2004 (2004)
With Patrick Street
- Patrick Street (1986)
- No. 2 Patrick Street (1988)
- Irish Times (1989)
- All In Good Time (1992)
- Cornerboys (1996)
- Made in Cork (1997)
- Live From Patrick Street (1999)
- Compendium: The Best Of Patrick Street (2000)
- Street Life (2002)
- On the Fly (2007)