Barney McKenna
Encyclopedia
Donnycarney
Donnycarney or Donnycarny is a Northside suburb in the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is bordered by Beaumont, Artane, Killester and Marino, and lies in the postal districts of Dublin 9 and 5....
, County Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
) is an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
musician who plays the tenor banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, 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...
, and melodeon
Diatonic button accordion
A diatonic button accordion or melodeon is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys...
. He is most renowned as a banjo player. McKenna has played the banjo since an early age, beginning because he could not afford to buy the instrument of his choice, a mandolin. He has been a member of The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
since 1962 and remains the only living member of the original (1962) formation; prior to joining the Dubliners, he had spent a few months with The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
. In addition to his work on traditional Irish music, he also plays jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
on occasion.
Barney uses GDAE tuning on a 19 fret tenor banjo, an octave below fiddle/mandolin and, according to musician Mick Moloney
Mick Moloney
Michael "Mick" Moloney is a traditional Irish musician and scholar. Born in Limerick, County Limerick, he was an important figure on the Dublin folk-song revival in the 1960s. In 1973, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, is single-handedly responsible for making the GDAE tuned tenor banjo the standard banjo in Irish music.
Barney remains a great favourite with live audiences, and some of the loudest and most affectionate applause follows the tunes and songs on which he is the featured performer. He is well known for his unaccompanied renditions of songs such as 'South Australia' and 'I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me'. His banjo solos on tunes such as 'The Maid Behind the Bar', 'The High Reel' and 'The Mason's Apron', where he is usually accompanied by Eamonn Campbell
Eamonn Campbell
Eamonn Campbell in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, has been a member of The Dubliners since 1987. He was also in the Dubliners when they recorded their 25th anniversary show on The Late Late Show hosted by Gay Byrne. He is known as a guitarist and has a very rough voice very similar to the former...
on guitar, are often performed to cries of "C'mon Barney!" from audience or band members. Another featured spot in Dubliners performances is the mandolin duet that Barney plays with John Sheahan
John Sheahan
John Sheahan is a notable Irish violinist, folk musician, composer and member of the folk band The Dubliners. Sheahan was born in Dublin and lives in Mulhuddart, County Dublin, though his family are natives of Glin, County Limerick...
- again with Eamonn Campbell providing guitar accompaniment. As Barney often points out to the audience: "It's an Irish duet, so there's three of us going to play it".
Barney's tendency to relate funny, and often only marginally believable, stories is legendary amongst Dubliners fans and friends. These anecdotes have become known as Barneyisms, and Barney's friend, and former Dubliners bandmate, Jim McCann has been collecting them for a book.
Barney is a keen fisherman, and many of the songs he has recorded with The Dubliners have been shanties and nautical ballads.
Barney McKenna is mentioned several times in the song 'O'Donoghue's' by Andy Irvine
Andy Irvine (musician)
Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine is a folk musician, 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....
, which describes the Dublin traditional music scene of the early-mid 1960s that found a spiritual home in O'Donoghue's Bar in Dublin's Merrion Row.