The Boys of the Lough
Encyclopedia
The early years
Their first album, called Boys of the Lough (1972) consisted of Aly BainAly Bain
Aly Bain MBE is a Shetland fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. Bain is now considered one of the finest fiddlers in the Scottish tradition. In the early days of his career he formed part of the band The Humblebums with two other ‘unknowns’ Gerry Rafferty and...
(fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
), Cathal Mc'Connell (flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
), Dick Gaughan
Dick Gaughan
Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.-Early years:...
(vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) and Robin Morton (flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
).
Since the 1960s the Forrest Hill Bar in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
had been a centre for folk singers and instrumentalists. In the pub, always nicknamed "Sandy Bell's" and now formally called that, fiddler Aly Bain
Aly Bain
Aly Bain MBE is a Shetland fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. Bain is now considered one of the finest fiddlers in the Scottish tradition. In the early days of his career he formed part of the band The Humblebums with two other ‘unknowns’ Gerry Rafferty and...
played along with guitarist Mike Whellans and singer Dick Gaughan
Dick Gaughan
Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.-Early years:...
in sessions. Aly Bain was from the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
, and steeped in the Shetland style of playing. Meanwhile in Ireland
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...
, Cathal Mc'Connell was an All-Ireland champion in both flute and whistle. He was from a family of flute players in County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
in Ireland. Cathal's musical collaborators were Tommy Gunn and Robin Morton. The two halves met at Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....
folk festival in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and formed Boys of the Lough
Lough
A lough is a body of water and is either:* A lake* A sea lough, which may be a fjord, estuary, bay, or sea inlet.It can also be used as a surname, with various pronunciations: law, loch, low, lowe, loth, loff....
.
Gaughan left to pursue a solo career and Dave Richardson (born David Richardson, 20.8.1948, in Corbridge, Northumberland) (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...
) joined.
This line-up (without Gaughan) was constant for the next six albums. Dave Richardson was also a writer of new material. They played ensemble instrumentals and the occasional song, equally divided between traditional sources from Ireland and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Regrouped - The Eighties
The Boys of the Lough 1978/79 tour was billed as their final tour. However they returned a year later with Regrouped (1980). Robin Morton had left to found a Scottish folk music label called Temple RecordsTemple Records
Temple Records is a record label founded in 1978 by Robin Morton, previously a member of The Boys of the Lough.It is located in a village called Temple, 12 miles south of Edinburgh, near Gorebridge. Although Morton is from Ulster, the label is devoted almost purely to acoustic Scottish traditional...
(featuring such groups as the Battlefield Band
Battlefield Band
Battlefield Band is a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, there are no founder members in the band....
). The "Regrouped" line-up had two new members, and eventually fiddler John Coakley
John Coakley
John Coakley is an associate professor in the School of Politics & International Relations at University College Dublin. He specialises in the study of Irish politics, comparative politics and ethnic conflict...
was added, who remained with the group for the next 12 years. Their 1980s sound also included Christy O'Leary from County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
(uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...
), who had previously toured 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...
. During a car accident in [Scotland] in 1984, Tich Richardson (guitar, bass) died. In 1992 Boys of the Lough played at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
The Nineties
In 1993, the band took out The Day Dawn (1994). John Coakley left the band.Several years later, the band took out Lonesome Blues and Dancing Shoes (2002). The group invited guests to appear for a single album. Chris Newman (guitar) and Kathryn Tickell
Kathryn Tickell
Kathryn Tickell is an English player of the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. She has recorded over a dozen albums, and toured widely.-Life and career:...
(Northumbrian pipes) sat in with the group on tours and albums. After 32 years, Aly Bain
Aly Bain
Aly Bain MBE is a Shetland fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. Bain is now considered one of the finest fiddlers in the Scottish tradition. In the early days of his career he formed part of the band The Humblebums with two other ‘unknowns’ Gerry Rafferty and...
left to play with other musicians, most notably Phil Cunningham
Phil Cunningham (folk musician)
Phil Cunningham, MBE, born 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland is a Scottish folk musician and composer.-Biography:Phil played accordion and violin from a very young age. He attended school in Portobello, and was raised Mormon, attending church regularly and playing organ...
(accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
), and was replaced in 2002 by fellow Shetland fiddler Kevin Henderson of Fiddlers' Bid
Fiddlers' Bid
Fiddlers' Bid are a Shetland based instrumental group known for playing contemporary arrangements of traditional Shetland fiddle tunes. The seven piece line-up consists of four fiddles, acoustic guitar, bass guitar and piano/Clàrsach....
.
In 2006, Boys of the Lough participated in TG4's "Geantraí". An album of the same name was issued in 2007, with contributions from Boys of the Lough, Gerry O'Connor
Gerry O'Connor
Gerry "Fiddle" O'Connor is a traditional Irish fiddle player.His family has played fiddle for at least four generations and Gerry learned his music from his mother, Rose O'Connor, and also from hand-written manuscripts passed down through the family.He later came under the influence of John Joe...
, Joe Burke, Noel Hill, Mairtín O'Connor and others.
Discography
- The Boys of the Lough (1973)
- Second Album (1973)
- Live at Passim's (1974)
- Lochaber No More (1976)
- The Piper's Broken Finger (1976)
- Good Friends ... Good Music (1977)
- Wish You Were Here (1978)
- Regrouped (1980)
- In the Tradition (1981)
- Open Road (1983)
- To Welcome Paddy Home (1985)
- Far From Home - Live (1986)
- Farewell and Remember MeFarewell and Remember MeFarewell and Remember Me is an album by The Boys of the Lough, released in 1987.There are 4 songs and 6 instrumental tracks. It is unusual in giving so much prominence to the uilleann bagpipes, and is sometimes considered to the best album by The Boys of the Lough...
(1987) - Sweet Rural Shade (1988)
- Live at Carnegie Hall (1992)
- The Fair Hills of Ireland (1992)
- The Day Dawn (1994)
- The West of Ireland (1999)
- Lonesome Blues and Dancing Shoes (2002)
- Twenty (2005)
- Rising Fawn GatheringRising Fawn GatheringRising Fawn Gathering is an album by Americana and folk musicians Norman Blake, Nancy Blake, Jim and Rachel Bryan and the Celtic music group Boys of the Lough, released in 2009.- Track listing :All songs traditional unless otherwise noted....
with Norman BlakeNorman Blake (American musician)Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...
(2009)
External links
- Boys of the Lough official site