Paddy O’Brien
Paddy O’Brien is regarded by serious aficionados of traditional Irish music as one of the tradition’s most important repositories. In a career that spans more than forty years, his repertoire has grown in excess of 3,000 tunes. This in itself is not unique among the best Irish musicians, but in Paddy’s case, his love for each note and the people behind them, draws the listener to a new level of insight.
Paddy O'Brien
Born in Co. Offaly in the midlands of Ireland, Paddy traveled the countryside as a young man to spend time with the older players, absorbing tunes and the stories that came with them. The legends of the old tradition such as Donegal fiddler John Doherty, Galway fiddler Paddy Fahy, and a host of others, many of whom are gone, live on in Paddy.
He first played music in public in 1966 with the Ballinamere Ceili Band. In 1968, he toured America for the first time with Sean and Kathleen Ryan. After moving to Dublin in 1969, he began an informal apprenticeship of sorts with fiddlers John Kelly and Joe Ryan. He began playing with the Castle Ceili Band and with Ceoltoiri Laighean, making critically acclaimed records with numerous appearances on radio, television, and in concert in Ireland and abroad. During this time, Paddy won the Oireachtas championship four times, and the All-Ireland senior accordion competition in 1975. His recognition as a primary source for tunes was demonstrated when his music was included in Brendan Breathnach’s Ceol Rince na hEireann, the foremost scholarly work on the tradition.
Teaming up with fiddler James Kelly, and guitarist and singer Dáithí Sproule, under the name Bowhand, Paddy came to America in 1978 to record an album for Shanachie Records, entitled Is It Yourself? The trio continued beyond the recording, touring across the U.S., appearing several times on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, and recording a second LP for Shanachie in 1980 entitled Spring ln the Air. These two LPs have been re-released as a single CD and remain among the greatest Irish traditional albums ever made.
After settling in Minnesota in 1983, Paddy began touring with Cork banjo player Sean O’Driscoll and Saint Paul singer and guitarist Tom Dahill as Hill 16, recording an album of the same name for Shanachie’s Meadowlark label in 1984. He toured with numerous artists including an appearance with singer Peter Yeates on NPR’s Mountain Stage. In 1988, he released his first solo album, Stranger at the Gate, on the Green Linnet label. Paddy and a few others represented the Twin Cities in a “Midwest Irish All-Stars” concert in Dayton, Ohio in 1989. In 1992, he was invited home to appear on The Pure Drop, a traditional music showcase on Irish national television. In 1995 Paddy toured Alaska with famed fiddler Martin Hayes and guitarist Aidan Brennan.
Since 1995 Paddy has toured and recorded with Irish traditional trio Chulrua (currently with Patrick Ourceau on fiddle, and Pat Egan on guitar and vocals). They have toured extensively in the United States, Canada, playing at venues such as Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the International Festival of Traditional Arts in Québec, and the ICONS festival in Boston, in addition to countless smaller gigs at folk clubs, festivals, and cultural centers. With Chulrua, Paddy has also made several successful concert tours of Ireland since 2002, playing at venues such as the Glór Traditional Music Center in Ennis, County Clare, and at the National University of Ireland in Limerick, along with arts festivals and cultural centers all over the country. In 2007, Chulrua appeared at the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry, Co Cork, and promoted their most recent recording, The Singing Kettle, which Irish Music Magazine called “at once a wakeup call and a reminder of the things that matter in Irish traditional music.” In March 2008, Chulrua was invited to be part of the official Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in Moscow, where Paddy has developed a devoted following as a result of his early recordings with James Kelly and Dáithí Sproule.
In 2003, Paddy formed an eight-piece ensemble, The Doon Céilí Band, which specializes in traditional céilí band music with a distinctive West Clare kick. They now tour and record, and have appeared at the Irish Fair of Minnesota, the Milwaukee Irish Fest (the country’s largest Irish cultural event), the South Dakota Irish Festival, and the Dublin (OH) Irish Fair. More recently, Paddy created O’Rourke’s Feast, a new folk orchestra ensemble of local Twin Cities Irish musicians, which has been rehearsing for several years in preparation for a debut recording and future concert dates.
Paddy has been a teacher of Irish music in many settings, including at the prestigious Willie Clancy Summer School in Co. Clare, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the Celtic College in Goderich Ontario, The Saint Louis Tionól, the Swannanoa Gathering, and through the Minnesota State Arts Board Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. In 1994, he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to record 500 tunes (a small portion of his repertoire), resulting in The Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection: A Personal Treasury of Irish Jigs and Reels. In 2006, Paddy received a prestigious Bush Artist Fellowship and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to work on Volume Two of the Tune Collection, setting down another 500 tunes from his impressive repertoire. Paddy continues to receive recognition for his work through grant support from national and local cultural institutions and foundations. In 2006, he received a prestigious Bush Artist Fellowship, and a project grant from the Irish Fair of Minnesota’s Legacy Fund, to continue work on The Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection: Volume Two. He also received a 2008 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for work on the tune collection and other documentary and research projects.
For many devotees of Irish music, Paddy is the embodiment of the living tradition, one who understands and expresses the essence of Gaelic culture. Sidestepping the hype surrounding the new wave of popularity in things Celtic, Paddy O’Brien captures the brilliant and unpretentious humanity underlying all great traditional music.