Andy Irvine

Singer Songwriter

Andy Irvine has been hailed as "a tradition in himself." Musician, singer and songwriter, Andy has maintained both personal integrity and highly individual performing skills throughout his 40-year career. From Sweeney's Men in the mid sixties to the enormous success of Planxty in the 70s, to THE Irish super group, Patrick Street, in the 80s, Andy has been a world music pioneer and icon for traditional music and musicians.

Irvine occupies a unique place in the musical world, plying his trade as archetypal troubadour, with a solo show and traveling lifestyle that reflects his lifelong influence, Woody Guthrie.  Few others can equal his repertoire, Irish traditional songs, dexterous Balkan dance tunes, and a compelling canon of his own material that defies description.

In his two years with Sweeney's Men, the group ignited an interest in traditional Irish music that survives to this day. Their successful singles, "Old Maid in the Garret" and "The Waxie's Dargle" landed at the very top of the Irish Hit Parade.

Andy left the band in 1968, and made his first trip 'way out yonder', traveling by 'the sunburnt thumb' in Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, earning his living as a street musician and absorbing the musical traditions of the Balkans. Returning to Ireland, Irvine united with Christy Moore, Donal Lunny and Liam O'Flynn to form Planxty, fanning the flames of Irish Traditional Music well into the next generation.