Dolores Keane
A member of one of
Ireland's most respected singing families, Dolores
Keane is the possessor of some of the sweetest tones in Celtic music. The
first vocalist for Irish band De Danann, Keane
has sung with the Chieftains
and Planxty
as well as with her husband, John
Faulkner, and on her own.
Keane's
musical career began at a very early age. By the time she was five, she was
already singing with her aunts, Sarah and Rita Keane, well known singers of old
Irish ballads. Invited by Johnny
Moynihan to join a new band he was forming, De Danann; the experience
represented the first time that Keane had sung with musical accompaniment. Keane
remained with the group for four years and was featured on their self-titled
debut album.
Keane emigrated to England in
the late 1970s, and married guitar, bouzouki and mandolin player John
Faulkner. In addition to singing together, Keane and Faulkner worked on
several documentary videos for the BBC, including one project that entailed
conducting research on Canada's Prince Edward Island.
Keane's debut solo album,
There Was a Maid, released in 1978, featured musical accompaniment by Reel
Union, a tradition-based band that featured the late bodhran player of the Chieftains,
Peader Mercier, and East Galway fiddler Mairtin Byrnes. Her second album,
Brokenhearted I'll Wander, released in 1979, was a collaborative effort with
Faulkner and again featured instrumental backing by Reel Union. Keane briefly
joined the Irish trad-rock band Planxty in 1983. She returned to De Dannan in
the mid-1980s, recording with two different lineups of the group, including the
1987 band that also featured Irish vocalist Mary
Black. In 1989, Keane was featured vocalist on the Chieftains'
album Bonaparte's Retreat.
Keane and Faulkner
collaborated on two additional albums: Farewell to Eireann in 1980 and Sail Og
Rua in 1983. Keane's subsequent solo albums include Lion In a Cage (1989),
Dolores Keane (1991), and Solid Ground (1993), which featured instrumental
accompaniment by De Danann's Martin O' Connor and Jackie
Daly on accordion, her brother Sean Keane on flute, and Emmylou
Harris on harmony and backing vocals. A greatest-hits collection, The Best
of Dolores Keane, was released in 1997.
Although she's yet to write
an original tune, Keane has displayed impeccable taste in her choice of
material. In addition to covering songs by Irish songwriters including Dougie
MacLean, Shaun
Davey, Paul
Brady and Van
Morrison, she has interpreted the songs of North American songwriters (David
Mallett, Chris
Rea, Kate & Anna McGarrigle) and British songsmiths (Richard and Linda
Thompson, Steve
Winwood).
On the 1998 tribute album to Pete
Seeger, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Keane collaborated with Tommy Sands
and Vedran Smailovic for a unique rendition of Seeger's "Where Have All the
Flowers Gone." Craig Harris, All-Music Guide
James Keane
James
Keane was well known as an accordion player in his native Dublin before he
emigrated to New York. He is the brother of Sean
Keane, fiddler with the
Chieftains. Steve Winick, All-Music Guide
Sean
Keane
Sean
Keane is a
singer and flute player from Co. Galway, Ireland. He is the brother of
well-known singer Dolores
Keane. Steve Winick, All-Music Guide
John Kirkpatrick
When it comes to the
British button accordion, there is no one more respected than John
Kirkpatrick. An energetic, virtuousic player, Kirkpatrick
has been a busy session player for nearly thirty years and has performed on
albums by Richard
Thompson, Martin
Carthy, Pere
Ubu, Tarika Sammy, Sandy
Denny, Simon
Nicol, the Albion Band and Leon
Rosselson. In addition to numerous recordings as a soloist and with the John
Kirkpatrick Band, Kirkpatrick recorded as a duo with British vocalist Sue
Harris and as a member of Steeleye
Span and along with Martin Carthy, Brass
Monkey. The John Kirkpatrick Band's 1996 album Force of Habit was a live
recording that reprised tunes from throughout Kirkpatrick's
career.
Kirkpatrick's earliest
attention came for his mastery of traditional Morris dance music. He was an
important member of the 1972 group Morris
On, and was featured on Ashley Hutching's 1974 collection The Complete
Dancing Master. Craig Harris, All-Music Guide
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