Dirty Linen #78

The Chieftains
by Steve Winick

Paddy Moloney, the piper, composer, arranger and spokesman for the Chieftains, likes to do a bit of namedropping. He was talking about his upcoming album, Tears of Stone, and he couldn't stop himself from digressing. "The last track to go down was dear Joan Osborne, who did the most moving version of 'Raglan Road.' We actually sang it at the Pavarotti tribute concert before the Grammys, which had Aretha Franklin and Pavarotti and Sting and Boyz 2 Men, and ourselves, and herself. It was a wonderful showcase, the first time to do it, you know?"

Talking about Tears of Stone quickly becomes a list of all the cool people he's worked with on the project. Moloney would never be in a position to rub shoulders with the pop glitterati or the top names in world music if it were not for years of struggle, years of toil, years devoted to putting traditional Irish music on the map. There is no doubt that the Chieftains were the first group to achieve that goal. In the late 1950s, years before any Irish group had seen fit to really arrange a jig or a reel, Moloney started to think along the lines of the Chieftains. An uillean piper trained by the great Leo Rowsome, Moloney played pipes and whistle in all kinds of bands, searching for a sound that existed only in his head.

"We have 24 albums out there, and most of them are out-and-out traditional albums... the world has opened up to music, and it's great to get out there and do it, you know, why not? It's proven very successful."

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