Chieftains

The Chieftains are a traditional Irish band formed in Dublin in November 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy. The band had their first rehearsals at Moloney's house, with Tubridy, Martin Fay and David Fallon. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous with traditional Irish music and they are regarded as having helped popularise Irish music across the world.

Paddy Moloney came out of Ceoltóirí Chualann, a group of musicians who specialised in instrumentals, and sought to form a new band. The group remained only semi-professional up until the 1970s, by then they had achieved great success in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 1973, their popularity began to spread to the United States when their previous albums were released there by Island Records. They received further acclaim when they worked on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon, which triggered their transition to the mainstream in the US. (Read more at Wikipedia)

Links to Peel
Peel was enthusiastic about the Chieftains' work during the first half of the 1970s. They recorded five sessions for his shows between 1970 and 1975, and the DJ also played tracks from their records - indeed on 07 April 1976 he featured selections from the first four Chieftains LPs, after they has been re-released by Island Records. But he did not play their music so often after that, not necessarily because he had suddenly grown tired of it. Like Pentangle and Steeleye Span, the Chieftains moved from the folk scene into the mainstream with the help of manager Jo Lustig, so Peel may simply have felt that, because they were becoming internationally known and making regular TV and radio appearances, he no longer needed to play their records.

The Chieftains were the first Irish traditional folk artists to appear on Peel's shows, and others would follow, including Planxty, Na Fili, Paul Brady, The Bothy Band, De Danaan and Sharon Shannon. It is clear that Peel had a liking for Irish folk music, although, as with reggae, he received some racist mail after playing it on his shows.

tbc



Sessions

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Other Shows Played
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 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label