For the second episode of the Journal of Music’s new podcast, editor Toner Quinn interviews the legendary uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, an original member of the influential 1970s traditional music group the Bothy Band. Keenan’s solo recordings and his piping with the band have had a profound impact on Irish traditional music over the past five decades, but it has also been a difficult personal journey for the musician. Growing up as a member of the Traveller community, he suffered prejudice which made him almost entirely reject the pipes, even causing him to lose out on an opportunity with the Beatles. Instead, he joined the counterculture in London in the 1960s, eventually returning to Ireland and becoming a member of the one of the most important Irish music groups of the twentieth century.

This interview took place in the National University of Ireland, Galway, following an Arts in Action concert given by Keenan.

Listen on Soundcloud or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.