The Essential Chieftains is Culled from Over 40 Years of Material

Long before Lord of the Dance or Riverdance, long before bars sold green beer and Guinness was sold in a can, Paddy Moloney mastered the pipes and the tin whistle, and in doing so, started a career that would last over forty years. Before World Music was in vogue, the Chieftains had already been there and back

In December of 1963, Moloney gathered together the most talented traditional instrumentalists in his native home of Ireland, and from there they started out on a journey that would take the green hills of Ireland to the great halls of Europe and China to the recording studios of Nashville where, with Chet Akins and Willie Nelson, they would record Another Country, one of their six Grammy-winning albums. If you have never been touched by the sounds of the harp, flute, pipes and fiddle, then lend your ears to something that will surely change your mind and open your world.

I first discovered the Chieftains, or should I say, they found me, in 1984, on what was then a little-known cable channel called A&E. I was up at around two in the morning, because back then to see a hockey game in Southern California, your only recourse was A&E, which would show a replay of the third period of the last game broadcasted that night from wherever. I waited half asleep in a comfy chair with the channel selected in case I dozed off. I had hoped my New Jersey Devils would appear, but a different conjuring took place. Strange music I had never heard before affected me like some strange siren call. I can see myself now hopping around my small den, at 2:30 in the morning as Moloney and the boys played a slip jig. I still have no idea what that is, even though I have been a fan since that fateful night. (My vivid memory is accentuated because I kicked a chair accidentally and busted my big toe).