The Dubliners: Ireland's Greatest Folk Music Group

The Dubliners have become as much a legend in Ireland as many of heroes they sing about. The seemingly immortal group entered the music scene during a boom in the public's interest in popular ballads. With their raucous performances and their powerful renditions of old favorites, The Dubliners brought new life to the traditional ballads and folk music of Ireland.

The Dubliners story begins when front man Ronnie Drew returned to Ireland from a stay in Spain. His talent was noticed by a local promoter who asked him to perform in a show at the Gate Theater in Dublin. He was joined on stage by tenor banjo player Barney McKenna. The two stuck up a friendship and together with singer and 5-string banjo player Luke Kelly, they began playing at O'Donoghue's Pub. Here they met tin whistle and guitar player Ciarán Bourke who started playing with them as well. In an interview on their 40^th anniversary tour, Ronnie Drew remembered their first night playing together. O'Donoghue's, he said, was then a quiet neighborhood pub where civil servants would slip off to for a drink. One evening, Ronnie and the boys asked the proprietor if they could play a song. He agreed, but told them, "Just keep it down," because of the neighbors and the police. The group's music was so popular they were asked to play again and again. "O'Donoghue's has been busy ever since," Ronnie added with a grin.

When they first started playing together in 1962, the group called themselves The Ronnie Drew Group. Ronnie, however, didn't care for the name. He thought it brought too much responsibility; if the performance was bad it would be his name attached to it. One evening the group was discussing a new name. Luke was in the middle of reading a book, James Joyce's Dubliners, and he suggested that they use the title for their name. Everyone agreed, and The Dubliners were born. The group released their first album "The Dubliners," a collection of songs the members had gathered before coming together, in 1964.

The Dubliners were soon joined by a talented pair of musicians. John Sheahan and Bobby Lynch were asked to play instrumental duets while the group rested during the "porter's break." Sometimes they would stay on and play with the group after their own set was over. Fans begin to tell Ronnie that they thought the "new members" were fitting in well with the rest of the group. Ronnie began to call them to join in on regular gigs and, when Luke moved to England, they became permanent members. In 1965, Luke returned and Bobby left. Ronnie, Luke, Ciarán, Barney, and John would form the definitive line up and would play together for years to come.

The Dubliners' scraggly appearances, their hard-drinking and hard-living lifestyles, Ronnie's voice "like a coke being crushed under a door" and his working class accent, Luke's powerful delivery of ballads and left-leaning politics, and the tall tales that grew up around them, many started by The Dubliners themselves, about their riotous after-concert behavior distinguished the group from the more clean-cut balladeers of their day like the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. According to Ronnie, "We were having a party, but it had to end sometime. But to some degree, it's still going on in some form today." Their lifestyles did begin to catch up to them. Ciarán had a brain aneurysm which had likely been caused by his excessive drinking. Soon afterword, Ronnie, who was always more of a family man than a rover, quit drinking and left the group to spend more time with his wife and children and to work on his solo career. Their 1974 album "Live" was to be the last with the five of them together.

Jim McCann, a long time friend of the group, took Ronnie's place in the line up. Ronnie returned in 1979, but the group would soon suffer another tragic loss. Luke, described as the 'soul' of the group, collapsed on stage in 1980. After undergoing surgery for a brain tumor he still toured with the group as much his health allowed, but his condition worsened and he had to leave the group before their German tour. He died in hospital in early 1980. Luke's death was a loss not only to The Dubliners but to the world of Irish folk music as a whole. There have been a number of tributes to the charismatic balladeer, but perhaps the most appropriate was a folk song written about Luke himself: "The Dublin Minstrel." Seán Cannon began filling in for Luke in 1982, and joined the group in 1983 when Luke could no longer perform.

Throughout the 70's and early 80's, the groups fortunes had been falling. Album sales were declining as younger groups like Planxty and Moving Hearts were gaining popularity with their fresh take on Irish folk music. However, things would soon turn around for them. In 1987, the group received a boost when, on their 25^th anniversary, they appeared with The Pogues on The Late Late Show. The collaboration was arranged by future Dubliner Eamonn Campbell. Their single, "The Irish Rover," shot to #8 on the pop hits list. The two groups went on to appear on The Top of the Pops program, the first time The Dubliners had been invited on since they sang their first hit, "Seven Drunken Nights." These appearances introduced The Dubliners to a younger audience and they soon had a full schedule of tour stops ahead of them. John Sheahan once told a story about a stop on their tour in Sweden that year: "Downstairs there was a rock club where there was a line up of punks in leather jackets queuing up. One of them came upstairs to our gig and we said: 'The rock venue is downstairs'. 'But we're here to see the Dubliners', they replied."

The Dubliners collaboration with The Pogues was engineered by their producer Eamonn Campbell. Eamonn, who had played with the group numerous times, formally joined them during their 25^th anniversary tour. Eamonn's energetic stage performance brought new life to the group. Eamonn is known for dancing across the stage during the instrumental bridge of a cheerful song.

The Dubliners carried on strong for years, but in 1995, Ronnie decided to go it alone again. "I just didn't want to do the same things for 30 years! I needed something new. The songs that I'm singing today are completely different from what I was used to sing with The Dubliners," he said in a 2000 interview. Ronnie was replaced by Paddy Reilly, a long time friend of the group who had first played with The Dubliners as a fill in Luke Kelly after Luke was arrested following a scuffle with a guard on Duke Street. Paddy stayed with the group for ten years before leaving for New York to open a pub.

Ronnie and Jim McCann both rejoined the group for their 40^th anniversary tour in 2002. This was a special treat for fans as it allowed them to see all seven living Dubliners together, the largest ensemble the group had ever staged. The same year they released their anniversary album "40 Years." The album contained both new recordings and old favorites. "The Kerry Recruit," a rare vocal solo by short term member Bobby Lynch, was included as a small tribute to the singer who had died in 1982.

After Paddy's departure in 2005, banjoist Patsy Watchorn was asked to take his place. Patsy had made a name for himself in folk music with The Dublin City Ramblers. Patsy's entry returned to the group something that had been missing since Luke's untimely death. Not only did Patsy return the sound of a 5-string banjo to The Dubliners' sound, he also sings with a passion for the subjects of his songs much as Luke had. Patsy has his own style, though. With his melodious voice and energetic stage presence Patsy has already found a place in the hearts of The Dubliners' fans.

Sadly, in 2008, The Dubliners suffered another loss as Ronnie lost his long battle with cancer. "40 Years" would be Ronnie's last collaboration with the group he founded. A few months before his death, Ronnie was in the audience when The Dubliners joined over forty Irish musicians including U2, Kíla, Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, Andrea Corr, and Sinéad O'Connor to sing "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" in a special tribute to the man Bono called "The King of Ireland."

The Dubliners are the most enduring musical group to come out of Ireland, and they show no signs of slowing down. Barney McKenna is the only founding member who is still with the group. John Sheahan has been with them for almost as long. Seán has been with the group for so long only their oldest fans remember The Dubliners without him. Eamonn and Patsy brought have brought new life into the group. The contributions of Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew came full circle when they themselves became the subjects of folk songs. There will probably be songs written about the whole group when they are gone, but one hopes that day will be long in the future.

A line of the ballad "Dublin in the Rare Auld Times" mourns "Dublin, it keeps on changing. Nothing stays the same." The same can be said of The Dubliners, but in their case they have gone from strength to strength. The song concludes: "I'm a part of what was Dublin in the rare auld times." and, while that's certainly true of The Dubliners, they are still very much a part of what Dublin is today.

Sources:

40^th Anniversary German Tour DVD

Rob Jastrzebski, "Interview with Ronnie Drew," Celtic Café

"Obituary: Ronnie Drew: Lead Singer of The Dubliners," The Independent

The Dubliners Scrapbook

Barry Egan, The Dubliners: Legends in their own happy hour, The Independent

Luke Kelly, 1999 documentary

Colm O'Hare, A long way from there to here, Hot Press no. 20, October 15th 1997

Additional information was gathered from The Dubliners and individual members' CD and record album notes.