'Mick Moloney' is a
traditional Irish musician and scholar. Born in
County Limerick, he was an important figure on the Dublin folk-song revival in the 1960s. In
1973, he moved to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He gained early fame as a member of Irish group
The Johnstons and
The Emmet Spiceland but has since performed and recorded with a variety of groups and individuals, including
Eugene O'Donnell and
Séamus Egan, and Marie &
Martin Reilly; he also worked closely with
The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. In all, he has produced and performed on over forty albums. He also founded
Green Fields of America, an organization that promotes traditional Irish-American music. In
1992, Moloney received a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the
University of Pennsylvania. For his work in
public folklore, he received a
National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA, the highest honor a traditional artist can receive from the United States. In 1999, he was named "best tenor-banjo player" by Frets magazine. He has taught at several institutions in the United States and is currently a Global Distinguished Professor of Music and the Irish Studies at
New York University, where his field of expertise is
Celtic music in the United States.
Reference
★
Celtic Music: A Complete Guide, Sawyers, June Skinner, , , Da Capo Press, 2001,
External links
★
MickMoloney.com, official website.
★
NYU Music Department page.
★
"Exploring Broadway's Early Irish Period", interview on NPR's Fresh Air (March 20, 2006).