Jimmy Crowley (born 1950) is an Irish folk musician and song collector. He has specialized in collecting and playing traditional songs from County Cork.
Jimmy Crowley | |
|---|---|
 16 March 2014, at the Everyman Palace Theatre | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1950 Douglas, County Cork, Ireland |
| Genres | Irish traditional music, Celtic, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, bouzouki |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Website | jimmycrowley |
Crowley started collecting music at the age of 16. His recordings popularised local songs such as "Johnny Jump Up", "Salonika", "The Boys of Fairhill" and "The Armoured Car".[1]
Early years
edit
Crowley was born in Douglas, County Cork. His father was a tenor singer with a love of opera.[2] After school he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker.[3] He formed Stoker's Lodge, the other members being Mick Murphy, Christy Twomey and Johnny "Fang" Murphy. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh joined some time later. The band was named after the gate lodge of the Stoker estate in Frankfield, Cork, near Crowley's boyhood home.[3] Mícheál Ó Domhnaill of The Bothy Band was an early mentor and produced their first two albums.[2] The band members drifted apart in the mid -80's but reformed in 2014 for one time to mark the passing of Christy Twomey the previous year.[3]
After the demise of Stoker's Lodge, he formed The Electric Band. They released a reggae version of "The Boys of Fairhill" which went straight into the pop charts.[4]
Crowley married Evelyn Murray in 1980. They separated in 2006.[5]
Later career
editFrom the 1990s Crowley pursued a solo career. From December 2002 onwards he provided a weekly column for Saturday's Evening Echo about ballads and folklore.[6] Crowley spent several years in America, from 2006 onwards, basing himself in Florida.
In 2014 Crowley published a large volume Songs From The Beautiful City: Cork Urban Ballads with musical notation and lyrics and with related anecdotes on the facing page.[4]
In 2017 his ballad opera, Red Patriots, was staged at the Triskel Theatre, Cork. Set in the context of Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution, it is the story of an apprentice musician who falls for a girl revolutionary and portrays the burning of the Marxist bookshop in Cork, an actual event from the seventies.[7]
Crowley holds a degree from University College Cork in folklore and Irish, taken as a mature student.[8]
Discography
edit- With Stoker's Lodge
- Boys of Fairhill (1975)
- Camphouse Ballads (1979)
- Solo
- Jimmy mo Mhíle Stór (1985)
- My Love is a Tall Ship (1997)
- Uncorked! (1998)
- Sex, Sea and Sedition (1999)
- Irish Eyes
References
edit- ^ Seida, Linda. "Jimmy Crowley". Allmusic. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ^ a b "B-side the Leeside: Jimmy Crowley and the Boys of Fair Hill". www.irishexaminer.com. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ a b c "The Boys are back in town: Stoker's Lodge to play in Cork". www.irishexaminer.com. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ a b "Jimmy Crowley continues love affair with Cork". www.irishexaminer.com. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "Jimmy Crowley". www.independent.ie. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ Crowley, Jimmy (2014). Foreword to Songs from the beautiful city. The Freestate Press.
- ^ "Red Patriots". www.irishtimes.com. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "Cork balladeer who sings and plays it from the heart". www.irishtimes.com. Retrieved 25 November 2020.