Andy Irvine & Paul Brady
Vicar Street, Friday, November 11th and Saturday, November 12th, 2011

Billed as “A momentous occasion for Irish music, these concerts will have the two great musicians reunite to recreate the magic of their eponymous self-titled 1976 album on Mulligan Records and the work they collaborated on within Planxty in the mid-1970’s.” Back in 1976, Brady and Irvine recorded an album of traditional tunes and folk songs that was destined to become one of the most enduring folk recordings of the last three decades. Just like the songs contained within it “Andy Irvine and Paul Brady” is a musical document that has been handed down from generation to generation and magically sounds as fresh today as it did then. It is an essential work borne in one of the great fertile periods of Irish music and includes Paul Brady’s definitive version of Arthur McBride and Andy Irvine’s soaring opener Plains of Kildare.

The pair had been together in Planxty and this was in the days when Paul Brady was best-known as a distinctive interpreter of traditional songs. When Christy Moore left Planxty, Andy Irvine suggested they recruit Brady for their live gigs. Planxty were gone before they had a chance to record with Paul Brady and the 1976 album was made because they both realised they had some great material worked out and gigged that would never get on the unmade 4th album from Planxty.
Andy Irvine wrote of the album that “There was a great sense of relief among the band members when Planxty broke up in November 1975. We were tired out and had no inspiration left. After a short period, the relief began to turn into a slight fear as to what we would do without Planxty. Paul Brady – who had been in the band for about 16 months – and I had formed a very good working relationship and we decided to continue as a duo. We started slowly.
On February 7th, 1976 we played our first gig in The Merriman Tavern in Scarriff, Co. Clare where Planxty had been a huge sell out over the years. We had a very small crowd. However, matters improved quite rapidly. We rehearsed long and hard, usually in the house I was living in, in Donnybrook, Dublin. After a pretty good gig in Liberty Hall, Dublin, we never looked back!”