The Dubliners

Nearly three decades since they first came together during informal sessions at O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin, The Dubliners remain one of the most influential of Ireland's traditional folk bands. Unlike their counterparts, The Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners have never strayed from the raw looseness of the pub scene. According to Dirty Linen, "Whereas The Clancys were well-scrubbed returned Yanks from rural Tipperary, decked out in matching white Arab sweaters, The Dubliners were hard drinking backstreet Dublin scrappers with unkempt hair and bushy beards, whose gigs seemed to happen by accident in between fistfights".



Initially known as The Ronnie Drew Folk group, The Dubliners have gone through several personnel changes since they were formed in 1962. The original group featured Ronnie Drew on vocals and guitar, Luke Kelly on vocals and five string banjo, Barney Mckenna on tenor banjo, mandolin, melodeon and vocals and Ciaren Bourke on vocals, guitar, tin whistle and harmonica.The first change occured in 1964 when Kelly left temporarily and Bobby Lynch (vocals and guitar) and John Sheahan (fiddle, tin whistle, mandolin, concertina, guitar and vocals) were added. The following year, Kelly returned and Lynch departed.

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