Dónal Lunny (1947-2026)

It's been a rough year for Irish music already, and now sadly the great Dónal Lunny has died. Among the many obits and notices coming in are those from the Guardian and RTE, and I won't try to duplicate them. I've been a fan since his days in Planxty and was lucky enough to see him live in the 1990s, when he organized a band called Coolfin that toured the US. Lunny was better known as an instrumentalist, band leader (and band mate), and producer than as a lead singer, though here and there he sung a few songs in Irish in the sean-nós style. His work on the bouzouki, especially in Planxty and the Bothy Band, has had a profound influence on generations of younger musicians.

As fate would have it, I had tickets for an evening of music by a group called the Strayaways on the day he died. That fine trio consists of fiddlers Kevin Burke and Dylan Foley as well as the bouzouki player Eamon O'Leary. Burke, the senior member, is another of the giants of Irish music, with a career spanning more than a half-century, and he played with Dónal Lunny frequently, notably in the Bothy Band and as supporting musicians on the landmark Andy Irvine / Paul Brady album released in 1976. Towards the end of the evening the Strayaways dedicated several sets of Bothy Band tunes to Lunny, and it was good to see that the tradition he did so much to carry forward is in no danger of disappearing.