The 1970s were the most creative decade in the history of Irish traditional music. In the space of a few years, a handful of groups and musicians took a tradition that had been rescued from near-extinction and made it sound young, exciting and relevant. They didn\u2019t abandon the music \u2014 they reimagined how it could be presented, arranged and performed. By the end of the decade, Irish trad had gone from the margins to the mainstream, and the musicians who made it happen had become the most influential figures in the tradition\u2019s modern history.<\/p>\n
This is the story of that decade \u2014 and the three bands that defined it.<\/p>\n
The 1970s revival didn\u2019t happen in a vacuum. The groundwork had been laid in the previous decade by several forces.<\/p>\n
S\u00e9an \u00d3 Riada and Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed Chualann had demonstrated, from 1961 onward, that traditional music could be arranged for small ensembles with sophistication and artistry. \u00d3 Riada treated trad as art music, and his ensemble \u2014 which included future Chieftains members Paddy Moloney, Se\u00e1n Potts, Martin Fay and Se\u00e1n Keane \u2014 proved the concept worked. The Chieftains formed in 1962 and were already building an international reputation by the early 1970s.<\/p>\n
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had become international stars in the early 1960s, demonstrating that Irish music could fill concert halls. The Dubliners, formed in 1962, had brought ballads and folk songs to huge audiences. And Comhaltas Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed \u00c9ireann\u2019s network of fleadhanna and classes was producing a generation of young musicians who were technically skilled, deeply rooted in the tradition, and hungry to do something new with it.<\/p>\n
What was missing was a group of musicians who could take all of this \u2014 the artistry of \u00d3 Riada, the audience-building of the Clancys, the energy of the Dubliners, the technique from Comhaltas \u2014 and fuse it into something that sounded genuinely contemporary. In 1972, that group arrived.<\/p>\n
Planxty\u2019s origin story is almost absurdly perfect. In 1972, Christy Moore was recording his album Prosperous and brought in three musicians to help: D\u00f3nal Lunny on bouzouki and guitar, Andy Irvine on mandolin and bouzouki, and Liam O\u2019Flynn on uilleann pipes. The four of them sounded so good together that they decided to form a band.<\/p>\n
They called themselves Planxty \u2014 a word from the O\u2019Carolan tradition meaning a tune composed in honkor of a patron. The name was D\u00f3nal Lunny\u2019s suggestion.<\/p>\n
Everything. Planxty sounded like no trad group that had come before. The key innovation was the combination of instruments: Moore\u2019s guitar and bodhr\u00e1n, Lunny\u2019s bouzouki (still a novelty in Irish music at the time), Irvine\u2019s mandolin and hurdy-gurdy, and O\u2019Flynn\u2019s sublime uilleann piping. The bouzouki, in particular, changed everything. Lunny\u2019s open-tuned, rhythmically driving bouzouki playing gave trad a harmonic and rhythmic dimension it had never had.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t just the instruments. It was the attitude. Planxty played with a raw energy that felt closer to rock than to the genteel chamber-music approach of The Chieftains. They were young, they were charismatic (Moore\u2019s stage presence was magnetic), and they made trad feel like the most exciting music you could hear in Dublin on a Friday night.<\/p>\n
Their repertoire mixed traditional instrumentals with songs from the Irish and English traditions, Eastern European influences brought by Irvine, and Christy Moore\u2019s own material. This eclecticism was deliberate \u2014 they wanted to show that the tradition was broad enough to absorb all of it.<\/p>\n
Planxty\u2019s debut, Planxty (1973), is one of the most influential Irish albums ever made. The Well Below the Valley followed the same year, equally brilliant. Cold Blow and the Rainy Night (1974) completed a trilogy of records that redefined what Irish music could be. The band went through lineup changes \u2014 Lunny left and was replaced by Johnny Moynihan, then by Matt Molloy \u2014 and eventually disbanded in 1983. A reunion in the early 2000s produced further recordings and tours.<\/p>\n
Planxty proved that trad could be young, vibrant and contemporary without losing its authenticity. They introduced the bouzouki as a standard instrument. They showed that a trad group could fill theatres and command the same cultural space as rock bands. And they launched four careers \u2014 Moore, Lunny, Irvine and O\u2019Flynn \u2014 that would shape Irish music for the next fifty years.<\/p>\n
Essential listening: <\/strong><\/em>Planxty (1973), The Well Below the Valley (1973), Cold Blow and the Rainy Night (1974).<\/em><\/p>\n If Planxty reinvented what trad could feel like, The Bothy Band reinvented what it could sound like. They existed for just five years and released only three studio albums. But those five years changed Irish music permanently.<\/p>\n The Bothy Band formed in 1974 out of a once-off concert at a Gael Linn anniversary celebration. The lineup was extraordinary: Matt Molloy on flute, Paddy Glackin on fiddle (later replaced by Kevin Burke), D\u00f3nal Lunny on bouzouki (yes, the same Lunny who\u2019d just left Planxty), Tr\u00edona N\u00ed Dhomhnaill on clavinet and vocals, and her brother Miche\u00e1l \u00d3 Domhnaill on guitar. Paddy Keenan played uilleann pipes on their first album before departing.<\/p>\n Intensity. The Bothy Band played traditional tunes with an energy and tightness that had never been heard before. The rhythm section \u2014 Lunny\u2019s driving bouzouki, \u00d3 Domhnaill\u2019s guitar, N\u00ed Dhomhnaill\u2019s clavinet \u2014 created a rhythmic propulsion underneath the melody instruments that was closer to a rock band\u2019s engine room than anything in the trad world.<\/p>\n And the melody players were world-class. Molloy\u2019s flute playing was astonishing \u2014 fast, powerful, with a breathy intensity that seemed to push the physical limits of the instrument. Glackin and later Burke brought contrasting fiddle styles: Glackin more rooted in the Dublin tradition, Burke with a Sligo-influenced lyricism. The combination was electrifying.<\/p>\n Live, they were ferocious. Recordings of Bothy Band concerts capture a level of intensity that studio albums can only hint at. They played as if the music might catch fire at any moment \u2014 and sometimes it felt like it did.<\/p>\n The Bothy Band (1975) is the debut \u2014 a landmark. Old Hag You Have Killed Me (1976) and After hours (1979) complete the trilogy. All three are essential, but the first album\u2019s opening set of reels remains one of the most exhilarating moments in recorded Irish music.<\/p>\n The Bothy Band proved that trad could have the power and drive of rock music without compromising its integrity. They established a template for the trad \u201csupergroup\u201d that bands like L\u00fanasa and Flook would later follow. And they scattered their influence widely: after disbanding, the individual members went on to shape Irish music for decades. Molloy joined The Chieftains. Burke became a celebrated solo artist and session player. N\u00ed Dhomhnaill and \u00d3 Domhnaill continued recording and performing. Lunny moved on to Moving Hearts and countless production and collaboration projects.<\/p>\n Essential listening: <\/strong><\/em>The Bothy Band (1975), Old Hag You Have Killed Me (1976).<\/em><\/p>\n The third great group of the 1970s came from Galway. De Dannan formed in 1975 around the extraordinary fiddle playing of Frankie Gavin and the bouzouki of Alec Finn. Where Planxty was eclectic and The Bothy Band was intense, De Dannan were virtuosic and dynamic \u2014 their live performances were legendary for their sheer exuberance.<\/p>\n Gavin\u2019s fiddle playing was the centrepiece. Fast, technically dazzling, with a jazzy edge and a rhythmic precision that was in a class of its own, Gavin could play rings around almost anyone. Finn\u2019s bouzouki provided a distinctive accompaniment \u2014 more delicate and textural than Lunny\u2019s driving approach.<\/p>\n De Dannan also became famous for launching the careers of three of Ireland\u2019s finest female folk singers: Dolores Keane, Mary Black and Eleanor Shanley. Each brought a different vocal character to the group, and the albums with their respective vocalists are all rewarding.<\/p>\n The self-titled De Dannan (1975) debut captures the raw energy of the early group. The Mist Covered Mountain (1980) and Song for Ireland (1983) show the ensemble at its peak. Later albums experimented with wider influences, including a memorable session of Irish trad played in a Cajun style.<\/p>\n Essential listening: <\/strong><\/em>De Dannan (1975), The Mist Covered Mountain (1980).<\/em><\/p>\n No account of the 1970s revival is complete without acknowledging D\u00f3nal Lunny\u2019s unique role. He was a founding member of Planxty. He was a founding member of The Bothy Band. He went on to co-found Moving Hearts in 1981, which fused trad with rock and jazz. He produced albums for dozens of other artists. He introduced the bouzouki as a standard trad instrument. He pioneered new approaches to arrangement and accompaniment.<\/p>\n If you drew a diagram of every significant Irish trad group and solo artist from the 1970s onward, Lunny would be connected to nearly all of them. He is the most influential figure in the modern tradition after Michael Coleman \u2014 and while Coleman shaped how the music sounded, Lunny shaped how it was presented, arranged and experienced.<\/p>\n The 1970s revival didn\u2019t just produce great music. It permanently altered the landscape of Irish traditional music in several ways:<\/p>\n Every trad band you hear today \u2014 L\u00fanasa, Dervish, Altan, Flook, T\u00e9ada, Goitse \u2014 exists in the space that Planxty, The Bothy Band and De Dannan opened up. Every session musician who plays alongside a bouzouki or guitar owes something to D\u00f3nal Lunny. Every young listener who discovers trad and thinks \u201cthis is exciting\u201d is feeling an echo of what audiences felt in Dublin in 1973 when Planxty took the stage.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll hear all three groups on Radio Siamsa, alongside the musicians they inspired and the tradition they revitalised.<\/p>\n Read our guide to the great Irish traditional musicians<\/a><\/p>\n Read about The Chieftains<\/a>.<\/p>\n See our list of essential Irish trad albums<\/a>.<\/p>\n A period of extraordinary creativity in Irish traditional music, driven primarily by three groups \u2014 Planxty, The Bothy Band and De Dannan \u2014 who reinvented how trad could be presented, arranged and performed. They attracted new audiences, introduced new instruments, and established a model for trad bands that persists today.<\/p>\n It transformed trad from a declining, marginal tradition into a vibrant, contemporary art form. It proved that the music could fill theatres, sell records, and command the same cultural respect as rock or classical music. And it produced a generation of musicians who shaped Irish music for the next half-century.<\/p>\n Planxty were eclectic, mixing traditional instrumentals with songs from various traditions, and played with a warm, inclusive energy. The Bothy Band were more focused on instrumental trad and played with an almost ferocious intensity and rhythmic drive. Both were extraordinary; they offered different visions of what trad could be.<\/p>\n D\u00f3nal Lunny is arguably the most influential figure in modern Irish traditional music. A founding member of both Planxty and The Bothy Band, he introduced the bouzouki as a standard trad instrument, pioneered new arrangement approaches, and produced albums for dozens of artists. He connects virtually every major trad group and solo artist from the 1970s onward.<\/p>\n Start with Planxty\u2019s debut album (1973) for the songs and eclecticism, or The Bothy Band\u2019s debut (1975) for the instrumental intensity. Then work outward from there.<\/p>\nThe Bothy Band (1974\u20131979)<\/h2>\n
The lineup<\/h3>\n
What made them different<\/h3>\n
The albums<\/h3>\n
The legacy<\/h3>\n
De Dannan (1975\u20132003)<\/h2>\n
The sound<\/h3>\n
The albums<\/h3>\n
D\u00f3nal Lunny: The Thread That Connects Everything<\/h2>\n
What the 1970s Changed<\/h2>\n
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Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
What was the 1970s Irish trad revival?<\/h3>\n
Why was the 1970s revival important?<\/h3>\n
What was the difference between Planxty and The Bothy Band?<\/h3>\n
Who was D\u00f3nal Lunny?<\/h3>\n
What should I listen to first from this era?<\/h3>\n
Further Reading<\/h2>\n
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