People ask us this all the time: where should I start? Which albums should I buy first? If I could only own twenty Irish trad records, what would they be?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an impossible question, obviously. The tradition is too broad and too deep for any list to capture. But we\u2019ve had a go. These are twenty albums that, between them, cover the breadth of Irish traditional music \u2014 from solo fiddle to full-band arrangements, from the 1960s to the 2020s, from quiet contemplation to roaring energy. They\u2019re not the only great albums. They\u2019re the ones we\u2019d hand to someone who wanted to understand what this music is and why it matters.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll hear every one of these albums on Radio Siamsa. But owning them \u2014 sitting with them, listening from start to finish \u2014 is a different experience from hearing individual tracks on the stream. Albums are arguments. They have shape and intention. These twenty are the arguments that defined the tradition.<\/p>\n
The records that established the modern tradition.<\/em><\/p>\n If you own one Chieftains album, make it this one. The fourth in the series, it represents the peak of Paddy Moloney\u2019s early arranging style: pure traditional instrumental music \u2014 reels, jigs, slow airs, an O\u2019Carolan piece \u2014 arranged with a chamber-music sense of dynamics and texture. Se\u00e1n Potts and Paddy Moloney\u2019s whistle duets are superb. Martin Fay\u2019s pizzicato fiddle accompaniment is a distinctive touch nobody else has replicated. This is the album that proved trad could be art music without losing its soul.<\/p>\n The self-titled debut, sometimes called the \u201cBlack Album\u201d for its cover. Four extraordinary musicians \u2014 Christy Moore, D\u00f3nal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Liam O\u2019Flynn \u2014 reinventing what trad could sound and feel like. Lunny\u2019s bouzouki, O\u2019Flynn\u2019s piping, Moore\u2019s voice, Irvine\u2019s mandolin and global folk consciousness. It sounded like nothing that had come before. It still sounds fresh.<\/p>\n The debut that launched a thousand sessions. Matt Molloy\u2019s flute, Paddy Glackin\u2019s fiddle, D\u00f3nal Lunny\u2019s bouzouki, Tr\u00edona N\u00ed Dhomhnaill\u2019s clavinet and vocals, Miche\u00e1l \u00d3 Domhnaill\u2019s guitar \u2014 all playing with a ferocity and tightness that made trad sound like the most exciting music in the world. The opening set of reels is still one of the great adrenaline rushes in Irish music.<\/p>\n The Galway group\u2019s debut, driven by Frankie Gavin\u2019s pyrotechnic fiddle and Alec Finn\u2019s distinctive bouzouki. The energy is extraordinary \u2014 Gavin plays with a speed and precision that borders on the superhuman. The album launched what became known as the \u201cGalway Sound\u201d and established De Dannan as one of trad\u2019s great live acts.<\/p>\n Individual musicians at the height of their powers.<\/em><\/p>\n The self-titled debut that announced a completely new approach to Irish fiddle music. Where most trad fiddlers play fast and ornamented, Hayes plays slowly, sparsely, with a meditative intensity that reveals the emotional core of the tunes. Accompanied only by Dennis Cahill\u2019s guitar, the album is intimate, unhurried, and profoundly beautiful. If this doesn\u2019t move you, trad might not be for you.<\/p>\n Hayes and Cahill\u2019s second collaboration, and for many listeners their finest. The opening set of reels builds from a whisper to an avalanche over fifteen minutes. The slow airs are devastating. This is a desert-island record.<\/p>\n The debut that became one of the best-selling trad records in Irish history. Shannon\u2019s button accordion playing is joyful, rhythmic and irresistibly fun. The album mixes pure trad with touches of other genres \u2014 Cajun, country, rock \u2014 without ever losing its rootedness. It won trad a whole new audience and it still sounds like a party.<\/p>\n The album that proved the tin whistle was a virtuoso instrument. Bergin\u2019s playing is dazzlingly fast, intricately ornamented, and light as air. Accompanied by Alec Finn on bouzouki, the album revolutionised the whistle\u2019s place in the tradition. Essential listening for anyone who plays or loves the instrument.<\/p>\n O\u2019Flynn\u2019s solo masterpiece. Uilleann piping of immaculate technique and deep musicality, drawing on the tradition of S\u00e9amus Ennis and Willie Clancy. The title comes from a Seamus Heaney poem, and the album has that quality \u2014 precise, resonant, carrying more than the notes themselves.<\/p>\n The wild man of the pipes. Where O\u2019Flynn is polished and restrained, Keenan is raw, rhythmically unpredictable and thrilling. His debut album captures the uilleann pipes at their most uninhibited. If O\u2019Flynn\u2019s album is the cathedral, Keenan\u2019s is the bonfire on the hillside.<\/p>\n Albums that show the breadth and depth of the music.<\/em><\/p>\n The definitive recording of the Sliabh Luachra fiddle tradition. Brother and sister from Kerry, playing the polkas, slides and reels of their region with a rhythmic ferocity and authenticity that no studio recording has matched since. Raw, powerful, and deeply rooted in the dance. If you want to understand what Sliabh Luachra sounds like, start here.<\/p>\n A posthumous collection assembling some of Ennis\u2019s finest piping recordings. Ennis was matchless \u2014 technically brilliant, deeply musical, and capable of performances of extraordinary emotional range. The slow airs on this album are among the most moving things in Irish music.<\/p>\n The recording that established Noel Hill as the greatest concertina player in the tradition. Accompanied by Tony Linnane on fiddle, Hill\u2019s playing is technically immaculate and fiercely musical, rooted in the Clare tradition but pushing the instrument into new territory.<\/p>\n The Donegal group\u2019s breakthrough album. Mairead N\u00ed Mhaonaigh\u2019s fiddle and vocals carry the fierce, rhythmic energy of the Donegal tradition, and the album captures the band at the peak of their powers. A perfect introduction to what makes Donegal music distinctive.<\/p>\n The great crossover album. Van Morrison\u2019s voice meets Paddy Moloney\u2019s pipes over a set of traditional and folk songs. It works better than it has any right to \u2014 Morrison\u2019s raw Belfast soul is a natural fit for the material, and The Chieftains play with visible joy. Not a pure trad album, but a gateway drug for millions.<\/p>\n Albums that show where the tradition is going.<\/em><\/p>\n The self-titled debut of the group that set the standard for modern trad ensembles. Tight arrangements, virtuosic playing, and a sound that respects the tradition while sounding unmistakably contemporary. Kevin Crawford\u2019s flute playing is a highlight.<\/p>\n Martin Hayes\u2019s ensemble project, bringing trad into conversation with contemporary classical and art music. Iarla \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird\u2019s sean-n\u00f3s singing alongside Hayes\u2019s fiddle, Caoimh\u00edn \u00d3 Raghallaigh\u2019s hardanger d\u2019amore, Dennis Cahill\u2019s guitar and Thomas Bartlett\u2019s piano. It\u2019s polarising \u2014 some traditionalists find it too far from the source. But it\u2019s undeniably powerful and it introduced trad to audiences from the classical and jazz worlds.<\/p>\n The debut album from the Dublin singer and flute player who won two RT\u00c9 Folk Awards. Flynn\u2019s singing is raw, powerful and deeply connected to Dublin\u2019s ballad tradition. The album sits at the boundary between traditional and contemporary, and it represents the best of what the new generation is doing with the music.<\/p>\n A solo concertina album that explores the instrument\u2019s full range \u2014 from soprano to bass \u2014 in ways nobody had attempted before. Begley\u2019s playing has a physical power and emotional directness that makes the concertina sound like a completely new instrument. Recorded in a church in West Kerry, the acoustics are part of the music.<\/p>\n Not a trad album in the conventional sense, but an album that couldn\u2019t exist without the tradition. Lankum take traditional songs and subject them to a sonic treatment that draws on drone, ambient and post-rock \u2014 the result is dark, immersive and genuinely original. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize and placed on year-end lists worldwide. It\u2019s the album that\u2019s introduced more people to Irish traditional song in the 2020s than any other.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t try to buy all twenty at once. Start with three or four that appeal to you based on what instrument or era interests you most. If you love fiddle, start with Martin Hayes and Denis Murphy. If you love pipes, start with Liam O\u2019Flynn and Paddy Keenan. If you want bands, start with Planxty and The Bothy Band. If you want the contemporary scene, start with Lankum and John Francis Flynn.<\/p>\n And between albums, keep Radio Siamsa running. The stream draws from all of these recordings and thousands more. The albums give you depth; the radio gives you breadth. Together, they\u2019ll give you a foundation in the tradition that would take years to build any other way.<\/p>\n Listen now \u2014 see our guide to how to listen to Radio Siamsa<\/a><\/p>\n Read our guide to the great Irish traditional musicians<\/a><\/p>\n Martin Hayes\u2019s self-titled debut (1993) is an ideal starting point \u2014 it\u2019s beautiful, accessible, and captures the emotional core of the music. For bands, Planxty\u2019s debut (1973) is hard to beat. For something contemporary, try John Francis Flynn\u2019s I Would Not Live Always (2021).<\/p>\n There\u2019s no single answer. Planxty (1973), The Bothy Band (1975), and Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill\u2019s The Lonesome Touch (1997) would all be strong contenders. It depends on whether you value innovation, virtuosity, or emotional depth.<\/p>\n Most are, though some older recordings may only be available on CD or through specialist retailers. The newer albums are all on major streaming platforms.<\/p>\n Radio Siamsa plays tracks from all of these albums. The stream is free and runs 24\/7 at siamsa.ie. For full-album listening, Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp are your best options.<\/p>\n1. The Chieftains 4 (1973) \u2014 The Chieftains<\/h3>\n
2. Planxty (1973) \u2014 Planxty<\/h3>\n
3. The Bothy Band (1975) \u2014 The Bothy Band<\/h3>\n
4. De Dannan (1975) \u2014 De Dannan<\/h3>\n
The Solo Landmarks<\/h2>\n
5. Martin Hayes (1993) \u2014 Martin Hayes<\/h3>\n
6. The Lonesome Touch (1997) \u2014 Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill<\/h3>\n
7. Sharon Shannon (1991) \u2014 Sharon Shannon<\/h3>\n
8. Fead\u00f3ga St\u00e1in (1979) \u2014 Mary Bergin<\/h3>\n
9. The Given Note (1995) \u2014 Liam O\u2019Flynn<\/h3>\n
10. Paddy Keenan (1975) \u2014 Paddy Keenan<\/h3>\n
The Wider Tradition<\/h2>\n
11. The Star Above the Garter (1969) \u2014 Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford<\/h3>\n
12. The Return from Fingal (1997) \u2014 S\u00e9amus Ennis<\/h3>\n
13. The Noel Hill & Tony Linnane (1979)<\/h3>\n
14. East Wind (1992) \u2014 Altan<\/h3>\n
15. Irish Heartbeat (1988) \u2014 Van Morrison & The Chieftains<\/h3>\n
The Modern Era<\/h2>\n
16. L\u00fanasa (1998) \u2014 L\u00fanasa<\/h3>\n
17. The Gloaming (2014) \u2014 The Gloaming<\/h3>\n
18. I Would Not Live Always (2021) \u2014 John Francis Flynn<\/h3>\n
19. Cormac Begley (2018) \u2014 Cormac Begley<\/h3>\n
20. False Lankum (2023) \u2014 Lankum<\/h3>\n
How to Use This List<\/h2>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
What is the best Irish traditional music album for beginners?<\/h3>\n
What is the greatest Irish trad album of all time?<\/h3>\n
Are these albums available on Spotify?<\/h3>\n
Where can I hear these albums?<\/h3>\n
Further Reading<\/h2>\n
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