Trad legend Donal Lunny gave a fascinating public interview at The Music Show, speaking at length about his early years as a musician.
“I was born back in the last century in Tullamore,” he revealed, “but my family moved to Newbridge in Co. Kildare when I was five. My mother was from an Irish–speaking area of Donegal, and my father was from Enniskillen. I had five sisters and three brothers, and some of them became fine musicians and singers in their own right.”

Asked what kind of school he attended in Newbridge, Lunny jokingly responded, “dog rough!” before adding, “No, it was great, with the Christian Brothers. I also went to the Dominican College in Newbridge, which I didn’t enjoy, but there was a Fr. Flannery there who was a brilliant musician and a fine artist. I’d had no inclination to play music while at primary school. He made me aware I had a musical ear.
“I’d had piano lessons from when I was five years old and really hated it,” he added. “I became interested again in my early teens amid a general upsurge of interest in music in the school. One of the guys in my class started a guitar band there which was probably inspired by The Beatles, and I played drums in that band. So there was lots of music around the place, at home and at school and on the radio. I was picking up influences all over the place.”
While in that same band, Lunny became attracted to the guitar and left drumming behind. He was also discovering Irish folk and trad.
“The first chance I got to play in trad sessions was down in Prosperous, probably when I was about 15 or 16. I began to get a real feel for playing music around that time. There were lots of groups singing ballads as part of that movement which was really started by The Clancy Brothers and included The Dubliners and lots of others. The emphasis back then was on the songs, with not much room for tunes. There was a branch of Ceoltas Ceoltóirí there and that seemed to encourage musicians around the area. I was lucky in the sense there was nobody else around at these sessions playing guitar. So, as they say, the world was my lobster! It took me about ten years before I realised where the centre of the music was – and began to understand it properly in so far as I do.”
And from there under Kieran Hanrahan’s promptings, he talked through a wonderful potted history of Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts and his work as a producer, composer and band leader, playing tracks along the way to illustrate some of the high points. It was indeed fascinating stuff that had the audience enraptured.