Former Bothy Band Man Tommy Peoples Has Died

Widely regarded as one of the finest fiddle players of his generation, Tommy Peoples was both Musician of the Year and Composer of the Year at the TG4 Awards.

Hot Press is sad to learn of the death of the great fiddle player, Tommy Peoples. Born in 1948, he was 70 years of age.

From St Johnston in Donegal, Tommy played in what is called the East Donegal style. He moved to Dublin as a member of the Garda Síochána in 1965. He was involved in the legendary Irish group The Bothy Band, formed by Dónal Lunny in 1975 – and which included fellow Donegal trad stars (the late) Micheál Ó Domhnaill and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill in the line-up. He played on their 1975 debut album.

In a distinguished career, he released eight solo albums, including A Traditional Experience with Tommy Peoples: A Master Irish Traditional Fiddle Player (1976), Waiting For a Call (2003) and his most recent, Recorded at Fiddler’s Hearth (2016). Along thew way, he also played in the Green Linnet Céilí Band and an outfit called 1691, named after the year of the Williamite War, the Siege of Limerick and the Flight of the Wild Geese – which 19,000 Irish men and women depart under the commend of Patrick Sarsfield to fight for France.

He contributed to the highly regarded Matt Molloy. Paul Brady. Tommy Peoples. album (1977) and played on four tracks on Paul Brady’s Welcome Here Kind Stranger. In 2015, he published the book Ó Am go hAm (From Time to Time), which included 130 original fiddle tunes, his own illustrations and biographical stories.

Tommy lived in Clare for 30 years. He was the TG4 Traditional Musician of the Year in 1998 and was named as Composer of the Year at the same event in 2013.

"Very sad to hear of the passing of Tommy Peoples," the Dublin band Lankum tweeted. "A major influence, particularly to Cormac. Our thoughts to all of his family and loved ones... and if you've never heard of the man, do yourself a huge favour. RIP."

Very sad to hear of the passing of Tommy Peoples.
A major influence, particularly to Cormac.
Our thoughts to all of his family and loved ones...

...and if you've never heard of the man, do yourself a huge favour.

RIP#TommyPeoples pic.twitter.com/34Gm4SRnlD

— Lankum (@LankumDublin) 4. August 2018