The past year has been an exciting one for the Mac Gloinn brothers, Diarmuid and Brían aka Ye Vagabonds; who rang in 2015 in front of one of their biggest audiences to date at The Turning Pirate Mixtape New Years Eve party in Vicar Street. “We played with Booka Brass Band. That was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had on a stage,” enthuses Brían, “it was amazing to share the night with people that we have been listening to and that we admire.”
The brothers cultivated their stripped- down, harmony-heavy folk busking around their home town, drawing influences from a particularly tasteful family record collection that included everything from Sweeney’s Men to Mississippi John Hurt.
This connection to the musical forms of the past was only strengthened by a chance encounter while Brían was on work experience at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. “I worked with a woman called Lisa. I mentioned that our granddad would have sung a bit. I said, 'Locally he was known as Barney Beag.' She said, 'Oh hardly Barney Beag Gallagher from Aranmore?' They had stayed on Aranmore Island for three weeks recording people in the 1970s. I couldn’t believe it. It was a weird thing hearing my granddad's voice, he was a Brían as well and I’d never met him. Yet he sounded familiar.”
Following the release of their Rose & Briar EP, the brothers are heading to Europe with Glen Hansard. “We’re starting off in Bologna. The last time Diarmuid was there he ended up sleeping on the street for his first night. We’re going to be leaving on a tour bus this time!”

HEAR: Ye Vagabond's Rose & Briar EP here.

SEE: Watch the video for 'Barbara Ellen' here.