Interview with Brian Conway

If the concept of Irish music isn’t foreign to you, then Brian Conway is no stranger. Growing up in New York, the Bronx to be exact, his family adored Irish music. He plays the Sligo style, made popular by the great Sligo-born fiddler, Michael Coleman. He is not only one of my favorite Irish musicians and fiddlers in general, but he is also my mentor. I met Brian for the first time, shortly after I started playing Irish music, two years prior to my first Mid-Atlantic Fleadh. I played a tune for him at the request of a friend of his, and a few months later began taking lessons from him.

Photo Credit: Bernard Keilty 

Now, six years later, I sat down to interview Brian, to ask him about his take on this genre of music.

What made you begin playing Irish music? How old were you?
Believe it or not, when I was seven, I tried Irish dancing for a while. I hated it and it turned out to not be the most successful endeavor. So, at the age of ten, my parents told me I was going to learn how to play the fiddle. I had no choice in the matter. 

Who was your first teacher?
Martin Mulvihill, a fellow from Limerick who had a big music school at the time. I started by taking private lessons, then moved on to group lessons shortly after. When I teach, I try to keep my first lesson with Martin Mulvihill in mind. I try not to make it too traumatic for the student. I didn’t even attempt holding the bow or anything like that before I came in for the lesson, so he kept telling me to “pint” my finger down. My mother had to translate, he was saying to point my fingers down on the bow. I couldn’t play just one string at a time. I kept hitting two. I was on a little 3/4 size violin. 

Who most influenced your playing growing up?
My biggest influences were, in this order, Andy McGann, Martin Wynne, and Michael Coleman. Andy McGann was a huge positive influence on me. But, behind the scenes, all of the time was Dave Collins, who was my mentor. His and my father’s enthusiasm for the music was very contagious and it really helped spark a fire under me that got me playing. 

What were your first memories including Andy McGann and Martin Wynne?
My first memory of Martin Wynne was about a year and a half after I started taking lessons. I went to Martin’s apartment with Dave Collins, my dad, and my brother Sean. My father told me Martin was very strict and if we didn’t make a good impression, he wouldn’t want to teach us. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. He was very kind. My first memory of Andy McGann was one of my fondest. I was watching he and Larry Redican play at a feis in 1972. In those days, the greatest players were the ones you would see performing at the feis’. It was a way to make money and a very different world then. I used to love watching those guys play. 

When did you record your first album?
When I was twelve, I did an album for the Garry Owen Ceili band in ’73 or ’74. 

What made you decide to become a lawyer instead of a full-time musician?
Growing up, in my family, being a full-time musician was frowned upon. It was akin to being sort of lazy. That is not the view I hold of it at all, but it was drilled into my head growing up. I think it is very courageous to be a full-time musician. You’re putting it all out there, and you’re basically investing in yourself. But, I am happy I made the decision to become a lawyer, and have two things going on and having a day job gives me some financial security, not that I’m rich, but having that financial security has given me the freedom to play the music I want to play instead of the music I have to play. 

When and why did you start competing?
I wasn’t really given a choice. It was the same as, “you’re going to play the fiddle”. It was just considered normal. My first feis was when I was ten, I had only been playing for about five months. It was in New Haven. The judge was Billy Greenall, a piano accordion player, who happened to be very good friends with Martin Mulvihill. I played the Mountain Road reel and won first. I had no idea how nervous I was going to be until I actually got up there and started playing. Anyway, every time there was a feis, I just competed, I never even really thought about it. I was twelve when I won my first All-Ireland title. 

How often did you travel to Ireland to compete?
I went over every year from 1973-1976. I took a break until 1983. I went again in 1986. The last time I competed was in 1998 in some duets and trios.

Who are some of your favorite people to perform with?
I always love to play with Brendan Dolan. I like playing with my sister, Rose Flanagan. I used to love playing with Joe Burke. Currently, John Whelan is one of my favorite players and just a joy to play with. We talked about being sort of brought up on a jet stream when you’re playing, John and Brendan do that for me. And I love my group, Gailfean, they’re all great musicians, a lot of fun to be around. A lot of who you enjoy playing with, and the character of those whom you’re playing with creates a sort of chemistry in the music, on stage and off. They also need to be good musicians who complement what you do. The players I mentioned all do that.

What have been some of your most memorable gigs?
One of my favorites was a concert I did in Paris, 1996, with Felix Dolan, Patrick Ourceau, Tony DeMarco, and Brendan. There are so many gigs. Some of the concerts over the years at Swannanoa Gathering, and Elkins were so enjoyable. 

Did you ever play gigs with Andy McGann and Martin Wynne?
When I made my first solo album, First Through the Gate, I ended up doing some tracks with Andy McGann and Pat Mangan, we were hired to do some gigs and festivals as well. I did a lot of gigs with Andy. There’s a recording from Eagle Tavern in the late 1980’s that was used on the wonderful video documentary From Shore to Shore. I couldn’t believe that I had gone from this eleven year old kid who played with him at a session in Dave Collins’ house, to performing with him and recording with him. That was certainly a memorable time for me.

When did you start teaching?
When I was way too young, probably twelve, and I had only been playing for about two years. I had a couple of students for a while, then I taught some private lessons when I was in high school. Nothing on a huge scale. When I was in college I started teaching more, and maybe too much then, because I had a lot on my plate. But, at that time, I had a group of 30-something-year-olds, and they really helped me become a better teacher. It made me really break down what I was doing that they didn’t understand so I could explain it. That has carried forward in my teaching ever since. 

What qualities do you think make a good student?
A student that is very inquisitive, one who goes beyond the assignment. Someone who listens to other music. Obviously having an immense amount of talent is great, but talent alone won’t do it and sometimes I prefer teaching kids who might not have that top one percentile of talent, but are really hungry and want to do it. They’re really a joy to teach. It’s the ones who don’t have an interest that are hard to teach. 

What are the important skills you try to teach your students?
I try to make them understand that technique is important in traditional Irish music. It’s not just something that is the province of classical musicians. Playing in tune, getting a good tone, projecting, what makes it sound Irish, and understanding the relationship between phrasing, bowing, and slur combinations is really important. Achieving a level of autonomy over what bowing and slurring decisions you make is very important. I try to get my students to do that, and the really good ones get it. Then they can make their own decisions about what bowing combinations they like later. For the most part, as the students get older, they kind of stay with the fundamental philosophy that I preach regarding bowing. There have been one or two exceptions over the years, but they have been few and far between.

Interview with Liz Carroll: Part One

Liz Carroll, a phenomenal Chicago born fiddle player, grew up immersed in Irish music. Her father, an accordion player, influenced her to start playing the accordion and whistle around the age of four. She learned fiddle from a nun at school named Sister Francine, transposing tunes she already knew on the other instruments to her fiddle. She has been one of my favorite fiddlers since I first met her at The Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival, when I was about seven or eight years old, where she headlined with Dáithí Sproule. I have been taking workshops from her over the past several years at the Swannanoa Gathering near Asheville, North Carolina.

At the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival.

Liz and I sat down to chat in an interview format recently. What follows is the first of three interview transcripts of our conversation adapted for print posting.  

Who were your mentors growing up?

My dad and mom. Neither of them were critical of anything I tried, and put up with any scratchy sounds I was making when starting out. They never took me to a meeting of the Irish Musicians Association when I played the accordion or the tin whistle, but they took me when I started the fiddle. So I don’t know if they were saying, “Oh she’s pretty good at that.” The flip side being, “Oh she’s not very good at the other ones.” But they used to take me to hear the music. On Sunday nights there was a radio show with really good musicians. Before I hardly knew who I was watching, I saw Joe Cooley and Kevin Keegan, both very famous accordion players. I also watched Johnny McGreevey play the fiddle. He really stood out for me. As for mentors there were a whole cast of characters when we went to the Irish Musicians’ meetings like Tom O’Malley, president of the Association and Tom Masterson, a Leitrim flute player. They were all really great mentors happy to have a young girl there. Hugh Gallagher was a nice fiddle player from Donegal but living in Chicago. A very clean player. There was also a nice man, Mr. Duffy, who gave me copies of old tunes out of an O’Neill’s book for me to learn. There was another old man, Mr. Shanley, who all he ever said was “Slow down.” But I liked him, too.  Mary McDonnough mostly played piano, but she also played fiddle. Eleanor Neary was another great piano player. I saw her early on, then again as a late teenager. If a mentor is someone who just really encourages you, then I had a pack of them. They were all great, especially Johnny McGreevy.

Liz with her father, Kevin Carroll, and her grandfather, Tom Cahill.

Who were some of your favorite musicians to listen to growing up?

Besides the people I already mentioned, I listened to the music in my Irish dance class. They played a lot of Sean Maguire albums, so I got some of my own and loved the classy, unbelievable tone and verve in his playing. Sean Ryan came to Chicago on tour and I loved his playing. Beautiful. I played at the tip of my bow for a long time after that because I was influenced by his beautiful playing at the top of his bow. I think I only stopped it when I went to New York for one of the Oireachtas (annual dance championship competition) with my dance school and met Brendan Mulvihill for the first time. I played and he said, “Oh, you like Sean Ryan,” noticing the tip of my bow. I heard a recording one time of Seamus Connelly and loved it, very sweet playing. Then everybody. Liz likes everybody. Dennis Murphy and that whole Kerry vibe is nice too. So I found something I liked about everybody.

Did you play in a lot of sessions growing up?

We didn’t have sessions very often, only one Sunday a month. Once I was a teenager, I was playing and doing more traveling, especially with Irish dancing. I hopped on my bike or on the bus as soon as Jimmy Keane started playing, and would go over to his house. We would slow albums down (to learn tunes) and play together. Later on there was Marty Fahey’s sessions. Michael Flatley was early on too. We were all about the same age. There was Tommy Masterson, the son of Tom Masterson the Leitrim flute player. They understood why you were playing the music because they were dancing to it.

When and why did you start competing?

I first competed a couple of times at a Feis. There was nobody else competing, so I won and I liked it. I competed in my first Fleadh in 1966 and won. I still have the trophy. I went back to the Fleadh in the 1970‘s. My folks are from Ireland and we were going there to visit family as the Comhaltas tours were going out. There was a really great guy named Paddy Gavin who played the accordion and went to the All Ireland Fleadh. He was telling me I should go as well while I’m already over there. He told me I was very good, but I was very nervous about it. I went as a 16 year old. There was no such thing as qualifying back then. Besides, I wasn’t into competition. Once, I competed in Chicago and got second. The girl who won played Danny Boy with her sheet music on a music stand and I thought “This is not fair. I’m playing Christmas Eve Reel by memory.” (laughing). 

What age were you when you won your first All Ireland title?

When I competed at 16, I got second to Frankie Gavin. I didn’t know who Frankie Gavin was at the time, but we were right around the same age. I didn’t know what I was doing so I played really slow. People were telling me, “You are going to be nervous and you’re going to go too fast.” So I just didn’t go too fast. Sean Keane from the Chieftains gave me second. I got first the next year, then I went the year after that when I was 18 and got first in the senior division. It was pretty cool. I got kinda swaggery and full of myself--until I got back to Chicago.

What made you decide to become a professional musician?

I taught one year of school--seventh and eighth grade homeroom. The last day I closed my door thinking, “Uh, no.” Mick Moloney had gotten in touch with me and said “There’s a tour in West Africa. Can you do it? It’s in September.” I had been having the year from hell. They should have had me start in second grade. So I had a choice: “do this again” or “go to Africa for six weeks.” I chose “go to Africa.” I went there, came back, got an apartment with friends, and started teaching fiddle. 

Who made your violin and bow?

They are both new-ish in that they were made in the last 10 years. The fiddle is made by Raymond Schryer (Canadian fiddle maker). The bow is made by Ole Kanestrom. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have told you I was still playing with the bow I started with. But, a couple years ago I finally bought a new bow.

Where have you played your most memorable gigs?

Endless and probably about half of them I am going to forget right now. Speaking of Africa there was one really great, wacky night in 1982. It was really a dance thing. Native American Pueblo Indians, tap dancers, Donny and Eileen Golden doing Irish dancing, flat footers, cloggers--so a mix of things. One night in Liberia, the electricity went out. They had candles along the front of the stage. The sound is now acoustic (without any power) and the Native Americans had costumes on. The candles threw their light on the back of the curtains (shadow play with the costumes) and it was magic. This was one of the very early “this is magic” moments; “this is great to be part of a concert kind of magic” moment. It usually happens when things go wrong. John Doyle and I got to play for the President. That was nice. I liked that. It stood out. There are many great moments of being on stage with great musicians when you really lock in to the flow of playing. That is great. I have gotten to play so many times when things went right. Hopping on stage with Seamus Tansey in Sligo and playing with him was a really good moment. I could keep pointing to moments and people . . . lots of these things (Swannanoa) moments have been nice. Playing with Jerry Holland, sipping his plum brandy, whatever he was bringing. These nights of hilarity.

What’s your favorite thing about Swannanoa Gathering?

Oh, it’s perfect isn’t it? I think they really know not to overwork the staff. (laughing) Let me just say that is important. This is a happy staff. It’s a really happy staff. No one is sitting down at night and griping about anything. There is no target like, this is going wrong. We all agree and have a fun week. It’s just completely happy. For instance, if your class is at 9:00am and you are teaching that class with a free afternoon, then you stay out until 3:00am, or 4:00am, or 5:00am, then you are still happy. You know there is time for a nap in the afternoon and you can do whatever you need to do. I really appreciate that. I don’t know if the students would have wanted more time with us or not, but we are happy as a result of the way things are organized. At least for the afternoon gang you can go out in the evening and you are happy to do so. There are some camps where you teach for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon then it’s hard to go out at night. You do anyway but you are not happy.

Playing tunes with Dylan Richardson, Alan Murray, and Liz.
Photo credit: Arlin Geyer - http://www.rlgeyer.com

Photo credit: Arlin Geyer

Selfie of Liz and me after class.

If you could play with one musician already passed or still alive who would it be and why?I think if I could have sat down with Michael Coleman, I would do it. I would like to watch him. I also really liked James Morrison’s playing. 

Do either of your children (Pat and Alison) play music?

Alison still likes to play the piano. She gravitated to playing classical music. She learned a few tunes on the whistle and took some lessons from Johnny Harvey in Chicago, who was my buddy growing up as well. 

If you could pick any instrument to learn (besides fiddle, accordion, or tin whistle) what would it be?

I think it would be really good to play the piano.

To be continued . . . stay tuned for parts two and three of this interview, where we will learn about Liz Carroll's recording and tune writing process. Visit her website at www.lizcarroll.com.