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All Music Guide:
Limerick-born and Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mick Moloney is one of the most influential Irish musicians living in the U.S. In addition to recording as a soloist, Moloney has recorded duo albums with Eugene O'Donnell and trio albums with Robbie O'Connell and Jimmy Keane as well as with O'Donnell and Seamus Egan. As a session player, Moloney has contributed to albums by Martin Mulvihill, Brendan Mulvihill, James Keane, Robbie O'Connell, Seamus Connolly, and Jerry O'Sullivan. His recordings with trad-folk group the Johnstons in the late '60s and early '70s were instrumental in the evolution of modern Celtic music.
Playing guitar since childhood, Moloney was initially influenced by American folk musicians including Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, and the Weavers. While still a teenager, he played with a series of skiffle groups. Relocating to Dublin in 1964 to study economics at University College, Moloney regularly played at jam sessions in local pubs. Together with fellow student Donal Lunny, he formed a traditional folk group, the Emmett Folk Band. Although they failed to record, the group attracted a loyal following among Ireland's folk music aficionados. Following the band's breakup in 1967, Moloney became involved with a new folk club. Among the groups that he booked was a family act, the Johnstons, who invited him to become a member. Accepting the invitation, he remained with the group for five years and recorded five albums. Their interpretation of Ewan MacColl's song, "Travelling People," reached the top position on the Irish music charts.
Temporarily moving to London in 1972, Moloney took a job as a social worker for West Indian families. While in London, he met and began playing with Derry-born fiddler Eugene O'Donnell. The collaboration resulted in three duo albums -- Mick Moloney With Eugene O'Donnell, Slow Airs and Set Dances, and Uncommon Bonds -- and a trio album, Three Way Street, with Seamus Egan. In 1973, Moloney emigrated to the U.S. for graduate studies in the Folklore and Folklife Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The 650-page dissertation Irish Music in America: Continuity and Change that he researched and wrote for his Ph.D. was published by the university press; he received his Ph.D. in 1992. Accepting a position with the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, Moloney assembled a group, Green Fields of America, with top-notch Irish-American musicians. The ensemble made its debut during a special Old Ways in the New World program at the festival in 1976. A decade later, Moloney brought together a star-studded collection of Irish-American women musicians to perform as Cherish the Ladies.
Moloney has continued to play an important role in the development of Irish-American music. In addition to being named "best tenor banjo player" by Frets, he was named "traditionalist of the year" by the Irish Echo in 1999. The same year, he received a National Heritage Fellowship. A founder of the annual Irish music week at the Augusta Center in West Virginia, he continued to teach at Villanova University in Philadelphia. Moloney served as musical producer and consultant for the PBS documentary series Out Of Ireland in 1995. As a record producer, Moloney has overseen albums by uillean piper Joe Shannon, flute player Jack Coen, concertina player Father Charlie Coen, and fiddler Johnny McGreevy.
Wikipedia:
Michael "Mick" Moloney (b. November 15, 1944) is a traditional Irish musician and scholar. Born in Limerick, County Limerick, he was an important figure on the Dublin folk-song revival in the 1960s. In 1973, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He gained early fame as a member of Irish group The Johnstons and The Emmet Spiceland but has since performed and recorded with a variety of groups and individuals, including Eugene O'Donnell and Séamus Egan, and Marie & Martin Reilly; he also worked closely with The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. Mick also served as the artistic director for several major arts tours including The Green Fields of America, an ensemble of Irish musicians, singers and dancers which toured across the United States on several occasions. In all, he has produced and performed on over forty albums, and acted as advisor for scores of festivals and concerts all over America.
In 1992, Moloney received a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. For his work in public folklore, he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA, the highest honor a traditional artist can receive from the United States. In 1999, he was named "best tenor-banjo player" by Frets magazine. He has taught ethnomusicology, folklore and Irish studies courses at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, and Villanova Universities, and currently teaches at New York University in the Irish Studies program.
Founded in 2000 by Professor Mick Moloney, The Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra (or WSHSO, for short) is a New York institution. Based at New York University and made up of musicians from the City’s Irish music community, the WSHSO plays traditional Irish music, with a focus on older tunes, tunes with history, and tunes with interesting stories attached.
Mick Moloney is the author of “Far From the Shamrock Shore: The story of Irish American History Through Song” released by Crown Publications in February 2002 with an accompanying CD on Shanachie Records. He has hosted three nationally syndicated series of folk music on American Public Television; was a consultant, performer and interviewee on the Irish Television special “Bringing It All Back Home”; a participant, consultant and music arranger of the PBS documentary film “Out of Ireland”; and a performer on the PBS special “The Irish in America: Long Journey Home.”
