Born in Limerick and now based in Philadelphia, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mick Moloney stands among the most influential Irish musicians residing in the United States. Beyond his solo output, he has issued duo albums with Eugene O'Donnell along with trio albums pairing Robbie O'Connell and Jimmy Keane, as well as further trio projects uniting O'Donnell and Seamus Egan. In sideman roles he has appeared on recordings by Martin Mulvihill, Brendan Mulvihill, James Keane, Robbie O'Connell, Seamus Connolly, and Jerry O'Sullivan. The sides he cut with the traditional folk outfit the Johnstons in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped shape the course of modern Celtic music.
Having played guitar since boyhood, Moloney first drew inspiration from American folk artists Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, and the Weavers. While still in his teens he performed with various skiffle bands. After moving to Dublin in 1964 to pursue economics studies at University College, he took part in regular pub sessions. With fellow student Donal Lunny he co-founded the traditional folk group the Emmett Folk Band; although the ensemble never entered a studio, it built a devoted audience among Ireland’s folk enthusiasts. When the band dissolved in 1967, Moloney helped launch a new folk club. One of the acts he booked, the family group the Johnstons, asked him to join; he accepted and stayed five years, recording five albums with them. Their version of Ewan MacColl’s “Travelling People” reached the top of the Irish charts.
After relocating temporarily to London in 1972, Moloney worked as a social worker serving West Indian families. There he met Derry-born fiddler Eugene O'Donnell, and the two began performing together. Their partnership yielded three duo albums—Mick Moloney with Eugene O'Donnell, Slow Airs and Set Dances, and Uncommon Bonds—plus the trio album Three Way Street that also featured Seamus Egan. In 1973 Moloney moved to the United States for graduate work in the Folklore and Folklife Department at the University of Pennsylvania. The 650-page dissertation Irish Music in America: Continuity and Change that he completed for his doctorate was issued by the university press, and he was awarded the Ph.D. in 1992. While employed by the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, he assembled the Irish-American supergroup Green Fields of America, which debuted in the festival’s Old Ways in the New World program in 1976. Ten years later he convened an all-star roster of Irish-American women musicians under the name Cherish the Ladies.
Moloney has remained central to the growth of Irish-American music. Named “best tenor banjo player” by Frets, he was also chosen “traditionalist of the year” by the Irish Echo in 1999; that same year he received a National Heritage Fellowship. A founder of the annual Irish music week at the Augusta Center in West Virginia, he maintained a teaching post at Villanova University in Philadelphia. He served as musical producer and consultant for the 1995 PBS documentary series Out of Ireland. As a record producer he has supervised albums by uilleann piper Joe Shannon, flute player Jack Coen, concertina player Father Charlie Coen, and fiddler Johnny McGreevy. Mick Moloney died on July 27, 2022, at his apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village; he was 77.
