The Clancy Brothers

The Clancy Brothers played a central role in the American folk revival by bringing Irish traditional music to U.S. listeners throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Their trademark Aran sweaters accompanied lively interpretations of sea shanties, protest songs, drinking tunes, and longstanding Irish ballads, shaping the work of later folk figures such as Bob Dylan, Paul Brady, and Christy Moore while clearing a path for ensembles including the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones. The original lineup—brothers Patrick, Tom, and Liam Clancy together with family friend Tommy Makem, an artist, poet, and storyteller—produced several acclaimed albums, among them The Rising of the Moon, Come Fill Your Glass with Us, and In Person at Carnegie Hall, before Makem departed in 1969. Subsequent years brought repeated changes in personnel, yet the group remained active until Patrick “Paddy” Clancy died in 1998.

All nine children in the musically gifted family were born in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland. Tom and Pat moved to New York in the early 1950s with ambitions of acting. Liam, along with his friend Tommy Makem—born in Keady, County Armagh, to the noted balladeer Sarah Makem—arrived in the United States in 1956. Prior to leaving Ireland, Liam had established a dramatic society, directed and produced a play, and handled its set design; he had also performed at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre. Both Liam and Makem intended to pursue acting careers in New York. The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem, as they were initially known, began performing together at fundraising concerts for the Cherry Lane Theatre and the Guthrie benefits. Rejecting sentimental Irish ballads in favor of robust party songs, traditional American and Irish folk material, and protest pieces delivered in close harmony with theatrical flair, the quartet quickly gained favor among Greenwich Village audiences. In the mid-1950s Pat established Tradition Records to document the group’s work. Their first release, The Lark in the Morning, appeared in 1955, followed the next year by The Rising of the Moon (Irish Songs of Rebellion). Two further Tradition albums—Come Fill Your Glass With Us and The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem—preceded a move to Columbia in the early 1960s.

Frequent recording and touring increased the Clancys’ following in Eastern and Midwestern venues, yet their 1961 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show delivered nationwide recognition. Originally allotted three minutes, they performed for sixteen and became an overnight sensation, securing a major Columbia contract. More than a dozen studio and concert albums followed, including the chart-topping 1963 release In Person at Carnegie Hall, before Makem left for a solo career in 1969.

Bobby Clancy joined his brothers to replace Makem, while instrumentalists Finbar and Eddie Furey contributed to the final two Columbia studio projects, Clancy Brothers Christmas and Flowers in the Valley, before exiting in 1971. Liam and Tommy Makem began working as Makem and Clancy in 1975; the remaining brothers continued with nephew Robbie O’Connell as the Clancy Brothers and Robbie O’Connell. During this period Tom Clancy built an acting career that included film roles in The Killer Elite and Swashbuckler as well as television appearances on Little House on the Prairie, Starsky and Hutch, and The Incredible Hulk.

The original foursome reunited for a 1984 tour and documentary before resuming separate projects the following year. Tom Clancy’s death in 1990 prompted Liam to rejoin Paddy, Bobby, and Robbie under the Clancy Brothers name. The quartet issued their last studio album, Older But No Wiser, in 1995. Paddy died of cancer in 1998, Bobby in 2002, and Tommy Makem in 2007, leaving Liam and Robbie as the sole survivors. Liam Clancy’s solo album Wheels of Life, featuring contributions from Donovan, Mary Black, Gemma Hayes, and Tom Paxton, appeared in 2008; Liam died the next year. Documentaries, books, and stage productions, along with the continuing work of Makem and Spain—led by Tommy’s sons Rory, Shane, and Conor Makem—and the Clancy Legacy—featuring Robbie O’Connell, Aoife Clancy (daughter of Bobby Clancy), and Dónal Clancy (son of Liam Clancy)—have maintained the group’s legacy.