The Dubliners

Formed via casual gatherings at Dublin's O'Donoghue's Pub nearly thirty years prior, the Dubliners still count among Ireland's most significant traditional folk ensembles. In contrast to the Clancy Brothers, they have always adhered to the unrefined spontaneity of the pub environment. Dirty Linen observed, "Whereas the Clancys were well-scrubbed returned Yanks from rural Tipperary, decked out in matching white Arab sweaters, the Dubliners were hard-drinking backstreet Dublin scrappers with unkempt hair and bushy beards, whose gigs seemed to happen by accident in between fist fights."

Originally billed as the Ronnie Drew Folk Group, the Dubliners experienced multiple lineup shifts after their 1962 establishment. Ronnie Drew handled vocals and guitar, Luke Kelly covered vocals and five-string banjo, Barney McKenna played tenor banjo, mandolin, melodeon, and vocals, while Ciaren Bourke contributed vocals, guitar, tin whistle, and harmonica. Kelly stepped away temporarily in 1964, prompting the additions of Bobby Lynch on vocals and guitar plus John Sheahan on fiddle, tin whistle, mandolin, concertina, guitar, and vocals; Kelly came back the next year and Lynch exited.

Early releases by the Dubliners appeared on the various-artists collections The Hoot'nanny Show and Folk Festival: Festival Folk, both issued in 1964. Their initial opportunity arose after encountering Transatlantic Records founder Nathan Joseph at the 1963 Edinburgh Festival. They signed to his label and issued their first full-length effort, The Dubliners, later that year.

The band achieved a major breakthrough in 1967 with the single "Seven Drunken Nights," drawn from Child Ballad number 273. Although its suggestive lyrics led to exclusion from official radio airplay, the track climbed into the Top Five once pirate station RTE broadcast it. Success prompted worldwide touring, and in the early 1970s the Dubliners appeared in a stage production of Brendan Behan's Cork Leg.

Another round of personnel shifts began in 1974 when Bourke endured a brain hemorrhage onstage. After seeming to recover and rejoin, he collapsed again during a performance and departed permanently, passing away on May 10, 1988, at age 53. Ronnie Drew then left to launch a solo career and was succeeded by Jim McCann; five years later Drew returned and McCann stepped aside. Kelly suffered a brain-tumor collapse during a concert that same year, underwent multiple operations, and died on January 30, 1984, at age 44. Seán Cannon joined the lineup during this period.

The Dubliners recaptured earlier popularity in 1987 when frequent guest musician Eamonn Campbell produced the album Celebration, which included a collaboration with the Pogues on a refreshed take of the traditional number "The Irish Rover." Issued as a single, the track reached number seven on the British charts, after which Campbell became a permanent member. In 1990 the Dubliners and the Pogues reunited for "Jack's Heroes"/"Whiskey in the Jar," marking Ireland's World Cup quarter-final run. Two years later they partnered with Hothouse Flowers on "The Rose," which peaked at number two on the British charts. The same year's 30 Years A'Greying incorporated appearances by Rory Gallagher, Billy Connolly, and De Danaan. Drew exited for a second time in December 1995 and was replaced by Paddy Reilly. The group maintained its robust approach to Irish music through further lineup adjustments. Barney McKenna, the final surviving original member, died at age 72 in his Howth, County Dublin home in April 2012. Eamonn Campbell passed away at age 70 in October 2017 following an illness contracted while touring the Netherlands with the Dublin Legends.