I am standing in between Tom and Johnny Rourke, neighbours from the next farm over at Killoneen Hill. The boys’ mother, Bridgie Rourke, snapped this picture after we’d finished sowing potatoes one June evening in 1957.
I was probably thirteen when this photo was taken in 1959, again by a travelling photographer.
Standing in the street with my accordion at the 1964 Fleadh Cheoil in Clones, County Monaghan, where I competed in the All-Ireland Senior Duet with fiddler Maura Connolly. After a recall, we were awarded second place.
Another itinerant photographer took this picture of me in around 1960 when I was fifteen years of age, again at Daingean National School.
About the Book
‘I entered the world in 1945, the middle of the twentieth century, but my family’s way of life had not changed substantially for more than a hundred years ….
The area around our house is still known as Castlebarnagh, which is a small townland near Daingean in northeast County Offaly, in the midlands of Ireland ….’
The Road from Castlebarnagh is Paddy O’Brien’s lyrical account of growing up as a budding musician in County Offaly in the 1950s and 1960s.
Paddy grew up at a time when the social life of the Irish countryside often took place around the fireplace, where stories were told and music was played. In his book he writes of the many colourful characters who shaped his perception of Irish life and culture.
Showing Paddy’s flair for storytelling, The Road from Castlebarnagh is the story of how a young musician absorbed his surroundings while developing his own distinctive musical style.
PADDY O’BRIEN is an Irish traditional musician and noted music collector. He is a master of the two-row button accordion and received the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Traditional Composer of the Year Award in 2012. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Road from Castlebarnagh Page 36