Saturday, July 23, 2016

Joe Derrane (1930-2016)


Yesterday we lost one of the great Irish accordion players, Joe Derrane, at age 86. We saw him at the Paddy O'Brien festival in Tipperary soon after his triumphant return from retirement. Joe played the dance halls in Boston in the 1940s in a highly ornamental style that was all his own. 

"When I focus on it, I can crawl inside the music," he said, "and let it take me wherever it wants to go."



Brief video clip: (Link to YouTube
Wikipedia on Joe Derrane

2 comments:

Martha said...

He and his box were one--a sad loss.

jerrycampbellpainter@gmail.com said...

Your drawing captures the artist lost in his muse.
I don't feel sad when I watch the video of Joe rocking his reels after his return to the stage.