Seosamh O HEanai

The biography of legendary folk singer Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, or Joe Heaney. This is a fascinating book for anyone with an interest in music and includes extracts from interviews (in English and Irish) with Peggy Seeger, Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, Liam Clancy, Tom Munnelly, John Faulkner, Joe Burke, Mick Moloney, Michael Davitt, Gabe Sullivan, Tony MacMahon and Paddy Glackin. The book details the life of a great artist, and includes descriptions of Heaney's time in England during the fifties, when he was heavily involved in the folk-club scene, his time in Dublin during the ballad boom of the sixties, when he was a fixture in O'Donoghues pub, and his emigration to the US, where he brought his art to a whole new audience through his work in two universities, and where he was awarded the National Heritage Award for Excellence in Folk Arts, the highest honour which can be awarded to a traditional artist in the US. Joe Heaney died in Seattle in 1984. The book includes a CD of previously unreleased tracks, taken mainly from RTÉ's Proinsias Mac Aonghusa collection.