The Keenan Edge

He s back. The long rider from Ballyfermot, by way of Trim, Boston and now, New Hampshire rode into town a couple of weeks ago, pipes in tow and a rake of tunes tucked under his belt. Paddy Keenan needs little introduction in any company, much less in any gathering of music lovers.

Having steered a course through the most seminal and influential groups of the past four decades, (most notably The Bothy Band), Keenan s more recent exploits have seen him carving a solo career that s thriving against the unlikely backdrop of New England. In fact, Keenan s music tends to thrive anywhere as his recent triumphant return to the Willie Clancy week in Miltown Malbay testified.
With his seminal eponymous 1975 solo album now on re-release, aficionado and novice alike have the chance to savour Paddy Keenan s virtuosity anew. He has also recently completed a short Irish tour, with the gig in Dublin s Ceol Centre being particularly memorable.
I think I realise how lucky I am , he says, to be able to come home and be not only playing music, but making a living from it, with my own publishing company (Hot Conya), and (somewhat) getting the rights back to my old stuff.
Keenan has also established a web presence that d put the feistiest of internet gurus to shame. All of this is a far cry from the heady days of the seventies and eighties, a period that remains more than a tad hazy in Keenan s memory, cloaked as it was in a cloud of narcotics.
At that time, the best thing I thought I could do was to go away and try to get myself together , he says, his voice filled not so much with regret as relief. It took quite a few years even then, from 1991 to 93-94, when I got myself together concerning booze. And it was only that I was away, 3,000 miles away, that I could do it.
Keenan has little time for the so-called perks of being a musician.
Being a musician, you get away with a lot of stupidity, really , he avers. I ve seen people being thrown out of a pub for less than falling off a stool which has happened to me a few times, I m sure. I ve done more damage to myself with drink and drugs and whatever. And the biggest problem is that you end up hurting people around you. And of course, a lot of the time, you don t even remember what you did! Somebody once asked me if it was true that when I met Dolly Parton, I jumped up and squeezed them (!) and asked her if they were real! Now, I don t remember whether I did that or not!
These days, Paddy Keenan s concerns are closer to home: family and friends, music. The recent death of his beloved older brother Johnny has left a void that will never be filled.
To me, Johnny was the most talented musician in the family , he offers. When I was 2 years old, he played for me, when I was 7, he taught me the whistle, when I was 16 he was offered a music scholarship to Paris. So to see him die, it was so sad. He was wiry and strong. I never thought he d die.
Keenan s return to Ireland has been notable for other reasons too. He s been struck by the drastic changes in the country, some of which have an unexpected resonance for him.
What can I say? , he asks. I m an Irish traveller, and I was a second class citizen all my life, and it took me a long time to move from the travelling scene to the settled scene. I spent years feeling inadequate, because the settled community made me feel that way.
Now I see that the so-called civilized, settled society that I was scared of, and felt inadequate with, is honestly no different to the worst of the travelling community that they looked on as vermin. There were times when I was almost autistic in those people s company. And yet, I see people in America who would give their right arm to have the roots that I have. Minorities suffer a lot everywhere
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