Charlie Piggott (born 14 July 1948) is an Irish traditional musician, best known as a founding member of De Dannan and has toured extensively in Europe, Canada, and the US. He grew up playing music in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns ar ...

, where his first instrument was the button accordion. In the early 1970s Piggott played banjo in sessions at Galway's Cellar Bar with Frankie Gavin ( fiddle), Alec Finn (

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

) and Johnnie "Ringo" McDonagh (

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or oth ...

). In 1973, the group Dé Dannan was formed from sessions at Tigh Hughes, An Spidéal,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. Piggott plays in the old style and many of his seminal recordings have caused him to be hailed as "one of the most influential Irish banjoists of the generation", but after damaging his index finger in an accident on tour he reverted to playing the melodeon. In 1976, he was a featured artist of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, at the Festival of American Folk Life, for the American bicentennial. Today he plays a Black Dot Hohner Double-Ray, tuned C#/D. Piggott has revived many rare traditional melodies and has a reputation for performing them in accordance with the ethos of older players who have passed the music on. He later founded the Lonely Stranded Band with Miriam Collins (

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. Th ...

) and Joe Corcoran (

, guitar & vocals) and their 1996 album met with great success. The new millennium saw him team up with the

Sliabh Luachra Sliabh Luachra (), sometimes anglicised Slieve Logher, is an upland region in Munster, Ireland. It is on the borders of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, and bounded to the south by the River Blackwater. It includes the Mullaghareirk Mounta ...

fiddler Gerry Harrington to record a Cló Iar-Chonnacht release: "The New Road". Piggott is co-author, with Fintan Vallely and photographer Nutan Jacques Piraprez, of ''Blooming Meadows: The World of Irish Traditional Musicians''. Having worked for a long time as a professional musician in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...

featuring regularly on television and radio, he still plays at traditional music festivals in the area. In 2019, Piggott released a solo album called 'The Days That Are Gone' and followed it in 2020 with 'The Trip We Took Over The Mountain', a duo album in collaboration with his son, the fiddle-player & singer

Rowan Piggott The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

Discography

*''De Danann'' (1975) *''Selected Jigs Reels and Songs'' (1977) *''The Mist Covered Mountain'' (1980) *''Star-Spangled Molly'' (1981) (see '' The De Dannan Collection'') *''Best of De Dannan'' (1981) *''The Lonely Stranded Band'' (1996) *''The New Road'' (2000) *''The Days That Are Gone'' (2019) *''The Trip We Took Over The Mountain'' (2020)

References

External links

* *> * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piggott, Charlie 1948 births Living people Irish accordionists Irish banjoists Irish folk musicians Musicians from County Cork De Dannan members 21st-century accordionists