Packie Dolan - Música

James "Packie" Dolan 1904-1932 Was An Irish Fiddle Player And Singer. He Was Born In Ballinamuck County Longford The Eldest Of Nine Children. His Father - A Smallholder - Played Fiddle And He Taught Packie. During The Depression The Dolans Made The Decision To Send Their Eldest Children To The U.S. And In 1919 The Fifteen-Year-Old Packie And His Thirteen-Year-Old Sister Emigrated To New York City Where They Stayed With An Aunt. Dolan Became A Plumber Playing Music By Night And His Popularity With New York Audiences Led To A Number Of Recording Sessions Starting In 1927. In 1928 He Got A Job As A Chauffeur And Started His Own Band Packie Dolan And The Melody Boys Which Included The Donegal Fiddler Hughie Gillespie. Their Style And Instrumental Combination Of Fiddle Whistle And Bones/bodhran Was Unique And Later Formed The Backbone Of Sean O'Riada's Ceoltoiri Chualann And In Turn The Chieftains. The Band Was Recorded By Victor. Dolan Recorded A Total Of Twenty-Four Sides. He Was Heavily Influenced By The Sligo Fiddle Style Especially Coleman's But Also James Morrisson's. He Also Recorded Some Vaudeville Style Songs Though Not In The Stage-Irish Form Then Popular. On "Mother Malone" He Sings Dances Mentions Himself In The Lyric And Plays Fiddle. The Wall Street Crash In October 1929 Meant The Collapse Of Record Sales But Dolan Was Able To Fall Back On His Career As A Plumber. He Became An American Citizen In 1930. He And His Wife Were Due To Return Permanently To Ireland In Late 1932 But A Ferryboat Taking Workmen To A Building Site On Rikers Island Sank After A Boiler Explosion Of The 125 Men Aboard Sixty-Eight Died Including Dolan. He Was Twenty-Eight Years Old. His Music Was Forgotten For Decades But His Recordings Survived And Were Rereleased By Harry Bradshaw On His VivaVoce Label In 1994 As The Forgotten Fiddle Player Of The 1920s. read less