Gerry O'Connor (born 21 July 1960 in

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

, County Tipperary, Ireland) is a traditional

tenor banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

player. As Earl Hitchener (music critic for the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'') said, Gerry O'Connor can be considered at the moment "the single best four string banjoist in the history of Irish Music". He also plays

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

, guitar and

tenor guitar The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson and C.F. Martin so that players of ...

. O'Connor released four solo albums and his third one, titled ''No Place Like Home'' was named by

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

as Number 1 Traditional/Folk album of the year in 2004. After the sudden death of banjo player

Barney McKenna Bernard Noël "Banjo Barney" McKenna (16 December 1939 – 5 April 2012) was an Irish musician and a founding member of The Dubliners. He played the tenor banjo, violin, mandolin, and melodeon. He was most renowned as a banjo player. Biography ...

on 5 April 2012, he entered

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

to complete the planned tour, until the final shows at

Vicar Street Vicar Street is a concert, performing arts centre and events venue in Dublin, Ireland. Located on Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Vicar Street has capacity for 1,050 people for seated performances and 1,500 people for standing gigs. The venue is owne ...

in Dublin, on 28/29/30 December. Barney McKenna himself said, about Gerry O'Connor: "He's my best pupil ever". Together with

Eamonn Campbell Eamonn Campbell (29 November 1946 – 18 October 2017) was an Irish musician who was a member of The Dubliners from 1987 until his death. He was also in the Dubliners when they recorded their 25th anniversary show on '' The Late Late Show'' hos ...

Patsy Watchorn Patsy Watchorn (born 16 October 1944 in Crumlin, Dublin) is an Irish folk music, Irish folk singer. He is notable for being a member of the Dublin City Ramblers and later The Dubliners. Music career Watchorn first came to prominence around 196 ...

and

Seán Cannon Seán Cannon (born 29 November 1940 in Galway) is an Irish musician. Since 1982 he has been a guitarist for The Dubliners and their follow-up-band The Dublin Legends. Early life Seán Cannon was born in Galway, Ireland. He travelled around Europ ...

, Gerry O'Connor plans to keep on touring in 2013 as The Dublin Legends. In addition to his solo performances and recordings, O'Connor is a member of

Four Men and a Dog Four Men and a Dog is an Irish traditional band that emerged in 1990 during the Belfast Folk Festival. The band plays Irish traditional music with a mixture of different other genres, including rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass, swing, salsa, polka and ...

. He also worked on

Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is an Irish-American dancer. He became known for Irish dance shows ''Riverdance'', '' Lord of the Dance'', ''Feet of Flames'', and ''Celtic Tiger Live''. Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 milli ...

's '' Lord of the Dance'' soundtrack and guested over the years with many famous Irish artists such as

The Waterboys The Waterboys are a folk rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained ...

Mary Black Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland. Background Mary Black was born into a m ...

Arcady Junctions is a software package by Transport Research Laboratory. It incorporates the previously separate programs ARCADY, PICADY and OSCADY. The latest version, Junctions 10, was launched Wednesday 3 February 2021. ARCADY ARCADY (Assessment o ...

Moya Brennan Moya Brennan (born Máire Philomena Ní Bhraonáin on 4 August 1952), also known as Máire Brennan, is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist. She is the sister of the musical artist known as Enya. She began performing pr ...

Luka Bloom Luka Bloom (born Kevin Barry Moore; 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer-songwriter. He is the younger brother of folk singer Christy Moore. Early life Kevin Barry Moore was born on 23 May 1955 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. His pare ...

Sharon Shannon Sharon Shannon (born 8 June 1968) is an Irish musician, best known for her work with the button accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 debut album, ''Sharon Shannon,'' was the best-selling ...

and performed for US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

during his historic visit to Ireland. More recently he has guested on

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

's new album '' Folk Tale'' from 2011. Gerry O'Connor was one of four musicians brought together by

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

singer/guitar player

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

to perform on a variety of instruments in a July 3, 2012 acoustic concert at the Vienna Opera House. None of the five had never worked together nor even met until they arrived in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

where three days later they put on a live performance. The event was released on March 12, 2013 on CD&DVD/Blu-Ray titled ''An Acoustic Evening At The Vienna Opera House'' and in 2014 was broadcast on a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

special. O'Connor mainly plays CGDA tuned tenor banjo, instead of the usual Irish tuning GDAE. He plays a David Boyle banjo on almost every tour since 1996, but usually records with an Epiphone Recording A banjo.

Discography

* ''Time To Time'', 1991 * ''Myriad'', 1998 * ''No Place Like Home'', 2004 * ''High Up – Low Down'', 2009

References

External links

Gerry O'Connor official websitePatsy Watchorn (Dubliners Homepage)
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Gerry Irish banjoists 20th-century Irish people Musicians from County Tipperary Living people 1960 births