Jimmy Crowley (born 1950) is an Irish folk musician and song collector. He has specialized in collecting and playing traditional songs from

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 are ...

. Crowley started collecting music at the age of 16. His recordings popularised local songs such as " Johnny Jump Up", "Salonika", "The Boys of Fairhill" and "The Armoured Car".

Early years

Crowley was born in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

, County Cork. His father was a tenor singer with a love of opera. After school he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker. He formed Stoker's Lodge, the other members being Mick Murphy, Christy Twomey and Johnny "Fang" Murphy. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh joined some time later. The band was named after the gate lodge of the Stoker estate in

Frankfield Frankfield is a town in the parish of Clarendon in central Jamaica. It is located near the top of Jamaica's central ridge of mountains overlooking the south coast. The Rio Minho river runs through the town in a shallow gorge.UK Directorate of ...

, Cork, near Crowley's boyhood home.

Mícheál Ó Domhnaill Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (; 7 October 1951 – 7 July 2006) was an Irish singer, guitarist, composer, and producer who was a major influence on Irish traditional music in the second half of the twentieth century. He is remembered for his innovativ ...

The Bothy Band The Bothy Band were an Irish traditional band active during the mid 1970s. They quickly gained a reputation as one of the most influential bands playing Irish traditional music. Their enthusiasm and musical virtuosity had a significant influen ...

was an early mentor and produced their first two albums. The band members drifted apart in the mid -80's but reformed in 2014 for one time to mark the passing of Christy Twomey the previous year. After the demise of Stoker's Lodge, he formed The Electric Band. They released a reggae version of "The Boys of Fairhill" which went straight into the pop charts. Crowley married Evelyn Murray in 1980. They separated in 2006.

Later career

From the 1990s Crowley pursued a solo career. From December 2002 onwards he provided a weekly column for Saturday's ''

Evening Echo ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a broa ...

'' about ballads and folklore. Crowley spent several years in America, from 2006 onwards, basing himself in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 2014 Crowley published a large volume ''Songs From The Beautiful City: Cork Urban Ballads'' with musical notation and lyrics and with related anecdotes on the facing page. In 2017 his ballad opera, ''Red Patriots'', was staged at the Triskel Theatre, Cork. Set in the context of

Mao Tse-tung Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (P ...

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, it is the story of an apprentice musician who falls for a girl revolutionary and portrays the burning of the Marxist bookshop in Cork, an actual event from the seventies. Crowley holds a degree from

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

in folklore and Irish, taken as a mature student.

Discography

;With Stoker's Lodge * ''Boys of Fairhill'' (1975) * ''Camphouse Ballads'' (1979) ;Solo * ''Jimmy mo Mhíle Stór'' (1985) * ''My Love is a Tall Ship'' (1997) * ''Uncorked!'' (1998) * ''Sex, Sea and Sedition'' (1999) * ''Irish Eyes''

References

External links

*
Mick Hanly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowley, Jimmy 1950 births Living people Irish folk musicians Musicians from Cork (city) Alumni of University College Cork