The Drovers was a Chicago-based rock band whose original songs are influenced by Irish traditional dance music. Founded by Irish traditional fiddler Sean Cleland in 1988, the group recorded four albums and soundtrack music for the motion pictures, ''

Backdraft A backdraft ( North American English) or backdraught (British English) is the abrupt burning of superheated gasses in a fire, caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a window or door to an enclosed ...

'' and ''

Blink Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral portio ...

''. Songwriters Mike Kirkpatrick (guitar) and

Dave Callahan David Joseph Callahan (July 20, 1888 – October 28, 1969) was a Major League Baseball outfielder who played for two seasons. He played for the Cleveland Naps from 1910 to 1911. Career Callahan made his debut for the Naps around the same time as ...

(bass, vocals) drew from Irish rhythms to craft songs that became increasingly psychedelic over a 12-year period until the band ceased performing in September 2002. Kirkpatrick, in particular, composed songs that featured traditional Irish reels jigs of his own. Callahan's songs, while obviously influenced by Celtic/American folk music, tended toward a less ethnic-sounding

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

History

The band was founded in Chicago by Irish fiddler Sean Cleland. The Drovers' 1991 first studio album, ''World of Monsters'', featured Kathleen Keane on

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

, vocals and button

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

, Jackie Moran

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, Dave Callahan lead vocals and bass and Mike Kirkpatrick

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

. "Book of Songs" brought the Drovers their first commercial radio exposure on WXRT in Chicago. The songs, "Boys and the Babies" and "When Fortune Turns Her Wheel", would later be re-recorded on the ''Blink'' soundtrack. The Drovers were awarded Illinois Entertainer's Best Unsigned Band award in 1991. The next decade was spent touring the college rock circuit, while they gained worldwide exposure through the release of

'' (1993), in which they appear onscreen as themselves, the band toured exclusively in North America. The follow-up to ''Monsters'' was the 1993 EP ''Kill Mice Elf'', the centerpiece of which is the cut, "She's as Pretty as Brian Jones Was". The disc includes contributions from vocalists Yvonne Bruner (Big Hat), Atalee Judy and Chantal Wentworth, and cellist Eric Remschneider. In 1995 the Drovers released the

Steve Albini Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal ...

-produced ''Little High Sky Show'', and their increasingly psychedelic sound took many fans by surprise. The album includes Minneapolis musicians Robin Anders (

Boiled in Lead Boiled in Lead is a rock/world-music band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded in 1983. Tim Walters of ''MusicHound Folk'' called the group "the most important folk-rock band to appear since the 1970s." Influential record producer and mu ...

) and

Linda Pitmon Linda Pitmon is an American drummer known for her work with the supergroups The Baseball Project and the Filthy Friends. Pitmon played percussion in band and orchestra in high school. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and drumming was a h ...

(Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three, Baseball Project), plus Chicago percussionist Doug Brush. While critically acknowledged and never officially dissolving, the Drovers eventually stopped performing and Callahan formed the Stroby Alliance with former Drover Tim Larson (www.theowneroperators.com). He also sat in frequently as bassist/mandolinist with Chicago rock band, Big Buildings. In 2015 he released a new single under the name Half Sky (halfsky.bandcamp.com).. Bradley co-founded Eventric, a provider of concert tour logistics support solutions. Keane, Bain and Moran continue to tour and record as solo artists in the Irish traditional music world. Cleland started the band bohola (www.bohola.com) with piano accordion player Jimmy Keane and released four albums on the Shanachie label. He is now the director of The Irish Music School of Chicago (www.irishmusicschool.com) and teaches and performs throughout North America and Ireland. The Drovers are featured in the suspense film, ''

'' (1993), which stars Madeleine Stowe as a blind woman who plays fiddle for the group, and becomes entangled in a murder investigation where her blindness and subsequent surgery to correct it are at the forefront of the storyline. The film co-stars

Aidan Quinn Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an American actor who made his film debut in '' Reckless'' (1984). He has starred in over 80 feature films, including ''Desperately Seeking Susan'' (1985), '' The Mission'' (1986), ''Stakeout'' (1987), ''Aval ...

and Laurie Metcalf. The Drovers' music comprises the vast majority of the film's soundtrack. In addition to the core six musicians: Cleland, Keane, Kirkpatrick, Callahan, Moran and Bain, the group also recorded and toured with Stone Damon, Ike Reilly, Emily Pitcher, Todd Allison, Merritt Lear and Tim Larson. Mike Kirkpatrick, The Drovers guitarist, passed away at his home in Chicago on August 27, 2020 after battling colon cancer. He was 65.

Discography

* ''World of Monsters'' – 1991 * ''Kill Mice Elf'' – 1992 * ''Little High Sky Show'' – 1995 * Soundtrack from the motion picture ''Blink'' – 1994 * ''The Inner Flame'' – 1996 * ''Plus'' – 1997 * ''The Drovers'' – 2001 * Archives – 2013

References

External links

The Drovers official page on Facebook

The Drovers on Myspace

Half Sky

Irish Music School of Chicago

the Stroby Alliance on MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drovers, The Musical groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1988 Irish-American culture