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Dennis Cahill

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Dennis Cahill was an American guitarist who specialised in traditional Irish music. He was born in Chicago in 1954, the son of parents from County Kerry in Ireland. He began playing the guitar at the age of nine and later studied at the Chicago Musical College. He played in Chicago's Irish folk scene.

Music and breakthrough

In the late 1980s, with the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, he formed the band Midnight Court, which combined traditional music with rock and roll. Cahill played a Fender Telecaster and Hayes an electric fiddle. The band existed from 1989 to 1992. After that the two continued to work together as a duo. In 1999 a reviewer for the New York Times wrote that Hayes and Cahill strip old reels and jigs back to their essence, with room between the notes for flageolets and whispered blue notes, comparable to Steve Reich or Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain. They toured extensively and released albums, such as The Lonesome Touch in 1997 and Welcome Here Again in 2008. Cahill died in 2022.

Influence

The duo showed that traditional Irish music can also sound calm and sparing, with plenty of space between the notes.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a track from The Lonesome Touch. Notice how guitar and fiddle play together and how much space is left between the notes.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists