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Planxty
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Planxty was an Irish folk band that began in January 1972. The first line-up consisted of Christy Moore on vocals, acoustic guitar and bodhrán, Andy Irvine on vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy and harmonica, Dónal Lunny on bouzouki, guitars, bodhrán and keyboards, and Liam O'Flynn on uilleann pipes and tin whistle. Moore and Lunny had been friends since their schooldays in Newbridge, and Lunny had taught Moore to play guitar and bodhrán. The four came together in the summer of 1971 at the recording of Moore's second solo album, Prosperous.
Music and breakthrough
The band recorded their first single, Three Drunken Maidens, on 18 January 1972. The first big performance was as the support act for Donovan in Galway. The record brought the first successes, and in 1973 the debut album Planxty appeared. The Well Below the Valley (1973) and Cold Blow and the Rainy Night (1974) followed. The third album and the later records brought in other musicians, such as Johnny Moynihan, Paul Brady, Matt Molloy and Bill Whelan. The band stopped for the first time in 1975, played again from 1979 to 1983, and got together one more time in the original line-up in 2003. The last performance was on 31 January 2005.
Influence
Planxty changed Irish folk music and made it popular. They brought old ballads and dance tunes with a clear interplay of their own between stringed instruments and the uilleann pipes. As a result traditional music sounded for the first time like a real band. Planxty Irwin from 1973, the piece in School of Rock, is in such Irish music an instrumental example of a planxty, a kind of tribute to a patron.
Listening
Planxty Irwin · Planxty, 1973
Discography
Studio albums
- 1973Planxty
- 1973The Well Below the Valley
- 1974Cold Blow and the Rainy Night
- 1979After the Break
- 1983Words & Music
- 1992The Woman I Loved So Well