Originally from Cobh, Co. Cork, Charlie Piggott has been playing traditional music since a young age. He was one of the founding members of De Danann with whom he toured extensively, and has performed in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall (NY), The Royal Albert Hall (London), The Great American Music Hall (San Francisco), and for The Crown Prince and Princess of Japan during their visit to Ireland in 1985. He was also awarded honorary freedom of Louisville, Kentucky (U.S.A) during a music performance in that city. Charlie has made several recordings, including De Danann (Polydor, 1975), De Danann - Selected Jigs, Reels and Songs (Decca,1977), The Mist Covered Mountain (Gael-Linn, 1980), The Star Spangled Molly (Ogham Records, 1981) and The 3rd Irish Folk Festival In Concert-Celtic Music (Voggenreiter, 1988). He was also a member of the Irish musical group invited by the Smithsonian Institute to participate in the Festival of American Folk Life (1976) as part of the U.S.A. bi-centennial celebrations. Many of his seminal recordings have caused him to be hailed as "one of the most influential Irish banjoists of the generation".
His most recent recordings include The Lonely Stranded Band (Clo-Iar Chonnachta, 1996), and an accordion/fiddle duet album with Gerry Harrington entitled The New Road (CPGH, 2015), where he plays in the old style, a Black Dot Hohner Double-Ray accordion tuned C#/D. Charlie works as a professional musician, teacher and lecturer, features regularly on television, radio and at traditional festivals, and has established a considerable reputation as a storyteller in relation to traditional tunes and musicians. He is co-author, with Fintan Vallely and photographer Nutan Jacques Piraprez, of ‘Blooming Meadows: The World of Irish Traditional Musicians’ (Town House and Country House, Dublin 1998), and also contributed to ‘The Book of the Burren’ (Published by Tir Eolas, 1991). Charlie is presently completing a biography of the legendary Galway accordion player Joe Cooley, as well as touring both his solo album, The Days That Are Gone, and a duo album with his son Rowan Piggott, The Trip We Took Over The Mountain. |
Associated Acts:
– De Dannan – The Lonely Stranded Band – Gerry Harrington Discography:
– De Danann (1975) – Selected Jigs, Reels & Songs (1977) – The Mist-Covered Mountain (1980) – Star-Spangled Molly (1981) – Best of De Dannan (1981) – The Lonely Stranded Band (1996) – The New Road (2000) – The Days That Are Gone (2019) – The Trip We Took Over The Mountain (2020) – The Lark On The Strand (2022) 
"A terrific unison of fiddle & accordion...
this is truly sweet music..." - The Sunday Tribune |
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