Reviews for Chieftains - The Authorized Biography

The average rating for Chieftains - The Authorized Biography based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-08 00:00:00 Colleen Hurlburt I borrowed this from the County Mayo public library while vacationing in Ireland - thought it would be appropriate to read it while not all too far from the current hang-out of one of the Chieftains in Westport. In fairness, the book could just as well have been titled "The Paddy Moloney Story: How I Founded the Chieftains". We do learn quite a bit about Paddy and the early days of the Chieftains. I ran out of time and was not able to finish it, the weather in Mayo was too fine and fair to spend much time with a book about the music of Ireland, when there was actual music and actual Ireland to experience in person. I'll give the second half of this book another try if I can find it in the US.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-20 00:00:00 Ryan Tremblay Highly enjoyable (if fairly rote, safe, and rife with typos....) biography of Paddy Moloney and overview of 30 years of the Chieftains. Found myself wishing it extended further than 1997 as there's been so much since then. But I loved the look into the craic and parties with the Stones at Luggala as well as the incredible musicality and genius of the recording sessions and composition. I found myself learning more about songs - and whole albums!! - I'd never heard, and the book gave me a wonderful opportunity to throw myself neck-deep into listening to and enjoying the Chieftains. I also took away a greater understanding of their place in a global panoply of music and of the common strains between traditional Irish music and music played in China, Japan, and Celtic strongholds in Galicia and Brittany. I have a much deeper and richer understanding and appreciation of that global music family.