Tim O’Brien singer-songwriter speaks to LiveTrad.com

‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, as the saying goes, and the Grammy award winning singer-songwriter Tim O’Brien has always been immersed in the Irish musical tradition. Back from his native USA to play a number of gigs this side of the ocean, he took time out to talk to LiveTrad about his Irish roots, and how the internet age provides lots of exciting possibilities for up-and-coming musicians.

Just click on the image of Tim to access a Video of this interview, or read on – feel free to comment, we appreciate your feedback.

“My great-grandfather O’Brien came from Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, and went to the United States in 1851, right after the Famine,” Tim told us during his recent visit to the Frankie Kennedy Winter School.

There he met his wife to be (a Gillespie from Donegal), while they were both singing in the church choir. Thereafter began the West Virginia strand of the O’Brien clan, and the roots, as well as the music, has been passed on through the generations to the present day.

We have the notion in this country that the US folk tradition was spawned through the migration of people from Ireland to the States over hundreds of years, and that the flow of creativity moved in one direction only. But Tim argues that the musical traditions of each country, while related, certainly show signs of cross-fertilisation.

“America is a great melting pot, and you could make the case that Ireland is as well. Things develop in different strata, and then they fold together again. The banjo became really big in the States, and it came from the States to this part of the world, whereas the drum (bodhrán) was already here.”

Tim was immersed in bluegrass and US folk music from an early age, but was always aware of the source of the material he was learning.

“When I started playing fiddle tunes on the guitar, and eventually on the fiddle and the mandolin, it was real quick that I learned that these were Scots and Irish tunes. I was playing Irish tunes even though it was in the bluegrass style. You can’t escape it I don’t think, in America the Celtic influence is really big…those cultural influences really shape the music.”

With traditional Irish music now reaching wider audiences worldwide, Tim sees technology as a vital tool in enabling music to grow. He says that he has met students from Japan, Israel and other countries at the Winter School, and, like we see regularly during LiveTrad webcasts, people from every corner of the world are gaining an appreciation of Irish music, as well as picking up the instruments themselves.

“I think the music is still thriving, the channels that serve it are changing. Technology changes the way people learn the music. YouTube is revolutionizing things. I’m blown away by all that access.”

Not that we went fishing for compliments, you understand, but Tim had kind words to say about us too!

“LiveTrad is going to help the music go further into more and more people’s homes, with greater ease.”

“Kids have so many choices – in some ways they have too many choices and they sometimes get jaded. But eventually stuff takes hold, you find the things that you like and you push aside the stuff that you’re not interested in.”

Like many musicians, Tim sees the internet as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, music piracy means that it is very difficult for musicians to make a living from selling CD’s. But the internet also acts as a window for the casual viewer to find out more about Irish acts.

He hopes finding a clip on the web may encourage people to go and see these acts in person, and, as we all know, nothing beats a live show.

“When the performers that are the great prosthelytizers, the great practitioners, go around and perform for people in faraway places, that really seals the deal.”

To find out more about the music of Tim O’Brien, visit his website www.timobrien.net.