wvwhistler
Born in WV, 1934. Retired in 1995, after 23 years with WVU as Electron Microscopist.
Began playing guitar at age 40, then folk music '73, and finally found the Irish connection with a visit to our folk club by DeDannan's Frankie Gavin, Alec Finn & Johnny McDonagh in '75. Gave up hunting and fishing in '85 to devote all spare time to music and particularly Irish and Scottish genre. My first workshop experience was at Augusta Heritage Festival Irish Week in 1987 with Seamus Egan teaching tenor banjo for my Flatiron mandoin. There I met Frank Harte, Eugene O'Donnell, Mick Moloney, Jean Butler, Joanie Madden, Billy McComiskey, and Jack Coen, who was to become my Irish flute teacher for the next 6 years (which was just 6 weeks really) but a lifetime friendship. Jack warned me that playing the whistle would be my downfall as a flutist, and he was right. But I still get a few tunes in once in a while, just not in sessions, which are non-existent here in WV.
By early 90's played in a band called Kilronan and regular weekly sessions with "Percival Hall Pickers" with whom I produced a recording of the same name. More than 900 tapes were sold to provide scholarships for teenage musicians, but the last 100 copies are either donated or given away to newbies. Still offered free to anyone that pays postage.
Retired from public performing in 2010, but have lost weight to where I can breathe again, and can play my flute again. So retirement isn't as attractive as joining our local sessions on a regular basis.
Tunes in wvwhistler's tunebook: 281