Thirty-five years ago

Among the distractions of this month, one anniversary has almost been overlooked: in early December 1975 (possibly even beginning at the end of November) there were the first public performances by a group that soon came to be called the Sackville String Band. 'Public' is just about allowable - the first venue was the basement of Hartigan's bar on Leeson Street, Dublin, a few yards from Stephen's Green.

The group - strongly influenced by the recordings of the Fuzzy Mountain, Hollow Rock, and Highwoods String Bands and others from the string band revival of that era - consisted initially of Niall Toner (mandolin), later of Hank Halfhead & the Rambling Turkeys, the Niall Toner Band, 'Roots Freeway' and other RTE programmes; Mick Daly (guitar), later of the Lee Valley String Band and Four Men & a Dog; and your editor (banjo). The name 'Sackville String Band' came from Niall, who had been a founder member of the Lee Valley String Band in Cork several years earlier.

In the following year the band moved to the Stag's Head in Dame Lane and later to the newly restored Tailors' Hall, gained two fiddlers (Imor Byrne and John Caulfield), and had Colin Beggan take over on guitar when Mick moved back to Cork; later still, after Imor's death in 1977, it was relaunched with more of a bluegrass orientation and with Bill Whelan (the subsequent progenitor of many string bands) on bass... But that's another story, or indeed several.

NB (30 Dec. 2010): We regret that Imor Byrne's first name was wrongly spelt when this post first appeared; the correct spelling is now in place.