Sweeney's Men - Biography
By Nick Castro
Sweeney's Men were one of the most influential Irish folk bands of the 60's. Though short lived, their two record output has been a staple of any true folk collector's record piles and pantheon of thought. One cannot credit bands like Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention or Planxty without first giving credence to the Sweeney's Men. They can be lumped in the Irish folk revival of bands like The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers but, though great, those groups could never attain that esoteric hip quality that Sweeney's Men had in droves. Though their sound and repertoire was mainly Irish in substance they did do American folk songs, such as "Tom Dooley", where they go as far as to don an American southern accent, and a few originals, such as "Standing on the Shore", coined by Moynihan, and their song closest to the psychedelic folk sound of bands like Incredible String Band, "Go By Brooks", penned by Woods, who would later play in Steeleye Span and Dr. Strangely Strange. Woods would write a number of the tunes on the second Sweeney's Men album and his openly emotional voice would become a staple of the band, even if only for a short time.
One of the many revolutionary maneuvers made my Sweeney's Men was Moynihan's incorporation of the Greek bouzouki. This became a staple of Irish music and the Irish have gone so far as to modify the bouzouki to suit their music better. They call that version of the instrument the Irish bouzouki and it features a shorter neck, a flat back instead of a rounded one, two more strings to total 8 and a stouter body than the traditional Greek version. Moynihan plays a traditional Greek model and this sound added a uniqueness of their sound, which became synonymous with the band's name.
Originally the band started as the trio of Dolan, Irvine and Moynihan. Dolan had already been playing both in showbands, such as the Swingtime Aces, and in the Dublin folk scene for years before teaming up with the others. The trio got a summer residency gig at the Hotel Enda in Galway. This prompted the trio to get serious about the group and they got manager Eamon O'Doherty who were managing the group Capitol Showband. Soon after this Dolan decided it wasn't for him and he departed to Israel to fight in the Six Day War. With this vacancy the group tried to recruit famous Irish folkster Paul Brady, who did fill in on a few gigs, but he was already engaged with The Johnstons who were doing well at the time. Instead this empty slot was filled by Terry Woods and the band would continue on to record their first album, Sweeney's Men (1967 - Transatlantic), at the Livingstone Studios in Barnet, UK. It was at this time that famous songstress Anne Briggs was a roadie for the band and is where she learned her version of Willie O Winsbury from Andy Irvine.
After the release of their first album they recorded The Tracks of Sweeney (1969 - Transatlantic), which featured, what could be argued, their only true psychedelic song "Hall of Mirrors". This record has been hailed by many as the greatest acoustic record of the generation.
Shortly after these two records, Irvine left the group to spend some time in Eastern Europe. They replaced him with Henry McCullough, who had been playing in the Jimi Hendrix produced group Eire Apparent but was sent back to Ireland from Canada, who would not accept his work visa, while on tour. This line-up of Sweeney's Men would prove unsuccessful though and break up before they could record another album.
The members of Sweeney's Men have gone on to participate in other amazing projects. Woods would join Steeleye Span, Woods Band, the duo Gay & Terry Woods, Dr. Strangely Strange and most famously The Pogues. Irvine went on to have a highly successful solo career as well as with the most famous Irish group of all, Planxty. Irivine also did some time in the group Patrick Street. Moynihan too joined Planxty as well as playing on Anne Briggs' solo record. Moynihan also played in De Dannan. McCollough would later play in Wings.
