Paddy Moloney, whose tin whistle and uilleann pipes have been at the heart of the Chieftains’ sound since the group’s first album, in 1962, is in Florida, sitting by the window.
“I’m listening to the birds singing here,” the 72-year old says cheerfully. “And everyone thinks I’m crazy, because I answer them back.” He laughs. “And the birds think I’m totally mad altogether, disrupting their morning song.”
That’s typical Moloney, making music with just about anyone. Over the years, he’s played not only with the cream of Irish traditional musicians, but also a who’s who of rock and pop, recording with Mick Jagger, Van Morrison, Luciano Pavarotti, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney and dozens more.
The band will be in Toronto for a St. Patrick’s Day concert at Roy Thomson Hall Thursday, and Moloney – who is easily one of the most voluble musicians around – was more than happy to reflect on half a century as a Chieftain.
How did you decide to be in Toronto for St. Patrick’s Day? I’m sure that day has you quite in demand.
It is a big demand, and this is the only Canadian date on this particular tour. I think we’re going to address that properly next year, because it’s our big 50 years. But Patrick’s Day is always a day of great rejoicing, [laughs] and the after-concert tour around whatever city we’re in can be hilarious and brilliant, you know? And there’s no place like Toronto for that. It’s a great city, I just love Toronto.
I remember once at the Roy Thomson Hall, we did a whole week with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and at the end of it we retired to a little watering hole not too far from there. Dora Keogh’s, I think it was. A good friend of ours invited us there for the wrap, you might say, and the conductor and everybody came over. It was a big Irish party finishing up.
And it was there that I was introduced to Jon and Nathan Pilatzke, who have been with us now for 11 years. Great dancers. They do the Ottawa Valley style of dancing, and Jon Pilatzke is a master fiddle player who plays with us now all the time. I was astonished when I saw these guys. They just blew me away. I said, “One day I’ve got to get them on stage,” and they’ve been with us ever since.
Just to do a little name-dropping, when Elvis Costello married the lovely Diana Krall, another great Canadian artist, we were invited to the wedding and everybody there did a little performance, sang a few songs, including Elvis. But when we did our little turn and the Pilatzkes got up to dance, Sir Paul McCartney, he couldn’t hold back. He was up, legs flying all over the place, and that got everybody up. A great occasion, and it all sort of started, you might say, with that meeting in Toronto.
Ah, the stories go on forever.
Well, it has been 50 years.
That’s when we put our name on it, the Chieftains. But we had been going before that, from the late fifties, when I was trying to come to terms with the sound I wanted to achieve. We’re a long time on the go, and people often say, “God, are you ever going to give up?” [laughs]
We did actually try, 10 years ago, to cut back. But as my wife says, “He’s 10 years in rehearsal for retirement.” It’s still going stronger than ever.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
