February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Joe “Banjo” Burke, a Kilkenny-born singer and banjoist who succumbed to Parkinson’s disease last December at age 57 near Albany, N.Y., never had that problem. His attempts at communicating with an audience were always whole-hearted, and he succeeded where many others failed because he understood and virtually inhabited the songs he sang and the tunes he played. They were an extension of his identity and personality, his beliefs and tastes, and even in the background din and tobacco haze (then) of a pub in Manhattan or the Catskills, his sincerity and ability cut through.
“I was always tremendously impressed with his tenor banjo playing and singing,” noted Don Meade, co-promoter of a monthly New York City concert series who first met Burke at Tom O’Reilly’s bar on Lexington Avenue two decades ago. “His old-time music, enthusiasm for Gaelic games, and unreconstructed Irish nationalism were all of a piece, and he represented to me not only a great individual character but the true spirit of the Irish countryside.”
Joe “Banjo” Burke left behind just a few recordings, including a 1977 Shanachie LP by him, Kerry fiddler Johnny Cronin, and pianist Jerry Wallace, and an early 1980s cassette, “Hours of Glory.” A new CD, “A Chapter in History: 30 Years of Joe ‘Banjo’ Burke Live, Volume 1,” has been issued by West O’Clare Productions and is available from Guaranteed Irish at (518) 634-2392 or by visiting www.banjoburkebenefit.com and e-mailing joebanjoburke@aol.com.
Taken from fall 1977 performances by Burke and singer Jerry Meegan at Manhattan’s Glocca Morra pub, the posthumously released, 21-track CD features Burke’s rich, booming voice on such songs as “All for My Grog,” “The Kerry Recruit,” “The Rocks of Bawn,” “The Deadly Sins,” “Botany Bay,” and “The Rose of Tralee.” The ballad influence of the Dubliners, the Clancy Brothers, and John McCormack is apparent in those choices. But Burke also knew his way around “Carolan’s Concerto” and straight-ahead trad tunes like “The Mason’s Apron” and “Patsy Geary’s.”
An able hurler who played on the under-21 team in Kilkenny, Burke is survived by his wife, Bridget, and their three children, Siobhan, Rory, and Finbar.
Extending a helping hand to his family, more than 100 musicians will be performing from 1:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday, June 6, during a Joe “Banjo” Burke Music Festival in pubs lining McLean Avenue in Yonkers, N.Y. Among the musicians will be fiddler Brian Conway, flutist Mike McHale, uilleann piper Mattie Connolly, singer Gabe Donahue, Morning Star, the Prodigals, the McCabes, Shillelagh Law, and the Andy Cooney Band. They’ll be playing in such bars and restaurants as Ned Devine’s, the Heritage, the Hibernian Steakhouse, J.P. Clarke’s, Fagan’s, the Bodhr