John Moynihan (born 29 October 1946, Phibsboro) is an Irish folk singer, based in Dublin. He is often credited with introducing the bouzouki into Irish music in the mid-1960s.
Music career
Sweeney's Men
Known as "The Bard of Dalymount", he was a co-founder of the band Sweeney's Men with Andy Irvine and 'Galway Joe' Dolan (who was later replaced by Terry Woods). Sweeney's Men broke the mould of Irish music and are credited with starting the folk revival there in the late 1960s.
The most famous innovation of Sweeney's Men is probably Moynihan's introduction of the bouzouki, originally a Greek instrument, into Irish music, albeit with a different tuning: GDAD' (one octave lower than the open-tuned mandolin), instead of the modern Greek tuning of CFAD'. Later, Moynihan swapped this Greek, round back bouzouki for a pre-war Gibson mandolin. During a subsequent trip to London, he bought a flat back bouzouki from instrument maker John Bailey, who had made it as an experiment after measuring an authentic bouzouki in one of London's Greek restaurants.
Reunions
Moynihan reunited with Irvine for a one-off concert in Galway in 2001. It was considered doubtful if he and Irvine would ever play together again.
However, they reunited once more, this time billed as Sweeney's Men, for a one-off gig in Rostrevor, County Down on 22 July 2007, with Paul Brady deputising for Joe Dolan who was unwell. Another Sweeney's Men reunion took place when Moynihan, Irvine and Woods performed together again on 16 and 17 June 2012, as part of Irvine's 70th birthday concerts at Vicar Street, in Dublin. It worked so well that they resumed gigging regularly in Ireland during late 2012 and again in 2013.
The world of Moynihan and Sweeney's Men is best summed up in Andy Irvine's song My Heart's Tonight in Ireland from his Rain on the Roof album, available from Irvine's own website. More information about Moynihan and his career with Sweeney's Men and Planxty can be found in O'Toole's book.