Charlie McGettigan

Charlie McGettigan - A Profile.Charlie McGettigan started his musical career in the 1960s heavily influenced by artists like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and all the high profile names of that period. He played everything from ballrooms to the then emerging pub scene so that he could gain experience at all levels of the entertainment industry. When he moved to Dublin in 1968 he honed in on the thriving folk scene there at that time. His influences then were people like Paul Brady, Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine and, having played electric guitar up to then, he purchased his first acoustic guitar concentrating on developing the finger picking style, which is now his stock in trade.Moving to the rural environment of Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim in 1973, Charlie formed the highly successful Jargon group, which went on to win the prestigious Letterkenny Folk Festival, following in the footsteps of bands like Clannad and Pumpkinhead. This win led to a recording contract with Polygram records and the release of Jargons first single Bailieboro and Me. The band went on to record two more singles and then Charlie went on to pursue a solo career. During the following years Charlie worked with artists like Maura O Connell and Eleanor Shanley who both recorded many of Charlies songs including I dont know how you do it, Feet of a dancer, A bed for the night, If anything happened to you and others. He released two solo albums - Songs of the night and Charlie McGettigan - before joining forces with Paul Harrington and Brendan Graham to win the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with Rock n Roll Kids. He recorded Rock n Roll Kids The Album with Paul Harrington but the duo went their separate ways shortly after its release.Charlie has since pursued a solo career releasing the albums , In Your Old Room and Family Matters. He tours extensively both In Ireland and in many other countries. His songs have been recorded by many other artists including De Dannan, Mary and Frances Black, Ray Lynam, Daniel O Donnell, Hal Ketchum, Maura O Connell and Eleanor Shanley to name but a few.These days Charlie tours regularly In Ireland and in other countries, in a solo capacity and with Irish comedy great, Niall Toibin. Down the years he has made many TV appearances in Ireland and elsewhere and has presented his own TV and radio specials for RTE and the BBC.In November 2005 Charlie travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to work with the legendary producer Bil Vorndick. With Bil he recorded an album of thirteen tracks for release in September 2006. Bil has been nominated for no less than 42 Grammy Awards and has worked with artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, James Taylor and Alison Krauss.Top acoustic musicians, Randy Kohrs ( Dobro) Aubrie Hainie (Fiddle/Mandolin), Mark Fain (Bass) Pete Huttlinger (Guitars), Sam Levine(Clarinet), Pat McInerney (Drums/ Percussion), Patti Mitchell and Chip Davis (Vocals) participated in the recordings over a four-day live session. The album contains new songs by Charlie and some written in collaboration with other writers.Charlie presents his own radio programme " The Saturday Connection" on Shannonside/ Northern Sound Radio every Saturday between 10am and 12.00 noon. The programme is an eclectic mix of music, what's on and sport with special guests every week playing and singing live on the show. Previous guests have included Niall Toibin, Eleanor Shanley, Kieran Goss, Bela Fleck and many others. You can receive Shannonside / Northern Sound on FM 94.8, FM 97.2 and FM 104.1