Dónal Lunny

Dónal Lunny is an Irish traditional musician and producer from Tullamore, Ireland, born in 1947. He is associated with folk and traditional music and is widely linked with the revival and development of Irish traditional music over several decades.

Early life and first groups

Lunny grows up in Tullamore before moving to Newbridge, County Kildare as a teenager. He joins Rakes of Kildare with Christy Moore, then plays in the Emmet Folk Group. That group later joins with Michael and Brian Byrne’s Spiceland Folk Group to form The Emmet Spiceland, a vocal harmony group. Their debut album, The First, appears in 1968, and the group reaches number one in Ireland with the single “Mary From Dungloe”.

Planxty, The Bothy Band and other projects

In 1971 Lunny plays on Prosperous, the first album by Christy Moore. The musicians involved in that recording later come together in 1972 as Planxty, which becomes an important group in Irish traditional instrumental music for the next ten years. Lunny leaves Planxty in 1975 to form The Bothy Band, where he plays guitar and bouzouki. The Bothy Band disbands in 1978.

He later works as a session musician on Davey and Morris, the first album to feature Shaun Davey. In 1981 he again works with Christy Moore to form Moving Hearts, alongside the young uilleann piper Davy Spillane.

Later collaborations

The listed collaborations and groups associated with Lunny include Mozaik, The Leitrim Equation, Usher’s Island, Zoë Conway, Dónal Lunny & Máirtín O'Connor, and WE 4. He is also linked with Emmet Spiceland and Planxty through his earlier work. He produces Human Child by Faroese singer Eivør Pálsdóttir, which is issued in English and Faroese versions.

Record labels

Lunny is associated with Hummingbird Records and Mulligan Records.