CORK | ARMAGH

1996 --

OVERVIEW North Cregg is a traditional musical group based in Cork. The group emerged after session musicians Christy Leahy [Accordion] and John Neville [Guitar] encountered a young student from Armagh, Caoimhín Vallely, who also just happened to be a fine fiddle player. The trio immediately struck up a friendship and the seeds of North Cregg were sown. The band set about performing at venues such as The Lobby Bar and The Gables. The three were soon joined by Pianist, Ciarán Coughlan. Now a quartet, things were starting to look serious. The group was invited to perform at the Cork Folk Festival and a name was required. When pushed, John offered up North Cregg. The name was fresh in his mind as friend and Uilleann piper, Jimmy Morrison had just recently written a song about a song about the aforementioned townland near Fermoy. Over the following few years, the band built up a strong live reputation play gigs and festivals at home and abroad. On one tour of Germany, Christy's brother, Martin, was enlisted to perform with the group. On returning home, he joined the lineup on a permanent basis. next up for the band was to record their debut album. To help them, they listed the support of producers Niall Vallely and Frank Torpey of Nomos. In addition to this, they further increased their playing numbers by recruiting banjo player, Paul Meehan. The results of these recording sessions was the band's first album, '...And They Danced All Night'. The record was released in March 1999 and was well received. Since then, the band has seen further lineup changes. John, Caoimhín and Paul leave the group. On the flip side, the band welcomed new members in the shape of Fiona Kelleher (who later also left), Liam Flanagan and Claire-Anne Lynch. Irrespective of the personnel, the quality of the output has always been of the highest order. Since the debut in 1999, the band has released 3 further albums - 'mi.da:za' [2001], 'Summer At My Feet' [2003] and 'The Roseland Barndance' [2007]. In recent times, the band has been less active. In more recent times, Martin has been found performing with Venetian Blue. 1996 - Band formed - Perform at the Cork Folk Festival [September] 1998 - Martin Leahy joins the band 1999 - Release of '... And They Danced All Night' album [March] 2001 - Release of 'mi.da:za' album [March] - John Neville leaves the band 2003 - Release of 'Summer At My Feet' album [August] 2004 - Caoimhin and Paul leave the band [August] 2006 - Fiona leaves the band and is replaced by Claire-Anne Lynch 2007 - Release of 'The Roseland Barndance' album