Fiddle player Tommy Peoples has been highly admired as a distinctive, complex and creative musician since his childhood in St Johnston in north-east Donegal. He became immersed in the traditional music scene in Dublin in the mid-1960s, as a solo player, in duet with Matt Molloy especially, and as a member of the Green Linnet Ceili Band. In the instrumental revival of the 1970s, he was a member of the ground-breaking and internationally popular Bothy Band (and its forerunner 1691) and recorded with both groups before moving to live in east Clare. Since the late 1960s he has made an influential series of solo albums, many featuring his own compositions. His daughter Siobhán, born in Clare, is also widely known in her own right as a leading fiddle player, and as a teacher and a composer. Tommy Peoples now lives in Donegal. He has recently received Arts Council support towards the documentation of his compositions, repertory and fiddle technique. 

Photo by Treasa Harkin of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, courtesy ITMA