Bob started learning the banjo at the age of 12 after hearing Roger Sprung’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” played on the 5 string banjo, as the theme song for WNBC’s weekly folk music show in the early 60s. Bob later discovered Roger lived in New York City and gave banjo lessons.  Bob began taking lessons from Roger but decided that that the guitar was more versatile.  Bob continued to take guitar lessons from Roger and after a only a few months Roger invited Bob to join his band for a summer tour of the bluegrass festivals of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. Bob’s first trip was Roger’s 14th and he knew many of the “Greats” of Old Time and Bluegrass Music. The Sprung Band played at all the fiddler’s conventions from Northern Virginia to North Georgia and visited or stayed with many icons of bluegrass and Appalacian music including Doc Watson, Obrey Ramsey, Wade Ward, George Pegram, The Van Hoyts, Franklin George, Clark Kessinger and many others. Bob had his first taste of grits, moonshine and the Sears Catalog while travelling with the band During the school year  Bob teamed up with Ray Swiethguth and Bob McCarthy to form the Bob and Ray Trio, a Kingston Trio clone with matching checked shirts, white belts and scarves.  The Bob and Ray Trio was selected for the finals of a band competition  held in Long Beach, New York, but came in second to a Beatles clone group with matching Beatles wigs. Bob McCarthy now lives in New Hampshire and spent 12 years on tour with Tommy Makem, of the Clancy Brothers. In 1964 he received brand new Martin D-28 for his 15th birthday, which he still owns  and uses for recording and local concerts.

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After junior high school in New York, Bob attended the Windsor Mountain School in Lenox, Massachusetts. The music teacher at the school was Sushil Mukerjee, a world renown Bengali bamboo flute player and painter who was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. Shushill introduced Bob to a whole range of musical styles including Classical Indian Music and the poetry of Rabinranath Tagore. Bob was a member of the Sushill’s  Improvisational Jazz Group. Bob used to sneak out of his dormitory window on the weekends, woith the complicit knowledge of his dorm father, banjo player Mac Benford,  where he had a cab waiting to take him to the coffee house in Pittsfield where Bob was a regular performer. It wasn’t long before Bob ran into Arlo Guthrie who was enrolled at another local prep school, The Stockbridge School, in Stockbridge, MA. Bob joined Arlo in forming the Berkshire Bluegrass Band. Bob played guitar and Arlo played fiddle. The group attended the 1965 Newport Folk festival and had the opportunity to mingle with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mississippi John Hurt and many other folk legends. Bob had the opportunity to meet the legendary piper Seamus Ennis who preceded the group on stage. This was Bob’s introduction to the Uillian Pipes and planted a seed which resulted in a one way trip to the British Isles some five years later. Roger Sprung had taught Bob how to be a solid rhythm or back up player. Although Bob always considered himself primarily a backup player, he also excelled at lead, winning a ribbon at the “World Championships” in Asheville, NC in 1966.   While attending Clark University in Worcester, MA, Bob formed The Swampy Creek Boys with Mark Shultz and Lee Kassen and became one of the few bluegrass bands in Massachusetts at the time. Bob also played at the local Worcester and Boston area coffee houses and eventually teamed up with Steve Martin, and Howie Hersch, formerly of Orpheus. They formed Arcadia, named for the apartment complex in Amherest where they lived. Arcadia was  a Folk-Rock band and well ahead of it’s time. Steve Martin was lead singer, guitar, Bob played electric mandolin, and Howie Hersh played Bass.  Arcadia performed throughout Central and Western Massachusetts with occasional tours which included Saratoga, NY  and Ann Arbor, MI. Bob introduced some Irish mandolin tunes to the sets. These tunes always elicited a great response from the audience. He still plays these tunes at gigs and sessions around the world.

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In 1969 a Scot friend, “Scotty”, living in Worcester,visited Scotland and  brought back some just released recordings of the Ullilian Pipes as well at the Scottish Singer, Hamish Imlach.  Bob was totally blown away with the pipes and would walk around with a cassette player which had a copy of Tabhair Dom Do Lámh (Give Me Your Hand) repeated over and over (repeat didn’t exist in those days). Scotty informed Bob that Hamish was visiting  the Boston Area with an Irish group, The Sands Family from Newry, Co. Down. They were playing in a chain of Boston area pubs and staying in a large ramshackle house owned by the pubs. Bob spent most of that time with Hamish and The Sands  There were many all night music sessions and Bob and Scotty eventually saw them off at Logan airport.  Bob received an invitation from Hamish to come to Scotland to play  on the folk club circuit and a month later, Bob  was on his way. He had unloaded most of his worldly possessions, and boarded a flight to Glasgow with a one way ticket, $800, a mandolin, guitar, banjo and some clothes. Bob spent the next year touring with Hamish  Imlach. One night he came back to Hamish’s flat where a bunch of musicians over from Ireland were playing in the living room. It was Planxty on their first international tour and they played till dawn. The next morning, Christy Moore suggested to Bob that he come to Ireland, Three days later, Bob met Christy at O'Donoghue's in Dublin, which was the center of Irish music at the time. Bob played for an hour or so, bought a newspaper, found a flat and moved in the following day. O'Donoghue's would become Bob’s home away from home as it was for many of the now famous Irish musicians, like The Dubliners, The Chieftains, Paul Brady, The Furey Brothers and Kevin the Whistler. While in Ireland, Bob formed a band with Martin Doyle on whistle and bodhran, Brenny, Noel Galagher on pipes, and Bob on guitar. The Killen played all around greater Dublin and had a momentous tour of the North East United States. The Killen did little recording but did record the sound track for a BBC film on the Myth of the Children of Lyre. Martin Doyle is now one of Irelands leading flute makers.

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Bob left Ireland in 1975 and returned to South Africa where he was rapidly integrated into the South African Folk Music scene. Bob was a regular at the Mangles Coffee House in Johannesburg and was invited to perform at the National Folk Festival held annually in Port Elizabeth shortly after arriving in country. Bob met David Marks, founder of 3rd Ear Music, a local producer of South African music including the Zulu Group Amapondo, and eventually, Johnny Clegg and Julaka. Through 3rd Ear, Bob did a number of recordings for Warner Brothers and Electra/Asylum including the sound track for a TV series on gold mining, and mandolin and Banjo on an award winning album by Brian Finch, a leading musician based in Durban. While in Johannesburg, Bob became friends with Johnny Clegg. Johnny is a white South African that embrace Zulu music and culture.  Bob would accompany Johnny on late night visits to Johannesburg apartment buildings to visit “flat boys”, Zulu musicians working as cleaners in those buildings. Bob heard some amazing music on these forays. While in Johannesburg, Bob became friends with Sage, a local Irish band. Although never a permanent member, he would often sit in with Sage at local gigs. Jim McFarland returned to Ireland, to become All Ireland singer and Frank Cassidy moved to Canada and has produced a number of CDs featuring the tin whistle. Bob later moved to Cape Town where he met Volker Tormer, an exceptional bluegrass banjo player from Germany, and they formed Dogge Bagge. In addition to Bob and Volker, Dogge Bagge featured Zambian born Stef Malherbe on bass and Scotsman Ian Sampson on fiddle. Dogge Bagge was South Africa’s Premier bluegrass band for many years, and played regularly at the Pizza Den in Cape Town, the first American style pizza place in south Africa. Dogge Bagge was also contracted to Kentucky Fried Chicken, and played at the opening of every new restaurant. They were temporarily renamed “The Kentucky Colonels” and were contracted to eat fried chicken on stage. Dogge Bagge ended the relationship after visiting one of the chicken farms in South Africa. The Dogge Bagge “world tour” happened in 1976 with gigs in Seattle, Vancouver, The Dog House on Vashon Island, WA,  New England, Ireland and Mahogany Hall in Bern Switzerland. The band did a concert at McCord Air Force Base in Washington State. They were so well received they were offered an additional date the following night. When the band mentioned they had to fly to the East Coast the next day, they received an offer of free passage on an ordinance flight. They respectively declined. Dogge Bagge continued with regular reunions until Volker’s death in 2009.

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In 1995, Bob moved to South Florida and immediately became involved in the Irish music community. He was invited to join The Big Shillelaghs, a Celtic Rock Band based at Dicey Reilly’s, The largest Irish bar in Florida, located in Ft.. Lauderdale The band featured Dublin born singer Pat O’Carroll, Nial Donnohue on vocals, electric guitar and whisle, Belfast man, Easton Pollock on drums, another Dubliner, Gerry Langton  on electic bass and Bob Denton on acoustic guitar and Mandoblaster (a synthesizer mandolin). The Shillelaghs played 4 and 5 nights a week all over South Florida and were offered an Irish tour with Garth Brooks as well as a record deal to be recorded in Criterion Studios. Their CD Live and Legless was recorded live at Dicey Reilly’s in 1998. Bob left the band after a few years, due to getting too old to continuously punish his liver, and began playing with a world renown piper, Eamonn Dillon. Bob played guitar on Eamonn’s first album, Keep ‘er Lit, and they played at numerous venues in South Florida as well as gigs in New England and Canada. Bob, Eamonn and  Padric Keane, son of The Chieftain’s Sean Keane, formed Saoirse (Irish for Freedom)  and played numerous gigs throughout South Florida and the North East. Bob was also a regular at The Irish Cottage in Delray Beach, crawling distance from Bob’s home. Bob would sit on mandolin and guitar with the Echoes of Erin featuring Danny Glaser on vocals and guitar, “Seamus” Shuttlerow on 5 string banjo and guitar and Limerick born George Walker on fiddle. Bob would also join George and his brother 65 year old kid brother Sean playing for a monthly Ceili in Pompano Beach. One off night in early September, 2001, Bob stopped in for a beer and met an Egyptian at the bar. A few days later Bob recognized the Egyptian as Mohamed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 attacks. The terrorists had been staying at a motel across the street. A pub regular and friend was Bob Stevens, an editor at The National Enquirer. Bob was the  first victim of the anthrax attacks. In 2005, Bob moved to California and teamed up with Art Shapiro, The Flute Player, The other fiddle  forming a traditional Irish group based out of San Jose. They played regularly at O’Flaherty’s pub in San Jose and at various gig around the Bay area. They played for the Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in 2007. While in California, Bob organized an Irish session at the Byington winery. In addition, Bob dusted off his bluegrass chops and joined up with The Santa Cruz Mountain Boys and played bluegrass at various venues around the Bay area. In 2008 Bob moved to Tucson, Arizona to be closer to his archery coach, Alexander Kirilov. He played regularly at the now deceased  Auld Dubliner Pub and gigs occasionally with other Tucson based Irish groups.

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Home    The Early Years    New England     Ireland     South Africa     USA     Contact