Jimmy Faulkner:JIMMY FAULKNER, who has died aged 58, was one of Ireland's foremost blues, folk and jazz guitarists. A gifted live musician and consummate session player, he accompanied most of the country's leading performers in a career that spanned five decades.
Christy Moore last week recalled some highlights of his collaboration with him.
"I have many musical memories, a long solo he played on Lakes of Pontchartrain, his bottleneck playing on Galtee Mountain Boy . . . one night in the London Palladium when Jimmy was just playing like never before, his notes soared and his guitar and himself were one."
Paul Brady said that Faulkner's solo guitar on Nothing but the Same Old Story on Brady's 1981 album Hard Station "still thrills me after all this time". He described the guitarist as a very talented man, "the kind we take for granted and then they're gone".
Mary Coughlan, Niall Ó Callanáin, Kieran Halpin, Francie Conway, Luka Bloom, Phil Callery, Lorraine Jordan, Martin Murray and Matt Manning are among the other performers with whom he toured.
Born in 1950, he was the youngest of the seven children of Christopher and Anne Faulkner, and grew up in Dolphin's Barn in Dublin. His father played the banjo, and from an early age he had his heart set on a career in music.
When he told his career guidance teacher that he wanted to be a bandleader, the teacher replied, "That's not [ a] job."
He persisted and in the mid-1960s was drawn to Dublin's thriving beat music scene, becoming a familiar figure at venues such as the Moulin Rouge and the Five Club.
He played the guitar - Gary Moore of Skid Row was an early influence. He never sought to mimic Moore, however, and set about developing his own distinctive style.
His first band, Jangle Dangle, featured himself, Pat Farrell and Davy Hall on guitars, with Dave Gorman on drums. He got into his stride as a musician with Freak Show, which included Pete Cummins and vocalist Ditch Cassidy.
Faulkner also played with the Medium Wave Band, which featured Honor Heffernan and Red Peters. He teamed up again with Peters in the legendary Floating Dublin Blues Band.
Jimmy was reunited with Pete Cummins in the Fleadh Cowboys, founded by Johnny Moynihan, which became one of the most popular live bands of the 1980s.
By now, he was the finished article. Anto Drennan remembers him as "the best and most versatile guitar player" he ever played with. Songwriter Jim Page describes his playing as "fluid like water, beautiful with grace".
Other bands he was associated with include Hotfoot, inspired by the music of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, and most recently The Houseshakers, a no-holds-barred rock band.
He contributed to many albums and can be heard to good effect on Live in Dublin, which he featured on with Christy Moore and Donal Lunny. A professional to his fingertips, he practised every day.
A steadfast Liverpool FC supporter, Faulkner was the ideal travelling companion on the way to gigs. Well read and interested in politics, he could converse on any subject and was very funny. He was a loving husband and a devoted father.
Delivering the eulogy at the funeral Mass, Pete Cummins said he was struck by the number of people from all walks of life who visited his friend in his final illness.
"Here indeed was a man of the people, someone who had given great service and entertainment all his life and who was much loved in return. He wasn't a rich rock star, but he was a star, and everybody who ever played with him, or heard him play, knew it."
He is survived by his wife Pauline, daughter Catherine and son Jamel, father Christopher and sisters Breda and Margaret.
Jimmy Faulkner: born January 31st, 1950; died March 4th, 2008