John Reilly

Who was John Reilly?

John Reilly, was a traditional Irish singer.

He was a settled Irish Traveller who lived in Boyle, Co Roscommon, and is thought have hailed from Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim. He was a profound influence on many popular folk and traditional singers and was often frequented by song collectors from Ireland such as Tom Munnelly. At in 1965 he collected the ballad "The Well Below the Valley", it was the first time this song had been collected from Oral tradition in 150 years. Christy Moore in the magazine "Swing 51" recalled that "British folklorists ... wouldn't accept that it was genuine. They reckoned it was a put-up and they couldn't accept that this song had appeared in the West of Ireland because it had never appeared there before."

In 1972 Munnelly played the tape to Christy Moore who subsequently performed it on Planxty's album "The Well Below The Valley". Planxty also sang "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy". Again the source was Munnelly's recordings of Reilly. Later Sinéad O'Connor was inspired by Munnelly's recording of "Lord Baker". Her own version is based on the singing of Reilly.