Martin Hayes

Who is Martin Hayes?

Martin Hayes is a fiddler, born in Maghera in East County Clare, Ireland, and now living in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has been the All Ireland Fiddle Champion six times, and has won a National Entertainment Award, and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2000 award for Instrumentalist of the Year. Hayes has recorded five albums – The Shores of Lough Graney with his father P. J. Hayes and Mark Gregory, his eponymous debut album Under the Moon and three with his longtime guitarist, Dennis Cahill. He has also appeared on a number of recordings with other musicians from east Clare including Christy McNamara's CD The House I was Reared In, Mary MacNamara's CD Traditional Music from East Clare and the Compilation CD Reeling Through the Years celebrating 20 years of music from the Feakle Festival.

Martin is a member of the contemporary Irish music band, The Gloaming, along with Iarla Ó Lionáird, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Dennis Cahill and Thomas Bartlett, with whom he released an eponymous debut album in 2014 on Brassland Records and Real World Records.