Seán Cleland (Drovers, Bohola), a well known Chicago Irish musician and stalwart of the local Irish music scene, has spent decades becoming a master Irish fiddle player. The Kilgubbin Project is the culmination of his life's work as an ambassador, cultivator, educator and preservationist of traditional Irish music in Chicago.
Seán is well known to fans of Chicago music, In 1988 Seán founded and lead the much loved Irish folk rock band 'The Drovers’ through 10 years of 300+ blazing, incendiary live performances, 2 movies; Backdraft and Blink, and 4 independent recordings including 1992’s “the World of Monsters”. In 1999, he co-founded the traditional trio Bohola, where he once again spent the better part of 10 years touring across North America and Australia. Having enough of touring in 2008, Seán quit performing and focused all of his energy and love on teaching and growing the Irish Music school of Chicago.
It was a late night in 2017 spent listening to music, drinking and chatting with his old friend Ray Quinn, the genius behind Martyrs’, that prompted Seán to return to preforming, and to create a Chicago-based band that would bring out the new sounds that Seán heard in his head. Out of that fateful conversation he founded The Kilgubbin Project, a synthesis of the various explorations of his musical story, and a personal musical celebration of the American Irish experience in Chicago. While striving to be true to the melodies and rhythms of Ireland, Seán also embraced how the tradition has evolved here in Chicago.
The Kilgubbin Project takes its name and its sense of wildness from the actual Chicago Irish Shantytown ‘Patch’ called Kilgubbin (now known as Goose Island); a small natural island at the north side of the confluence of the North and South Branches of the Chicago River. It was home to seasonal flocks of geese and, in the late 1840s, was on the fringes of Chicago and is where many Irish immigrants were forced to stay.
On June 29, 2022, Seán Cleland and The Kilgubbin Project recorded a live concert at Martyrs’ where they played the music chosen by Seán to represent his love letter to the Irish experience in Chicago.
The Kilgubbin Project Album Musicians: Jesse Langen, James Reilly, Brendan Bulger, James Conway, Steve Morrow
Other Kilgubbin Members: Jackie Moran, Joe Kilroy, Ray Quinn, Jeff Lindblade, Niall O'Leary, Tim Britton, Liz Hanley
couldn’t/wouldn't have been made without these folks: Kathy Medic, City of Chicago DCASE IAP Grant, My Mother and Father, Martyrs', Ray Quinn, The Irish American Heritage Center, Meg Buchanan, Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro, James Murphy, Brendan & Siobhán McKinney, Tim and Cathy McGinness, Rich & Dawn Delaney, Jeff Lindblade, Jen Ingerson, Seman Violins, Peter Seman, Kori Milroy, Joe & Dorie Kalal, Noah Scott, Peggy Roche-Boyle, Sam Barbakoff, John Cina, John Whelan, Brendan Duffy, Noel & Sheila Rice, Joe Sheehan, Lillis Ó Laoire, Matt Cranitch, Breanndán Begley, Tommy Masterson, Johnathan Whitall, Grey Larsen, Ceoltóirí Chicago, Baal Tinne, The Drovers, Bohola, Juan Dies, San Patricios, Joseph Sobol, Jim Sloan, Kathy Cowan, Mark Howard, John O'Grady, Mick Moloney, John Halliburton, Noel Rice, Fred Rice, Cathleen Rice, Kevin Rice, Adam Whiteman, Tim O'Sullivan, Kevin Henry, Albert Neary, Cormac McCarthy, Marty Fahey, Dave Callahan, Matt Suhar, Aileen Dillane, Rita Guthrie
sé mo loch: Noel Rice, Kevin Henry, Albert Neary,Nioclás Tóibín, Seán 'ac Dhonncha, Liz Carroll, Johnny McGreevy, Oisín Mac Diarmada, Fred Rice, John Doherty, Tommy Potts, Andy McGann, Tommy Masterson, Matt Cranitch, Paddy Moloney, Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, Caitlín Maude, Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis, John Séamus Cooley, Martin Hayes, Mary McDonagh, Jimmy & Eleanor Neary, Joe Shannon, Jimmy Keane, Joe O'Shea, James Kelly, Paul Brady, Joe Cooley, Tony MacMahon, Seámus Mac Mathuna, Paddy O'Brien, Dáithí Sproule, Matt Cranitch, Pat McPartland, Jack Murray, Cuz Teahan, Una McGlew, John Cahill, Liz Carroll, Tommy Makem, Tommy Peoples, Paddy Glackin, Frankie Gavin, Alec Finn, Joe Burke, Máirtín O'Connor, Seán Keane, Paddy Canny, PJ Hayes, John Bonham, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello, John Coltrane, Michael Cleveland, Andy Summers, Séamus Begley, Breanndán Begley, David Bloom, Dennis Cahill, Mick Moloney, Jimmy Moore, David Bowie, Mary Bergin
bands that showed me how: The Bothy Band, The Chieftains, Castle Céilí Band, Tulla Céilí Band, Ceoltóirí Chualann, Éamon de Buitléar & Ceoltóirí Laighean, Planxty, De Danann, Téada, The Dubliners, Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, The Green Fields of America, Led Zeppelin, The Police, The Beatles, U2, The Monkees, The Who, Rush
my family: Carol and John Cleland; Kathy, Gloria, Juan and Christian Medic; Charlie, Sophie, Perrita, Peekaboo
kind people who gave me rides to lessons, sessions, concerts: John O'Grady, Tom O'Brien, Sheila Rice, Noel Rice, Jim Maguire, Mary McDonagh
Seán Cleland and The Kilgubbin ProjectChicago, Illinois
Seán Cleland is the award-winning Irish fiddle player and executive director of the Irish Music School of Chicago. He is the
founder of the Irish-influenced folk-rock band, The Drovers who recorded 4 albums and appeared in 2 major Hollywood films: Backdraft and Blink. In 2000, Seán co-founded the traditional Irish band Bohola with Jimmy Keane and recorded 4 critically acclaimed albums....more
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