Andy McGann was an Irish-American fiddle player and a celebrated exponent of Sligo-style fiddling. He was born in New York to immigrant parents from County Sligo, living first in west Harlem before moving as a child to Mott Haven in the Bronx. McGann received violin instruction from Catherine Brennan Grant, a teacher grounded in both classical and Irish traditional music, and played in parochial school orchestras. He also got informal instruction and encouragement from County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman, who was a friend of the family. At a very young age, McGann found a place among the elite of New York's Sligo-style fiddle players, including Coleman, Paddy Killoran, Martin Wynne, Louis Quinn and James "Lad" O'Beirne. In the 1950s, McGann formed a partnership with Longford-born fiddler Paddy Reynolds. With Reynolds and others, McGann played with The New York Céilí Band, an all-star group that traveled to Ireland in 1960 to compete at the All-Ireland fleadh cheoil in Boyle, County Roscommon. McGann's first studio recording was the 1965 LP A Tribute to Michael Coleman with button accordionist Joe Burke and piano accompanist Felix Dolan. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Mc...) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)
