X-Nico

unusual facts about Barney McKenna


Barney McKenna

Barney used GDAE tuning on a 19-fret tenor banjo, an octave below fiddle/mandolin and, according to musician Mick Moloney, was single-handedly responsible for making the GDAE-tuned tenor banjo the standard banjo in Irish music.


Finnegan Wakes

But it was also their first to feature their first established line-up of Ronnie Drew (vocals/guitar), Barney McKenna (tenor banjo)/mandolin), Luke Kelly (vocals/banjo), Ciaran Bourke (vocals/guitar/tin whistle/harmonica) and John Sheahan (fiddle/tin whistle/mandolin).

O'Donoghue's Pub

Included are portraits of The Dubliners (Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, Ciaran Bourke, John Sheahan and Barney McKenna as well as later members Eamonn Campbell and Sean Cannon) that hang to the right of the entrance where the nightly sessions are played.


see also