Jimmy Crowley

Jimmy Crowley (born 1950) is an Irish folk musician and song collector. He has specialized in collecting and playing traditional songs from County Cork.

Crowley started collecting music at the age of 16. His recordings popularised local songs such as "Johnny Jump Up", "Salonika", "The Boys of Fairhill" and "The Armoured Car".

Early years

Crowley was born in Douglas, County Cork. His father was a tenor singer with a love of opera. After school he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker. He formed Stoker's Lodge, the other members being Mick Murphy, Christy Twomey and Johnny "Fang" Murphy. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh joined some time later. The band was named after the gate lodge of the Stoker estate in Frankfield, Cork, near Crowley's boyhood home.

Crowley married Evelyn Murray in 1980. They separated in 2006.

Later career From the 1990s Crowley pursued a solo career. From December 2002 onwards he provided a weekly column for Saturday's Evening Echo about ballads and folklore. Crowley spent several years in America, from 2006 onwards, basing himself in Florida.

In 2014 Crowley published a large volume Songs From The Beautiful City: Cork Urban Ballads with musical notation and lyrics and with related anecdotes on the facing page.

Crowley holds a degree from University College Cork in folklore and Irish, taken as a mature student.

Discography With Stoker's Lodge Boys of Fairhill (1975) Camphouse Ballads (1979)

Solo Jimmy mo Mhíle Stór (1985) My Love is a Tall Ship (1997) Uncorked! (1998) Sex, Sea and Sedition (1999) Irish Eyes