Bio

John O'Halloran hails from Westquarter village on the Connemara island of Inishbofin. He has played accordion since his childhood. There was music galore on Bofin, and, indeed, all through the O'Hallorans. His late father played fiddle and his mother and aunts are fine singers. John's brothers too are musicians: Francis is an outstanding fiddle player, Kieran also plays the box and Declan is a singer and seanchaí.

Since the 1980s, John has lived in Galway where he has become a well-known player in the trad session scene. He now regularly plays in the Crane Bar, Tigh Cóilí's and Taaffes pub. He rates as his influences the late Christy O’Halloran of Inishbofin, and Joe Cooley. John plays Hohner accordions but mostly the single row melodeon nowadays.

Over the years he has played with all the great contemporary traditional musicians. Not to mention the Inishbofin Céilí Band, with whom he has toured extensively and his cousin, sean-nós 'legend', Dessie O'Halloran.

John's first CD, entitled But Why, Johnny? was released in 1999. Guests on the album were Jimmy Higgins, Alec Finn, Dermot Byrne, Martin Murray, Brendan Larrissey and Tommy and Louise. It received great reviews in the music press and still gets lots of airplay on traditional music programmes. But Why, Johnny?  has become extremely popular as accompaniment among Irish dancers.