Jackie Daly is credited with revitalizing the image of the accordion and concertina by taking them out of the dance band and into the trad band.

Daly was also a founding member of some of the most prominent Irish bands since the mid-70s including De Dannan, Arcady, Buttons & Bows, and Patrick Street. Born in the Sliabh Luachra region of Ireland in 1945, he remains one of the most emulated carriers of the Sliabh Luachra-style tradition.

Throughout his career, Daly surrounded himself with distinguished fiddlers with whom he would play in tight unison. This fiddle-accordion duet style has now been imitated across Celtic music micro-genres. After playing with Kevin Burke on Burke’s debut solo album,If the Cap Fits the duo continued to play, tour, and record together throughout the 20th century and into the next.

Forty years after If the Cap Fits was first released, Kevin Burke is still considered to be the most prominent living master of Sligo-style Irish fiddling. Burke has recorded over twenty albums, taught at countless camps, universities, and summer schools, and has toured extensively all over the world. A founding member of Patrick Street, Planxty, Bothy Band, The Celtic Fiddle Festival, and Open House, Burke is instrumental in keeping the Sligo music tradition alive.

Together, Daly and Burke founded the band Patrick Street with Andy Irvine and Arty McGlynn. Before leaving the band in 2007, Daly had played with them for 21 years, on all of their nine recordings, and at countless worldwide performances.