The Green Fields of America is an ensemble which performs and promotes Irish traditional music in the United States.
"The Green Fields of America" was formed in 1978 in Philadelphia and still led by musician and folklorist Mick Moloney. The band was created to present and tour some of Irish America's finest musicians and dancers. "The Green Fields of America" was the first group on either side of the Atlantic to bring together Irish vocal, instrumental, and dance traditions on the concert and festival stage. Featuring Irish stepdance they introduced their sound to general American audiences.
Among those who got their start performing with The Green Fields are Seamus Egan, Eileen Ivers, Marie Reilly, Donny Golden, Jean Butler and Michael Flatley. Playing such venues as Carnegie Hall, Wolf Trap, The Smithsonian Institution, The Festival of American Folklife (now the Smithsonian Folklife Festival), the Milwaukee Irish Fest, and The National Folk Festival, the Five members of the band – Liz Carroll, Jack Coen, Michael Flatley, Donny Golden and Mick Moloney – have received National Heritage Awards. Radio Telefís Éireann, Ireland’s national broadcaster, commemorated the twentieth-anniversary of the group on St. Patrick’s Day, 1999.
A nationally televised documentary on their history and cultural contributions was presented. Among the musicians joining Mick Moloney for the performance at Re-Imagining Ireland, were singer-songwriter Robbie O'Connell, Jerry O'Sullivan (uilleann pipes), and the dancers Donny Golden and Sinead Lawlor. Old-time fiddler, guitarist, banjoist, and singer Bruce Molsky and singer-composer Tommy Sands were also guest appearing.
The current (2009) membership in the group consists of Moloney, O'Connell, long-time associate Billy McComiskey, John Doyle (formerly of Solas) and Athena Tergis.
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“Pike, three inches long, perfect
Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold.
Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin.
They dance on the surface among the flies.”
—Ted Hughes (b. 1930)
“To the Ocean now I fly,
And those happy climes that ly
Where day never shuts his eye,
Up in the broad fields of the sky:”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
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—Michael Harrington (1928–1989)