Dennis Cahill - 16 June 1954 – 20 June 2022
Probably best known for his long music partnership with Irish fiddler, Martin Hayes, with whom he toured the world and recorded three albums... His guitar accompaniment style was considered groundbreaking in Irish music.
Dennis Cahill, an American guitarist renowned in the world of Irish traditional music, passed away on June 20th, after an extended illness. He was 68.
He was probably best known for his long music partnership with Irish fiddler, Martin Hayes, with whom he toured the world and recorded three albums - The Lonesome Touch (1997), Live In Seattle (1999) and Welcome Here Again (2008). His guitar accompaniment style was considered groundbreaking in Irish music. With Martin, he was also a founding member of Irish-American group, The Gloaming.
Fellow musician and friend, Jimmy Keane, described his passing thus: “Our dearest Dennis passed away peacefully on Monday evening, with his beloved Mary by his side as she has been throughout his journey. Just moments before, we were comforting Dennis while The Lament For Limerick from Dennis’ album with Martin was on in the background, and as the track advanced to My Love Is In America, Mary turned off the player, leaned over to hug and kiss Dennis one last time – and then he was gone.”
Dennis Cahill was born and raised in Chicago to parents from County Kerry, Ireland. Displaying a keen interest in music from childhood, he started studying guitar at the age of nine. He then studied classical guitar at the Chicago Music College, and became well known on the local music scene, playing folk, rock and blues. He met Martin Hayes in Chicago in the 1980s, not long after Martin had arrived there from Ireland. They first performed together in the experimental Celtic-rock-fusion group, Midnight Court, and later as a duo with a focus on traditional Irish music, where Dennis’ diverse musical palette helped to develop a unique approach to accompaniment where, as Martin puts it, “less is more” and where “the beauty of the melody should be central to all the choices made.”
Throughout the 80s and 90s, Dennis developed into one of the most distinctive, respected and innovative guitar players on the traditional Irish music scene. Later, he and Martin would perform for President Obama in Washington, for President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and for the European Union in Brussels, as well as in concert halls and festivals throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, China, Japan and Australia. The duo collaborated with a wide range of artists of different genres, and Dennis also worked with numerous Irish and Irish-American artists including Kevin Burke, Liz Carroll, Seamus Egan, P.J. Hayes, Eileen Ivers, Arty McGlynn, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Liam O’Flynn and Jimmy Keane. Dennis was also a record producer and art photographer.
“Dennis has been a very big part of my life for the past 35 years,” Martin Hayes said. “As a musician and as a friend I will miss him terribly. His beautiful musical ideas will echo far into the future and his friendship will live on in my heart. He impacted my life and expanded my musical horizon. I was lucky to have known him, to have had him as a friend and to have had the privilege of making music with him for so many years.”
Dennis is survived by his wife, Mary Joyce, and stepdaughter Cliodhna.
www.denniscahill.com