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Frankie Gavin was born in Corrandulla,
County Galway in 1956. His father and uncles were fiddlers and
musicians. Frankie started on the whistle at age four. As a young
fiddler he seized upon the 78s of Irish-American musicians, especially
those of James Morrison, Michael Coleman, the Flanagan brothers,
and flute player John McKenna. He also learned to play flute and
in 1973 he took first in the All Ireland Fiddle Competition and
in the All Ireland Flute Competition. He entered both on the same
day.
 That
year Frankie founded De Dannan and for almost thirty years this
band has remained at the forefront of Celtic music. De Dannan
is among the few Celtic bands today that features collective improvisation
as a major component of the overall sound. Aside from his six
solo albums and fifteen albums with De Dannan, this fiddler has
found himself in the most unlikely of places, including on the
last Rolling Stones album.
Frankie was introduced to the music
of Joe Derrane on a visit to New York in the 1970’s. Here
he met Richard Nevins who shared his vast 78 collection with him.
Frankie copied all the accordion 78s he could find, especially
those of Derrane and Kimmel. He returned to Ireland and shared
them with accordion players of his own generation, Jackie Daly
and Martin O’Conner. Many years later Frankie performed with
Joe Derrane at Denmark's 1997 Tondor Festival, a performance that
immediately revealed the special magic of their joint improvs.
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