{{short description|Irish traditional musician (born 1948)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Charlie Piggott | image = Charlie Piggott playing melodeon.jpg | image_size = 220 | caption = Charlie Piggott playing a Black Dot Hohner Double-Ray, tuned C#/D. | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|7|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Cobh, County Cork, Ireland | death_date = | origin = | instrument = Tenor Banjo, Mandolin, Bouzouki, Button Accordion, Tin Whistle | genre = Irish traditional music | occupation = Musician, Singer | years_active = 1970–present | label = | associated_acts = De Dannan <br /> The Lonely Stranded Band <br /> Gerry Harrington | website = http://www.charliepiggott.net }}
'''Charlie Piggott''' (born 14 July 1948) is an Irish traditional musician, best known as a founding member of De Dannan and has toured extensively in Europe, Canada, and the US.
He grew up playing music in County Cork, where his first instrument was the button accordion. In the early 1970s Piggott played banjo in sessions at Galway's Cellar Bar with Frankie Gavin (fiddle), Alec Finn (bouzouki) and Johnnie "Ringo" McDonagh (bodhrán).
In 1973, the group Dé Dannan was formed from sessions at Tigh Hughes, An Spidéal, County Galway. Piggott plays in the old style and many of his seminal recordings have caused him to be hailed as "one of the most influential Irish banjoists of the generation",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theirishtenorbanjo.ning.com/group/charliepiggott |title=Charlie Piggott! |website=The Irish Tenor Banjo |accessdate=2021-05-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504230859/http://theirishtenorbanjo.ning.com/group/charliepiggott |archivedate=4 May 2014}}</ref> but after damaging his index finger in an accident on tour he reverted to playing the melodeon.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/piggott.htm |department=Review |title=Charlie Piggott and Gerry Harrington: ''The New Road'' |author-link=Rod Stradling |last=Stradling |first=Rod |magazine=Musical Traditions |date=2000-05-24 |accessdate=2021-05-08}}</ref>
In 1976, he was a featured artist of the Smithsonian Institution, at the Festival of American Folk Life, for the American bicentennial. Today he plays a Black Dot Hohner Double-Ray, tuned C#/D.{{cn|date=January 2020}}
Piggott has revived many rare traditional melodies and has a reputation for performing them in accordance with the ethos of older players who have passed the music on.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=FolkWorld |url=http://www.folkworld.de/14/e/newroad.html |title=The Straight New Road |date=June 2000 |issue=14 |last=Laffey |first=Sean |access-date=2021-05-08}}</ref>
He later founded the Lonely Stranded Band with Miriam Collins (concertina) and Joe Corcoran (bouzouki, guitar & vocals) and their 1996 album met with great success.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Living Tradition |last=Potter |first=Gordon |issue=17 |department=Review |date=1996 |url=http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/cicd116.htm |title=The Lonely Stranded Band |access-date=2021-05-08 |archive-date=4 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504230408/http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/cicd116.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The new millennium saw him team up with the Sliabh Luachra fiddler Gerry Harrington to record a Cló Iar-Chonnacht release: "The New Road".{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}
Piggott is co-author, with Fintan Vallely and photographer Nutan Jacques Piraprez, of ''Blooming Meadows: The World of Irish Traditional Musicians''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imusic.ie/blooming-meadows/|title=Blooming Meadows, a book by Fintan Vallely, Nutan, & Charlie Piggott|website=Fintan Vallely|date=10 December 1998|accessdate=9 December 2017}}</ref>
Having worked for a long time as a professional musician in Galway featuring regularly on television and radio, he still plays at traditional music festivals in the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mosquitonet.com/~gcn/celtic-bio.htm#piggott |title=Charlie Piggott |url-status=dead |website=Alaska folk music and more! |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713155005/http://www.mosquitonet.com/~gcn/celtic-bio.htm#piggott |archivedate=13 July 2010 |df=dmy |access-date=2021-05-08}}</ref>
In 2019, Piggott released a solo album called 'The Days That Are Gone'<ref>{{cite web|url=https://charliepiggott.bandcamp.com/album/the-days-that-are-gone |title=An album by Charlie Piggott}}</ref> and followed it in 2020 with 'The Trip We Took Over The Mountain',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rowanfolk.bandcamp.com/album/the-trip-we-took-over-the-mountain |title=An album by Charlie Piggott & Rowan Piggott}}</ref> a duo album in collaboration with his son, the fiddle-player & singer Rowan Piggott.
==Discography==
*''De Danann'' (1975) *''Selected Jigs Reels and Songs'' (1977) *''The Mist Covered Mountain'' (1980) *''Star-Spangled Molly'' (1981) (see ''The De Dannan Collection'') *''Best of De Dannan'' (1981) *''The Lonely Stranded Band'' (1996) *''The New Road'' (2000) *''The Days That Are Gone'' (2019) *''The Trip We Took Over The Mountain'' (2020)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{cite web|url=http://irishamerica.com/2009/08/frankie-gavin-back-with-de-dannan/|title=Frankie Gavin Back with De Dannan – Irish America|website=Irishamerica.com|date=2 August 2009|accessdate=9 December 2017}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.irishmusicdaily.com/de-dannan|title=De Dannan with Mary Black took Irish music from Galway to America – Irish Music Daily|website=Irishmusicdaily.com|date=6 June 2013|accessdate=9 December 2017}}> *{{cite web|url=http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/AMusic/Ramoutar/DeDannan.html|title=De Dannan – Legend not myth – William Ramoutar Irish Music Review – World Cultures European|website=Irishcultureandcustoms.com|accessdate=9 December 2017}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/3631/music-review-frankie-gavin-and-the-new-de-dannan|title=Frankie Gavin and The New De Dannan|date=22 October 2010|website=Culturenorthernireland.org|accessdate=9 December 2017|archive-date=1 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401085730/http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/3631/music-review-frankie-gavin-and-the-new-de-dannan|url-status=dead}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.irishexaminerusa.com/mt/2012/01/10/irish_artists_take_new_york_by.html|title=Irish Examiner USA: Irish Artists Take New York By Storm|website=Irishexaminerusa.com|accessdate=9 December 2017}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piggott, Charlie}} Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Irish male accordionists Category:Irish male banjoists Category:Irish male folk musicians Category:Musicians from County Cork Category:De Dannan members Category:20th-century Irish male musicians Category:20th-century Irish accordionists Category:20th-century Irish folk musicians Category:21st-century Irish male musicians Category:21st-century Irish accordionists Category:21st-century Irish folk musicians Category:20th-century Irish banjoists Category:21st-century Irish banjoists Category:1970s in Irish music Category:1980s in Irish music Category:1990s in Irish music Category:2000s in Irish music Category:2010s in Irish music Category:2020s in Irish music