{{Short description|Irish traditional accordionist (1924–1973)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Irish English|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist | name = Joe Cooley | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth year|1924|}} | origin = Peterswell, County Galway, Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|12|20|1924||}} | genre = Traditional Irish | occupation = | instrument = Accordion | years_active = 1940s–1973 | label = Gael Linn | associated_acts = The Tulla Céilí Band, Kevin Keegan, The Graineog Ceilidhe Band | module = {{Infobox person|embed=yes }} }}
'''Joe Cooley''' (1924–20 December 1973) was an Irish musician known for his traditional accordion music.
==Biography==
Cooley was born in Peterswell, County Galway in 1924. Both his parents were melodeon players, and Joe began playing accordion at age 10. As a teen, Joe played in the Midlands area and eventually found himself in Dublin in 1945, where he joined the Galway Rovers Band. There in Dublin, he met musicians Sonny Brogan and Johnny Doran, both of whom were to influence Cooley's musical style.<ref name=clare>Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, "Tribute to Joe Cooley", ''Clare Champion'', January, 1974</ref>
He was one of the earliest members of the Tulla Céilí Band when, as the St Patrick's Amateur Band, Tulla, they won the ceili band competition at Féile Luimní in 1946. He played with the Tulla on their first broadcast for Radio Éireann in 1948. At the end of that year he left the band to work in London. He rejoined the band when he returned from England towards the end of 1950. He also often played with Galway fiddler Joe Leary.{{fact|date=June 2020}}
In 1954 Joe Cooley left for the US. Joe's brother, Seamus Cooley, who played banjo with the Tulla, went on a US trip and made a recording with them. He left the band in 1958 while on tour and stayed in the US. While in New York Joe was involved in the Joe Cooley Ceili Band and the Joe Cooley Instrumental Group. He moved from New York to Chicago and finally to San Francisco. While in San Francisco, Cooley formed the ''Gráinneog Céilidh'' band which included accordionist Kevin Keegan, fiddlers Sue Draheim and Will Spires, Eric Thompson, and others.<ref>[http://www.joecooleytapes.org/ ''The Joe Cooley Tapes''] joecooleytapes.org</ref><ref>see also [http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW02436.pdf ''Will Spires'' p.4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703161044/http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW02436.pdf |date=3 July 2013 }}, and [http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW02436.pdf ''Sue Draheim'' pp. 4-5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703161044/http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW02436.pdf |date=3 July 2013 }} (''Berkeley Farms'' album liner notes) smithsonianfolkways.org</ref> The Cooley-Keegan Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in San Francisco is named in honor of Cooley and Kevin Keegan.<ref>''Tribute to Joe Cooley & Kevin Keegan'' Retrieved from https://sfcooleykeegancce.org/misc/cooley-keegan_story.html. Accessed 18 November 2020.</ref> In America he married Nancy McMahon from Killenana, County Clare.{{fact|date=June 2020}}
He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential Irish button accordionists. On one occasion, in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Joe was presented with a beautiful Paolo Soprani C#/D accordion he dubbed "The Box" which would accompany him on his tour of America in the 1970s.<ref name=clare/>
Joe returned to Ireland in the spring of 1973 after becoming ill with cancer. He toured the pubs of Clare and Galway with his friend the banjo player Des Mulkere until shortly before his death in December 1973. His only commercial recordings were not released in Ireland until 1975.<ref name="pocket">{{cite book|title= A pocket history of Irish traditional music|author=Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin|publisher=O'Brien Press|year=1998|pages=136}}</ref>
His accordion is now believed to be in the hands of the great Irish accordionist Tony MacMahon of Clare, IE. One of Cooley's enduring legacies is a reel named "Joe Cooley's".<ref>[http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1 "Joe Cooley's"]</ref> Originally named "The Tulla Reel," the tune has since become associated with Cooley and is now a standard in the Irish traditional music repertoire. Cathie Whitesides and other American friends of Joe's have archived many of Joe's tunes on a website, http://www.joecooleytapes.org/.
==Discography==
* ''Cooley'' (Gae-Linn, 1975)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.joecooleytapes.org Joe Cooley Tapes] *[https://sfcooleykeegancce.org/misc/about_cceck.html Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Cooley-Keegan Branch of San Francisco]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Joe}} Category:1924 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Musicians from County Galway Category:Irish male accordionists Category:Irish male folk musicians Category:Music of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:20th-century Irish male musicians Category:20th-century Irish accordionists Category:20th-century Irish folk musicians