St Andrews Folk Club with Finbar & Eddie Furey 1968 (full concert)

Finbar & Eddie Furey

Brothers Finbar & Eddie Furey were born in Ballyfermot, Dublin, into a house full of music - their father Ted, a renowned tenor banjo and fiddle player, handy with a guitar and bodhran and their mother Nora a great accordion and banjo player. The house was often filled with great Irish singers and musicians, performers such a the late Seamus Ennis, a noted uilleann piper, partly responsible for the revival of the instrument having co-founded “Na Píobairí Uilleann”.

All members of the family were encouraged by Ted to “pick up instruments and play them.” Eddie was probably the first one in the house to take up the guitar and sing – gathering a wide repertoire of rock ‘n’ roll, blues and folk ballads.

Ted taught Finbar to play the uilleann pipes, at which he excelled, becoming a master piper, and winning “All Ireland” Medals and Feiseanna during his teen years in the ‘60s.


Following in the footsteps of their father, Finbar & Eddie Furey travelled to Scotland in 1967 at the time of the folk revival, where they met and shared accommodation, in Edinburgh, with “unknown” folk singers Billy Connolly, Gerry Rafferty, Tam Harvey, Alex Campbell and others.

Finbar and Eddie played together as a duo throughout the ‘60s and early ‘70s before, in the mid ‘70’s, teaming up with their two brothers and family friend to form The Fureys & Davey Arthur. The band was formed following an accident in 1978 when George, Paul and Davey, in Denmark with their band “the Buskers”, received news that Eddie and Finbar, touring in Germany, had been involved in a road accident. They immediately travelled to Germany to assist and thereafter decided they should all tour together - the start of the “FUREYS “ a band still playing major venues after over 40 years, albeit with a changed lineup following Finbar’s departure and Paul’s death in2002.

Finbar left the group in late 1996 to pursue a solo career, and explore new pastures as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, storyteller and actor. He reached number one in the Irish Charts in 2013 with Gerry Fleming's beautifully written ‘The Last Great Love Song'.

In 2015, he received the 'Lord Mayor's Award' from the Lord Mayor of Dublin. In 2016 he wrote and performed the music for the film ‘The Wild Goose Lodge’, and released his instrumental pipes and flute album, ‘The Slender Promise’. 2017 saw the release of his album, ‘Paddy Dear’, later re-packaged as ‘Don’t Stop This Now’ with a live DVD and a tour of the UK and Ireland. 2020, saw the release of a new single, the title track from his forthcoming album, ‘Blue Jewel in the Sky’. Finbar continues performing, an Irish music legend, - his performances on RTÉ with Sharon Shannon, Imelda May, and Christy Dignam resulting in TV moments which remain in the memory.

Eddie is a first class musician who has played everywhere - Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall as a member of “The Furey’s”, entertaining audiences worldwide, audiences that have included former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Former Irish President Mary McAleese and the late Pope John Paul.
Legends of Irish music the group continue to tour the UK and Ireland with post-pandemic dates through to the end of 2022. Home for Eddie is Co Dublin, on the border of Kildare but his love of touring sees him on the road for many months of the year. A hectic life but he loves playing, being on stage, the music, the songs and the rapport with the audience. Eddie is an extremly fine singer and an accomplished instrumentalist playing bodhran, mandolin, violin, mandola and guitar.

This upload is based on an audio recording of guests Finbar & Eddie Furey, at the St Andrews Folk Club in late '67 or early '68, at the start of their careers in music.

At that time guests performances were acoustic and this, now over 50 year old recording, is one such performance. The recording was made using a four-track domestic tape recorder with the supplied microphone suspended from a ceiling light fitting. As a result the recording level of some of the spoken introductions is somewhat low. Where necessary introductions have been amplified to enable them to be heard, but are as a result, subject to an increase in noise level – it is hoped this does not spoil the listeners enjoyment.

Thanks to the Furey family for allowing this recording to now be made public!