Loading details…
Artist
The Drovers
12+ albums
Favorite Artistsfolkfolk rockceltic rock
about
The Drovers are a Chicago rock band whose original songs were influenced by Irish traditional dance music. Founded by traditional fiddler Sean Cleland in 1988, the group recorded four albums and soundtrack music for the motion pictures, Backdraft and Blink. Songwriters Mike Kirkpatrick (guitar) and David Callahan (bass, vocals) drew from Irish rhythmns to craft songs that became increasingly psychedelic over a 12-year period until the band ceased performing in September 2002. Kirkpatrick, in particular, created uniquely Irish compositions, often including reels and jigs of his own invention. Callahan's songs, while obviously influenced by Celtic/American folk music, tended toward a less ethnic-sounding psychedelia. The group is remembered for its unpredictable, incendiary live performances as the "house band" at Chicago's Cabaret Metro during the early to mid 1990s. They exported this act and won ardent fan bases in Upstate New York and New York City, the rust belt, and Midwestern college towns from Oberlin, OH to Omaha, NE. Even though they gained worldwide exposure through the release of "Blink," in which they appear onscreen as themselves, the band toured exclusively in North America. The Drovers' 1991 first studio album, "World of Monsters," featured Kathleen Keane on flute, vocals and button accordion and Jackie Moran, in addition to Cleland, Callahan and Kirkpatrick. "Book of Songs" brought the Drovers their first commercial radio exposure. The songs, "Boys and the B
