Celebrated Irish Music Guitarist Dennis Cahill Dies at 68

Irish-American musician Dennis Cahill, one of the leading guitarists in the Irish traditional music scene, passed away on Monday, June 20, 2022, after an extended illness. He was 68.

Cahill was best known for his longstanding partnership with Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, with whom he toured the world and recorded three Celtic music albums on Green Linnet Records. Cahill’s guitar accompaniment style was considered groundbreaking in Irish music.

Along with Hayes, Cahill was also a founding member of The Gloaming, a superb Irish-American group that won Ireland’s influential Meteor Prize.

“Dennis has been a very big part of my life for the past thirty-five years,” Hayes said today. “As a musician and as a friend, I will miss him terribly. His beautiful musical ideas will echo far into the future, and his friendship will live on in my heart. He impacted my life and expanded my musical horizon. I was lucky to have known him, to have had him as a friend, and to have had the privilege of making music with him for so many years.”

Irish President Higgins paid tribute to Cahill today, saying, “it is with great sadness that those with a love of traditional Irish music across Ireland, his native Chicago and around the world will have heard of the death of Dennis Cahill. Dennis brought a unique and innovative style to his guitar playing, while being deeply respectful of the essence of traditional Irish music. He and Martin Hayes explored new musical territory and helped create a phenomenal interest in traditional music among a new generation of people, both within Ireland and across the world.”

Cahill is survived by his wife, Mary Joyce, and stepdaughter Clionadh.

(headline image: Dennis Cahill – Photo by Derek Speirs)

More about Dennis Cahill