Emmet Spiceland
The First...
Innovative folk group Emmet Spiceland was formed during the late 1960s through the merger of two acts: noted guitarist, mandolin and bouzouki player Donal Lunny had been playing with Mick Moloney and Brian Bolgor in the Dublin-based Emmet Folk group, while brothers Brian and Michael Byrne had been active in The Spicelanders, based in Sheffield, England, which had a large following in Ireland; when Moloney left Emmet Folk to join another act, Lunny and Moloney joined the Byrne Brothers to form Emmet Spiceland, though Bolgor would not remain for long. The new groups approach to the traditional Irish folk was different from their contemporaries, since they aimed to bring the folk form into the realm of modern pop music through accessible, chart-bound arrangements, helped along by their pop-idol looks. Signing to Larry Pages Page One label in 1968, their sole album was produced by the hitmaking team of Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, who added occasional orchestration; their rendition of the traditional "Mary From Dungloe" topping the Irish charts. Though a cover of a Leonard Cohen song was also popular for the group, they disbanded shortly thereafter, leading Lunny to enjoy a long and industrious solo career as a session musician and producer that would ultimately work with Christy Moore, Elvis Costello and countless others.