The uilleann piper Patsy Touhey was the most celebrated Irish traditional musician of his day. Born in Ireland in 1865, he flourished in the USA as a professional entertainer and became a prime mover of the Gaelic music revival in the States. Today his music is a byword for unsurpassed virtuosity.

His crucial importance to the history of Irish traditional music is that he is the earliest traditional musician of whom we have a substantial body of sound recordings, giving us a unique insight into the incredibly rich world of traditional music-making in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A remastered recording from the Busby-Carney collection is given here. It features a spoken introduction by Touhey followed by 'The sword in hand' reel played on the uilleann pipes. The recording was made by Touhey himself. An audio playlist, 'Patsy Touhey, Irish-American Piper on Cylinder, 1900s', is available for listening in ITMA's Digital Library.

By 1901 Touhey was running a unique mail-order service out of his home in New York. From a catalogue of 150 airs and dance tunes, it was possible to request cylinders custom-made for $1 each or $10 for twelve. Some of these cylinders have survived, and a CD of Touhey's music has been issued, ITMA Reference Number: 16343-CD. A full account of Touhey's life and music can be found in the book The piping of Patsy Touhey by Pat Mitchell and Jackie Small, ITMA Reference Number: 240-BK.