Who: Martin Hayes
International
Martin Hayes (born 1962) is a fiddler, born in Maghera (between Feakle and Tulla) in East County Clare, Ireland, and now living in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has been the All Ireland Fiddle Champion six times, and has won a National Entertainment Award, and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2000 award for Instrumentalist of the Year. Hayes has recorded five albums – The Shores of Lough Graney with P. J. Hayes (his father) and Mark Gregory, his eponymous debut album (recorded with Randall Bays on guitar and Jim Chapman on the piano) Under the Moon (Steve Cooney on guitar - P. J. Hayes on fiddle - Randal Bays on guitar and fiddle - John Williams on concertina and accordion) and three (The Lonesome Touch, Live in Seattle and Welcome Here Again) with his current guitarist, Dennis Cahill.