Derrane, Joe, 1930-2016

Accordionist Joe Derrane, a beloved figure from the golden age of Boston’s Irish dance halls whose musical career experienced a revival during the 1990s, died on July 22 at the age of 86.
Derrane’s improbable “rediscovery” while in his 60s earned him a National Heritage Fellowship in 2004 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and brought his music to a new generation of admirers.
Born of Irish immigrant parents – both musicians themselves – Derrane started playing button accordion at age 10, and was a senior at Roxbury Mission High School when he began recording a series of 78 RPM records that would become legendary in Irish-American music. These 78s showcased Derrane’s distinctive style, marked by a masterful combination of ornamentation and rhythm as well as skillful chord progressions and substitutions...

Derrane was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Irish immigrant parents.[1] His father played the accordion and his mother the fiddle. At the age of 10, Derrane began playing a one-row diatonic button accordion or melodeon, taking lessons with Jerry O'Brien, an immigrant from Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. By the age of 14 Derrane was performing at the thriving "kitchen rackets" (house parties) on the Boston Irish scene. He soon upgraded to a 2-row D/C# accordion (the standard "American Irish" tuning of the time), and by the age of 17 was a leading musician in the Irish dancehalls on Dudley Street, Roxbury. This popularity in turn brought him radio exposure. In 1947-48 he recorded eight 78rpm singles (16 sides) of Irish dance tunes...