'Galway Joe' Dolan

Joseph "Galway Joe" Dolan (1942 – 7 January 2008, Galway City) was an Irish musician, song-writer and artist. Known as "Galway Joe" to distinguish him from Joe Dolan of Mullingar, he was born in Galway, County Galway, Ireland.

Dolan was an arts student in Dublin before becoming involved in the Irish showbands of the 1960s, playing with The Capitol Showband and The Swingtime Aces.

He is best known as one of the three founding members, together with Andy Irvine and Johnny Moynihan, of the highly influential folk group Sweeney's Men, which was formed in Galway in May 1966; Dolan also chose the group's name. Sweeney's Men invigorated the Irish folk scene, and had an unexpected Irish top 10 hit with Old Maid in the Garret in 1967.^[1]

He quit the band with the intention of travelling to Israel, to take part in the Six-Day War. For many years afterwards he was presumed to have been killed in the fighting, but in fact never reached Israel at all; it was joked that Dolan had arrived on the seventh day. He then went on an archaeological expedition to the Negev desert.^[2] He wrote "The Trip to Jerusalem" (recorded by Christy Moore in 2002 on The Iron Behind the Velvet) about his trip.^[3]

Dolan subsequently dropped professional music in favour of painting, but continued to compose robust, bitter-sweet songs, and would pass on tapes to anyone who was interested; he also continued to play in impromptu sessions.

Dolan died of cancer in January 2008, survived by his son Andy and sister Chris. His autobiography, Lost Miles and Broken Strings, has not yet been published.

References

1. ^ Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History, Colin Harper and Trevor Hodgett, 2005
2. ^ Joe Dolan, notes to Christy Moore's The Iron Behind the Velvet, 2002
3. ^ Moore, Christy (2000). One Voice. London: Lir/Hodder and Stoughton. p. 64. ISBN 0-340-76839-8. 

External links

• http://www.irish-showbands.com/inmemory.htm
• http://www.irish-showbands.com/images/folk/sweeneysmen-67.htm
• http://www.irish-showbands.com/Bands/capitolf.htm
• http://www.colin-harper.com/page12/page7/index.html

Persondata
Name	Dolan, Galway Joe
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1942
Place of birth
Date of death	2008
Place of death