Martin Hayes (musician)

Irish fiddler from County Clare (born 1962)

Martin Hayes (born 4 July 1962) is an Irish fiddler from County Clare. He is a member of the Irish American supergroup The Gloaming.

Hayes was born into a musical family in Maghera, a townland in the parish of Killanena in East County Clare, Ireland. His father, P. J. Hayes, was a noted fiddle player and his grandmother played the concertina. His father and his uncle Paddy Canny, also an influential fiddler, were among the founders of the Tulla Céilí Band in 1946. P. J. Hayes led the band from 1952 until shortly before his death in 2001. Martin Hayes started playing the fiddle at the age of seven, taught by his father. At 13 he won his first of six All Ireland Fiddle Competitions. He is one of only three fiddlers ever to be named All Ireland Fiddle Champion in the senior division in two consecutive years (1981 and 1982).

Hayes moved to Chicago in 1985 and became active in the Irish traditional music scene there. He was a regular performer at weekly jam sessions along with Chicago fiddler Liz Carroll, who later described him as belonging to "that very narrow set of performers from any musical genre – not just Irish – whose every note is perfect". In the late 1980s he led a band called the "Celtic Aires". In 1989 he and the Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill formed "Midnight Court", which combined traditional Irish and rock music. The band was active until 1992. In 1993 Hayes moved to Seattle, where he lived until 2005.

In 1996 Hayes formed an acoustic duo with Dennis Cahill, developing an "unrushed, lyrical, highly expressive interpretation" of traditional Irish music. Hayes and Cahill have released three recordings on the Green Linnet label: The Lonesome Touch (1997), Live in Seattle (1999), and Welcome Here Again (2008). Hayes performs and records with Peadar Ó Riada and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh as the group "Tríur" and has toured with Kevin Crawford and guitarist, John Doyle, as The Teetotalers. Hayes was a member of the Martin Hayes Quartet, with Dennis Cahill, Liz Knowles, and Doug Wieselman. He has also appeared on a number of recordings with other musicians from east Clare including Christy McNamara's CD The House I was Reared In, Mary MacNamara's CD Traditional Music from East Clare and the Compilation CD Reeling Through the Years celebrating 20 years of music from the Feakle Festival. Hayes plays regularly with The Tulla Céilí Band, of which his late father was a founding member. Since 2003 Hayes has been the musical director of the Masters of Tradition festival, held in Bantry House (Bantry, County Cork) every summer. In 2023 they released the album, Peggy's Dream.

Hayes won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2000 award for Instrumentalist of the Year.