Johnny Cunningham: Johnny Cunningham, a multifaceted Scottish fiddler who helped spearhead the revival of traditional music in the 1970s, has died aged 46.
He branched into American rock, then composed the score of Peter and Wendy, an Obie award-winning play that explored some of the darker themes in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan tale.
Among his hallmarks was an ability to play at a furious pace without sacrificing a lyrical, full-bodied tone. He could extract the full measure of sweetness and ache from the heartbreakingly beautiful melodies of Celtic balladry. "From being the fastest fiddle in the West during his teens . . . he became an acclaimed master of the slow air, that seemingly simple but in fact devilishly fragile form that invariably sorts out the musical men from the boys," said Scottish music journalist Alastair Clark.
The traditional music he played was considered passé in Scotland when the groundbreaking Silly Wizard was formed in Edinburgh in 1972. Johnny was 14. His younger brother, accordionist Phil, joined several years later. "The younger people were ignoring their own culture, because they thought it wasn't good enough in the eyes of the world," Johnny Cunningham recalled in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Along with a handful of like-minded bands, including the Irish groups Planxty and the Bothy Band, Silly Wizard helped lead a revival that fused traditional Celtic sounds with rock 'n' roll energy.
By the time Silly Wizard was disbanded in 1988, Cunningham said proudly, Celtic folk had become "a cool thing". Cunningham, who moved to the US in 1980, also loved rock. When members of the newly-formed Raindogs happened upon him playing alone in a corner of a Boston bar, they invited him to join - oblivious, at that point, to his achievements in the traditional folk world. The band recorded two albums, Lost Souls and Border Drive-in Theatre, for the Atco label in the early 1990s, and toured as an opening act for Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon and Don Henley. But the albums failed to sell well, and the band broke up.
Cunningham then played in Nightnoise, a group that incorporated jazz, New Age and chamber music influences. His other ongoing ventures were the Celtic Fiddle Festival, with Irishman Kevin Burke and Christian LeMaitre, a fiddler from Brittany, and his partnership with the New York-based Irish singer, Susan McKeown, who also was part of the Peter and Wendy ensemble. Cunningham wrote the score and most of the lyrics for Peter and Wendy.
In addition to his partner Trisha McCormick, of New York City, he is survived by his mother, Mary; his brother, Phil; and a sister, Laura.
Johnny Cunningham: born 1957; died December 15th, 2003