A multiple All-Ireland champion born in Athlone, County Westmeath, and now residing in Ennis, County Clare, Paul pursued a solo career through the 60’s and 70’s by mastering the single-row, two-row, three-row, and five-row button accordions. His collaborations with fiddle player Frankie Gavin during the 70’s and 80’s culminated in their 1986 Gael-Linn classic recording, “A Tribute to Joe Cooley,” regarded by critics and fellow musicians as one of the outstanding traditional albums of the modern era.
Paul’s solo album, “Mo Chairdin” (Gael-Linn ), was described in the Rough Guide to Irish Music as “a modern masterpiece of accordion music”. In May 1989, Paul co-founded the group Moving Cloud with Manus McGuire. This Clare-based band produced two albums for Green Linnet Records, including their 1994 self-titled release that was selected by well-known U.S. music critic Earle Hitchner as the best Irish traditional album of that year. Paul’s CD collaboration “Humdinger” (Compass Records, COM 4455) with Enda Scahill was voted “Irish Music Album of the Year” by the Irish Times and “Instrumental Album of the Year” by the Irish American News. Paul has appeared as a special guest of the Chieftains on various occasions.
Paul’s illustrated lecture “Irish Traditional Music in America – The Golden Era” has been widely acclaimed. Paul F. Wells, Director, Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University said “Paul Brock’s lecture, ‘Irish Traditional Music in America: The Golden Era,’ was a terrific adjunct to the performance by the Brock McGuire Band. Concise, authoritative, and engagingly-presented, it was a wonderful survey of a vastly important period in the history of Irish music.”
