Essential Collection

Dubliners

The Dubliners were one of the most influential and beloved Irish folk acts ever. Formed in the early 1960s, the Dubliners--who rose to popularity playing songs like "Whiskey in the Jar," "Black Velvet Band," and "Seven Drunken Nights"--presented a slightly grittier image of their fair isle than the more staid and respectable (yet equally popular) Clancy Brothers. Despite several line-up shifts, the Dubliners played well into the new millennium and provided a direct link between straightforward Irish trad acts and the more raucous style of bands like the Dropkick Murphys and, of course, the Pogues.