A legend in his own right

“He invited me to do a couple of tracks on an album way back and, God that’s a long time ago, I can’t remember the name of the title,” says fiddle player Frankie Gavin of his contribution to an Elvis Costello album. “It was a single word in the title,” he says, inviting a prompt.
'Spike?,’ the Celt guesses, incredulous that he could forget any aspect of playing with one of the greatest songwriters these islands has ever produced.
“Spike, yep,” says the Connemara man casually.
That’s one of his best albums the Celt responds, now wondering if Frankie’s having us on. Surely playing with Costello would stand as a great achievement?
“It’s so long ago, but I suppose it really is a hell of an achievement, and I certainly felt that at the time as well. But then I went on to work with the rock 'n’ rollers, and then I did a recording with Stephane Grappelli the great jazz violinist, so it went from one thing to the next and I was a very lucky person to be involved with all those great people.”
Not giving up on Costello, the Celt begins to ream off Spike’s tracklist, asking Frankie to stop us if he recognises the song he played on - a musical identity parade of sorts.
“I don’t know... I haven’t a clue - when was that album made? It must be 30 years ago.”
'1989’, the Celt Googles.
“There you go, surely it will say in the credits anyway, it should do. I don’t even have a copy of the album myself would you believe?”
I don’t.
“If it’s there can you slip it in the post and I’ll give it back to you when I’m in Virginia?”
Ah, yes that’s why Frankie’s talking to the Celt, forgot in all the Costello chat. Frankie and his incarnation of De Dannan are playing the Ramor Theatre on Friday night. Should be good.
Anyway back to global music stars: Frankie didn’t even mention that he also played with the late great violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Oh and the 'rock n’ rollers’ he mentioned earlier - well, that was only The Rolling Stones!
“Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards were staying in a local hotel here and I was invited up to say hello with them, and played a few tunes and I wound up playing on an album called Voodoo Lounge with them.”
No fear of him forgetting that album title!
He plays an understated fiddle on the brilliant, confessional Richards-sung track, 'The Worst’, and provides flute on the Jagger-led 'New Faces’.
“I’ve been friends with them now nearly 20 years and I actually performed with them out in the Oakland Arena outside San Francisco in front of about 85,000 people. We’re great friends and have been for years,” he says with a detectable sense of pride.
If proof were needed of their friendship, he’s also played on Richards’ solo album Wingless Angels.
So is Keith the rabble rouser he’s made out to be?
“He is who he is,” he replies vaguely. “They’re the most extraordinary rock 'n’ roll band in the world, and they’ve got the reputation that they have. And I saw them recently in Nashville and they were running around the place like teenagers. It’s ridiculous.”
So are you a proper Stones fan?
“Oh God, am I what? I am now! I certainly am now.”

Legend
Sadly the Stones won’t be returning the favour when Frankie Gavin and De Dannan play the Ramor Theatre this weekend.
Regardless, the fact that he shared recording studios and stages with the likes of Jagger, Richards, Costello, Menuhin reflects his own legendary standing in Irish traditional music, nurtured since he rose to prominence with Dé Danann (later known as De Dannan) in the mid-1970s. Frankie cheerily reports that he and his incarnation of De Dannan (Barry Brady, Dan Bodwell, Colm O’Caoimh, and vocalist Bernadine Casserly) are very busy playing - as their press release puts it - “sets of lively, sometimes furious jigs and reels”, and displaying their influences ranging “from gypsy jazz to contemporary pop music, and from mainstream European classical music, to sentimental Irish-American ballads”.
Of course there’s also another De Dannan touring, that version is led by the band’s original bouzouki player Alec Finn. Frankie namechecks many of Finn’s current De Dannan bandmates, as knowing them or being “very friendly” with them. He even taught fiddler Ronan O’Flaherty.
“Alec Finn hasn’t spoken to me in years,” Frankie says. “I’ve made several attempts to change that, we’ve been offered gigs for both bands and they’ve turned it down every time so I don’t know. They’re not doing near as much work as we are,” he claims. “It doesn’t bother me, and if it doesn’t bother them and it doesn’t bother me...
“They’re an entirely different band now from the kind of music we’re playing, we’re playing lots of lively Irish music, but the music they’re playing’s so slow. There’s no excitement in it as far as I’m concerned,” he adds a little unnecessarily in this reviewer’s opinion (having also seen the other De Dannan live).
Reluctant to pick that particular scab, the Celt uses tempo as a segueway into his listing in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s fastest fiddle player, playing The Foxhunter’s Reel at a mindbending 150 beats per minute. Such is Gavin’s control, his demeanour in playing the tune is more gentry determinedly riding horseback in pursuit, rather than a fox frantically scurrying through ditches and briars.
“It’s to do with accuracy of course and to do with coordination between your left side and your right side, and just play like the clappers. It was fun to do and it was certainly quite a publicity stunt, that’s for sure.
“It was more of a publicity thing at the time and really I had a lot of fun doing it. It only lasted about 40 seconds,” he said laughing.
Head along to the Ramor on Friday night, and you might just get a very very brief demonstration.