The Wolfe Tones

The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning of a wolf tone – a spurious sound that can affect instruments of the violin family.

This article is about the Irish rebel band. For similar sounding terms, see Wolf tone (disambiguation). For the revolutionary leader and leader of the 1798 rebellion which the band is named after, see Wolfe Tone.

The Wolfe Tones
The Wolfe Tones playing at Molly Malone's in Bayshore, NY
The Wolfe Tones playing at Molly Malone's in Bayshore, NY
Background information
OriginBluebell, Dublin, Ireland
GenresIrish folk, Irish rebel songs, rock
Years active1963–present
LabelsSkin Music
MembersNoel Nagle
Brian Warfield
Tommy Byrne
Past membersLiam Courtney
Derek Warfield
Websitewolfetonesofficialsite.com

History

1963–1964: Formation

The origins of the group date back to August 1963, where three neighbouring children from the Dublin suburb of Inchicore, Brian Warfield, Noel Nagle, and Liam Courtney, had been musical friends from childhood. In August 1964 Brian's brother Derek Warfield joined the band, and in November 1964 Tommy Byrne replaced Courtney, creating the band's most recognizable line-up, which would last for nearly 37 years until January 2001.[1]

1964–2001

In 1989, a contract was signed by Derek Warfield, signing rights to an American distributor, Shanachie Records. The contents of this contract were apparently misrepresented to the other members of the band, resulting in a clause that prevented them from recording any new material. Unable to reverse this agreement, they continued to tour, albeit without any new material.

In 1995, Derek Warfield released a solo studio album entitled Legacy as he was still eligible to record under his own name. With Derek on vocals and mandolin, the music on this album was performed by a new band, although he was still touring with the Wolfe Tones. Derek's solo releases continued annually until 2006.[2]

In 2001, after a show played in Limerick, Derek Warfield departed the band to concentrate on his own career, setting up a band called Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfetones. Calling themselves "Brian Warfield, Tommy Byrne and Noel Nagle, formerly of the Wolfe Tones" the three would later go on to release "You'll Never Beat the Irish", "Child of Destiny" and new material to mark the 1916 commemoration with songs such as “light a penny candle” and “the road to the rising.”

2001–present

The Wolfe Tones continue to tour, but as a three-piece band comprising Brian Warfield, Noel Nagle and Tommy Byrne.[3]

The Wolfe Tones celebrated their 45th Anniversary with a special event at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, on 26 October 2008, which was also filmed for a documentary. In 2014 they celebrated their 50th anniversary by performing at the Citywest Hotel and Conference Centre in a series of Easter weekend concerts.

In 2018, they headlined the Féile an Phobail in West Belfast to a sell-out audience of over 12,000 people and were inducted into the Barrowlands hall of fame for their contribution to music. At the end of each December, the Wolfe Tones perform three concerts at Dublin's Citywest Hotel. In 2022-2023 the band continue to grow in popularity with two sell-out shows in the Olympia theatre, the INEC Ireland, broadway NYC, the Atheneum Chicago and six Olympia theatre shows for 2023 of which four are now sold out.

Notable works

The song "Irish Eyes" was written by Brian Warfield as a paean for his mother Kathleen who died of cancer the year previous to its release. A song about emigration to London entitled "My Heart is in Ireland" became a number 2 hit for the band. The song Celtic Symphony was written by Warfield in 1987 for the centennial of Celtic Football Club. Other famous songs written by the group include "Joe McDonnell", a song about the life and death of the Provisional IRA member Joe McDonnell who was the fifth person to die on the 1981 Hunger Strike; and "The Protestant Men", a song about some of the notable Protestant Irish nationalists. The band also covered "The Streets of New York" which Liam Reilly from Bagatelle wrote, inspired by stories of the Tones' friendship with NYPD. Warfield also penned his rendition of "The Helicopter Song" which was written by Sean (Jobby) Mc Ginley. "The Helicopter Song" stands as the fastest selling single of all time in Ireland, shooting straight to number one in 1974 as a result of the escape from Mountjoy Jail.

Footballer James McClean (of Sunderland at the time) attracted criticism when he tweeted that he listened to their song "The Broad Black Brimmer" before a match, a song in which a son learns of how his father was killed in fighting for the IRA. He was told by club manager Martin O'Neill to refrain from using Twitter.[4]

In 2002, after an allegedly orchestrated e-mail campaign by fans to "try and mess it up"[5][6] their rendition of "A Nation Once Again" by Thomas Osborne Davis was voted the number one song of all time in a BBC World Service poll.[7] The BBC hosts an artist's page for the band that includes excerpts of their songs.[8]

The band's 1982 hit "Admiral William Brown" pays homage to the Irish-born Argentine naval hero William Brown.

In January 2020, the band's version of "Come Out Ye Black and Tans" reached No. 1 on the Ireland and UK iTunes charts, following criticism of the Irish government's planned commemoration of the RIC, as part of its 'Decade of Commemoration'.[9] As a result of this, on 10 January, the song entered the Irish Singles Chart at No. 33[10] and also debuted at No. 1 in the Scottish Singles Chart.[11]

Personnel

Members

Lineups
August 1963 – August 1964 August 1964 – November 1964 November 1964 – January 2001 January 2001 – Present
  • Liam Courtney – guitars, vocals
  • Noel Nagle – tin whistle, low whistle, uileann pipes, vocals
  • Brian Warfield – banjo, whistle, harp, piano, guitars, bodhran, vocals
  • Liam Courtney – guitars, vocals
  • Noel Nagle – tin whistle, low whistle, uileann pipes, vocals
  • Brian Warfield – banjo, whistle, harp, piano, guitars, bodhran, vocals
  • Derek Warfield – mandolin, vocals
  • Noel Nagle – tin whistle, low whistle, uileann pipes, vocals
  • Brian Warfield – banjo, whistle, harp, piano, guitars, bodhran, vocals
  • Derek Warfield – mandolin, vocals
  • Tommy Byrne – guitars, vocals
  • Noel Nagle – tin whistle, low whistle, uileann pipes, vocals
  • Brian Warfield – banjo, whistle, harp, piano, guitars, bodhran, vocals
  • Tommy Byrne – guitars, vocals

Discography
Main article: The Wolfe Tones discography
Studio albums

References
  1. "The Wolfe Tones story". Irish folk songs.
  2. "Derek Warfield". Derek Warfield The Young Wolfe Tones. The Young Wolfe Tones. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. Rory Warfield. "Wolfetonesofficialsite.com". Wolfetonesofficialsite.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. "James McClean closes Twitter account after Wolfe Tones song row". Northern Ireland: BBC News. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  5. Paterson, Michael (14 December 2002). "Late surge for Irish anthem in BBC poll". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  6. Vivek Chaudhary, chief sports correspondent (3 December 2003). "Gaelic footballer's fans try to topple Jonny Wilkinson by rigging sport poll | Media". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  7. "BBC.co.uk". BBC News. 20 December 2002. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  8. "Wolfe Tones - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music". BBC.
  9. "Come Out Ye Black And Tans is number 1 in Irish and UK iTunes charts". The Irish Times. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  10. "Justin Bieber scores the highest new entry on the Official Irish Singles Chart with Yummy". Official Charts Company. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  11. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
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