A Brooklyn native of mixed Italian and Irish ancestry, Tony DeMarco is one of the finest fiddlers in North America. He is recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as a leading master of the celebrated County Sligo style made famous in the 78-rpm era by Michael Coleman and other emigrant Irish fiddlers in New York. As a young man, Tony learned directly from Sligo-style greats in New York who included Paddy Reynolds, Andy McGann, Martin Wynne, Vincent Harrison and the legendary James “Lad” O’Beirne. He also made many musical pilgrimages to Ireland, where he played with and absorbed influences from such revered Sligo musicians as Fred Finn, Peter Horan, Andy Davey, Johnny “Wat” Henry and Joe O’Dowd.
Tony’s recording career includes LPs with the group Flying Cloud and the original Celtic Thunder, and a duet disc with fellow New York fiddle standout Brian Conway. His first solo CD, The Sligo Indians, which included contributions from Irish musical luminaries Kevin Burke, Seamus Tansey and Charlie Lennon, was released to critical acclaim in 2008. He has performed at many of the top folk festivals in the U.S., including The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Smithsonian Institution’s American Folklife Festival and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Tony has also been profiled in a cover article in Fiddler magazine.
Tony is the founding director of New York Trad Fest, an annual extravaganza of Irish and other traditional music that has been a feature of the Big Apple cultural calendar since 2013. If you’d like to hear the “Tradfather” in person, drop in on a Sunday night at the 11th Street Bar in New York’s East Village, where Tony has been leading an elite acoustic session for over twenty years.
Tony is available for performance and teaching at tdfiddle@gmail.com.