The Emmett Spiceland was not the first group that Donal Lunny played with. Prior to that he played with the Emmett Folk, a threesome consisting of Mick Moloney, Donal Lunny and Brian Bolger. Mick Moloney left the Emmett Folk to join the Johnsons, a family group of two sisters and a brother from Co Meath. The brother subsequently left the Group and was replaced by Paul Brady. At that time there was a duet playing the folk clubs in Dublin called The Spicelanders who were the Byrne Brothers. When Mick Moloney left the Emmett Folk, The remaining two members, Donal Lunny and Brian Bolger joined with the Byrne brothers to form The Emmett Spiceland. Their first big success was in Wexford where they won a competition at a festival. Their big number which brought the house down was "Reynard the Fox". I think they recorded this before Mary from Dungloe. The Emmett Spiceland went on to win the ballad competition at The Kilkenny Beer Festival and became very big on the Irish Folk scene.