I "discovered" Irish music in the late 70's-early 80's when I took up ceili dancing as a social activity. Being of Sicilian-Polish descent (a wopolack), I came to the music without any traditional background with which to compare it. As a dancer and rock&roll afficianado, it always seemed to me that The Chieftains (Sean O'Riada's group) were too "polite" - they played at the Kennedy Center for the 3-piece suit crowd. Our dance crowd would go to the clubs and bars to hear De Danaan, Touchstone (Triona and Michael O'Dhomnaill's post-Bothy Band creation) and the by then venerable Boys of the Lough. These bands all combined musical virtuosity in the traditional tunes with a rhythmic drive and spark that The Chieftains seemed to lack.

Nowadays, that fast-paced drive and shift to heavy rhythm and rock influences have been stretched even further by Eileen Ivers, Wolfstone, Mary Jane Lamond and others, so that the (mostly) still acoustic bands like Altan, Solas, Dervish and Beginnish get compared to the Bothy Band, one of the pioneers of that acoustic but rhythmic style of ensemble playing.