He's been popping up on Sharon Shannon records and concert DVDs, and I can't figure out if it's some gigantic inside joke or what? His singing is laughably, bizarrely bad, yet he's presented as if an elder statesman of Irish music. ITMA has some recordings from An Goilin attesting to the fact that he was no better in 1991 than in 2006.

Here is a review of his record which is a bit more rude than I would be, but not inaccurate. What am I missing?