A native and resident of Foxtrap, Conception Bay South, Craig works in IT but vows that music is his first love. He was surrounded by music as a child but it wasn’t until the age of 15 that he traded in his tennis racket air guitar for the real thing and then followed it up with voice lessons.
As a child, Craig was surrounded mainly by country music – Randy Travis, George Jones, Conway Twitty and Charlie Pride. As a teenager he turned to a wider range of music and started listening to rock, heavy metal and modern country. “I listened to bands like Poison, ACDC, Metallica and Guns N Roses - my favourite band and guitarist slash at the time who was and still is one of my favourite guitarists,” Craig explains. “At that time my parents bought me a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar and that guitar is still my most cherished instrument out of all of my instruments I have.”
Surprisingly, Craig was older still when he met and fell in love with Irish music. “My uncle had a CD of a local band called Colcannon (now the masterless men). At the time I had never heard of them but when he played the first song on the album I fell in love with the sound of the banjo and started listening to local groups and groups from other countries such as the Wolftones, Dubliners.” The new fascination with Irish music pushed Craig to learn the 5-string banjo and he started taking lessons from Dave Lush, opening up new genres of music with artists like Flatt & Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Craig’s next goal was to start a band of his own. Within a few weeks of advertising he had put together a three-piece – him on guitar, accompanied by a mandolin player and a bassist. The trio went from open mic nights to festivals and Dungarvan was on it’s way.
The band performed a song called “The Old Dungarvan Oak” which became the title of its first album recorded in 2003. Since then, Dungarvan has seen some member changes and Craig believes the most recent changes will help bring the band to a new level.
“It has been 10 years since the creation of Dungarvan and every time I get up on that stage I still feel the same enthusiasm as I did the first time I stepped up on the stage,” Craig admits. “It is all about the music for me and the people who come out to our shows to see us and drop by to say hi and comment on how they liked our music. I can’t explain that feeling you get complemented like that.”
Craig says Dungarvan has brought him a pleasant memories, fun musical experience and great lifelong friends. “I hope to be playing for many years to come.”
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