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Patrick Sky (born Patrick Linch; October 2, 1940May 26, 2021) was an American musician, folk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was of Irish Americans and Native American ancestry, and played Irish traditional music and uilleann pipes in the later part of his career.
Being politically radical, Sky wrote, recorded, and released the satirical Songs That Made America Famous in 1973 (the album was recorded in 1971 but rejected by several record companies before it found a home). This album featured the earliest known recorded version of the song "Luang Prabang", written by Sky's friend Dave Van Ronk. Sky had honed his politically charged satire in earlier albums, but Songs That Made America Famous raised the stakes. The Adelphi Records website describes how the content was, indeed, shocking, yet how several critics encouraged the public to rush and buy these timely and brilliant "explicit lyrics" while it could.
Sky gradually moved into the field of Irish traditional music, producing artists, and founding Green Linnet Records in 1973. He was recognised as an expert in building and playing the Irish uilleann pipes, often performing with his wife, Cathy.
The "Around Carolina" Time Warner cable TV series in 2011 featured his role in reviving pipe making, crediting him with "bringing the Irish Uilleann Pipes back from the brink of extinction" in the 1970s. Sky said to learn to make pipes he also had to make some of the tools necessary to make the pipes. He wrote a booklet titled "The Insane Art of Reedmaking," which he described as a necessary skill for pipers.AroundCarolina Patrick Sky Uilleann Pipe Maker, Spruce Pine, NC
Sky edited a reissued version of the important 19th century dance tune book Ryan's Mammoth Collection in 1995.Elias Howe and William Bradbury Ryan, Ryan's Mammoth Collection: 1050 Reels and Jigs, Hornpipes, Clogs, Walk-arounds, Essences, Strathspeys, Highland Fling and Contra Dance, with Figures, and How to Play Them. Bowing and Fingering Marked. Together with Forty Introductory Studies for the Violin, with Explanations of Bowing, etc. (Boston: Elias Howe, 1883), reformatted facsimile edition published by Mel Bay Publications, Pacific, MO: 1995, ed. Patrick Sky. According to Sky, the book was first published in 1882, a year in advance of the copyright date. This was followed up with a reissue of Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels six years later. Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels (Boston: Elias Howe, c. 1867), reformatted edition published by Mel Bay Publications, Pacific, MO: 2001, ed. Patrick Sky.
Sky released his final full-length studio album, Through a Window, in 1985.
Sky died on May 26, 2021, while in hospice care in Asheville, North Carolina. He was 80, and suffered from prostate cancer and bone cancer prior to his death. He had also been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2017.
With Cathy Sky
Joni Mitchell identified Sky as "Richard" from her song "The Last Time I Saw Richard" from her Blue album.
Personal life
Sky married Cathy Larson Sky in 1981. They met three years earlier and moved to North Carolina six years after getting married. Together, they had one child, Liam.
Discography
For an in depth, illustrated discography, see https://www.wirz.de/music/skydsc.htm
Legacy
The refrain of the title song of his third album, "Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth?" is included in Buckminster Fuller's 1970 book, I Seem to Be a Verb.
See also
Citations
General bibliography
External links
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