Ged Foley

Ged (Gerard) Foley is one of the Celtic world's most accomplished and celebrated guitarists, known for his powerful tune accompaniments and delicate melody playing.

Growing up in County Durham in the northeast of England, Ged (pronounced 'Jed') absorbed the area's rich tradition of folk song and dance music. It was there that he learned to play mandolin and Northumbrian Smallpipes (the bellows-blown bagpipe native to that part of England) and began to develop his guitar style. At first he teamed up with singer-songwriter Jez Lowe and toured the British Folk scene. Then came several years with Battlefield Band, touring with them throughout Europe and North America. Returning home to England, he co-founded The House Band with Chris Parkinson, a trio (later, quartet) doing Pan-Celtic music that produced a number of acclaimed recordings and toured all over the globe.

Alongside his House Band duties, in 1994 Ged was asked to take over the guitarist's role in Irish "supergroup" Patrick Street with Kevin Burke, Andy Irvine and Jackie Daly. In 2001 he began working with The Celtic Fiddle Festival (Kevin Burke, Johnny Cunningham and Christian LeMaitre). From 2002-2004, Ged served as Artistic Director of the Catskills Irish Arts Week based in E. Durham NY, a teaching festival of Irish traditional music, dance and arts.

Ged appears on the Battlefield Band recordings: 'Home is where the Van is' (Temple Records COMD2006), There's a Buzz (Temple Records COMD2007).

He also appeared on The Story so Far'; this 1982 Temple Records release was a compilation of tracks from early Battlefield Band albums (plus one track featuring Ged that hadn't previously been released) which was never made available on CD