Packie Russell

Patrick “Packie” Russell was the youngest of the three Russell brothers. A stone mason by trade he worked locally quarrying Doonagore flagstone. Musically he was gifted. He learned the concertina from his mother and his neighbour, Patrick Flanagan, and he played it with aplomb and passion.

As equal as his brother Micho was to take to the world stage, so too was Packie equal to the stage that brought the world to him in Gus O’Connor’s Bar in Fisherstreet, Doolin. Many on first seeing him were struck by his physical resemblance to the actor Ray McNally. His sharp wit was almost as legend as his musical talent and woe betide the budding bodhranist.

When Topic Records made the famous recording of the Russell Family in Gus O’Connor’s Bar in 1974, it was a rare live recording of the three brothers together. It is also, fortunately, one of the few remaining recordings of Packie. Even though he rarely left his native Doolin such was Packie’s stature as a musical figure when he died on September 4, 1977 it made national TV news.