Restrictions to Access

Use of audio materials may require production of listening copies.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Patrick and Cathy Sky Collection #20119, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Cathy Sky in December 1994 (Acc. 102675).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Encoded by: Anne Wells, October 2016

Archival processing of the Patrick and Cathy Sky Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Actors--North Carolina.
• Composers--North Carolina.
• Dramatists, American--North Carolina.
• Musical groups--North Carolina.
• Musical theater--North Carolina.
• Musicians--North Carolina.
• Red Clay Ramblers.
• Shepard, Sam, 1943-
• Sky, Cathy.
• Sky, Patrick.
• Thompson, Tommy, 1937-2003.

• Red Clay Ramblers Papers (#04756)
• Tommy Thompson Collection (#20359)

Cathy Sky is a singer, guitar player, songwriter, and fiddler, whose prime interest is the Irish fiddle. Cathy has performed at the Bele Cher Festival in Asheville, N.C.; the Rhode Island Irish Heritage Festival; First Night in Greenville, S.C.; and many other venues. She has been teaching basic Irish fiddle both in formal classes and individually since 1989. In 1994, she received an Emerging Artist Grant from the Durham Arts Council to spend time in County Clare, Ireland with Irish fiddler, Tommy Peoples. Cathy Sky earned her Master's degrees in Cultural Studies and Folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and wrote her thesis, titled "I'd Barter Them All: Elements of Change in the Traditional Music of County Clare, Ireland," on the traditional music of County Clare, Ireland. She has also written traditional music columns for the Raleigh-based Spectator and Independent Weekly publications since 1989, as well as scholarly articles for The New Hibernian Review. Cathy is married to fellow musician and songwriter, Patrick Sky.

Patrick Sky has been involved in singing, playing, and performing his music and songs for over thirty years. He has played Carnegie Hall, The Montreal Expo, The Central Park Music Festival, Town Hall in New York, and the Royal Festival Hall in London, and has shared the bill with Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte Marie, Joni Mitchell, and Emmy Lou Harris, among others. Patrick has seven solo albums to his credit on the Vanguarard, MGM, and Through a Window on the Shanachie labels. In addition he has produced over thirty records for other artists, including Mississippi John Hurt, Rosalie Sorrells, and Seamus Ennis. While recording the Irish Uilleann piper, Seamus Ennis, Patrick Sky founded Green Linnet Records, an American independent record label that specialized in Celtic music. Patrick Sky's involvement in Irish music, especially piping, has made him one of the seminal figures of the Irish music revival in the United States. His book A Manual for the Irish Uilleann Pipes is the recognized text on the subject.

The Patrick and Cathy Sky Collection consists of a 1991 interview with Tommy Thompson conducted by musician, Cathy Sky, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Thompson was a founding member of both the Hollow Rock String Band and the Red Clay Ramblers, as well as a playwright, composer, and actor. Cathy Sky conducted the interview for an article in the Raleigh-based Spectator Magazine. In the interview Tommy Thompson discusses the Red Clay Ramblers, his early dramas and musicals, and playwright Sam Shepard. Recording is on audiocassette.

• Audiocassette (FS-20119/1157)
• 78s (78-18083-18091) received from Patrick Sky have been separated to the Southern Folklife Collection General Sound Recordings Collection (#30001)