The Ludlow Trio Folk Group

Many people are, I think under the misapprehension that The Ludlow Trio are a family group, they are in fact not related. Margaret O'Brien, Sean Loughran and Paddy Roach called themselves The Lodlow Trio on account of the association of folk singing with the Ludlow County in the United States.

Sean and Paddy had been singing together before Margaret joined them, [They were introduced to one another by Peggy Jordan ] and so they formed the Ludlow Trio.
Within a week they had sung at a midnight concert at The Grafton and shortly afterwards at The International Bar in Wicklow Street Dublin. They also appeared in an Irish concert in London on St Patrick's night and hope to go back again this year [1965]. They have done a number of spots at dances around the country and sang at a concert in The City Hall in Cork.

''We got a terrific reception there,'' said Margaret, the audience
was really wonderful. During last summer they sang every week in the Abbey Tavern in Howth. ''It was a great experience,'' said Sean playing to a crowded room every night, and the audience was made up of people of every nationality.
Margaret, who is pretty petit and dark-haired is a lady of leisure
apart from her singing. She was for some time a member of the Radio Eireann Choral Society and had her voice trained. ''I love to sing in Irish''she said, ''I think there are not enough of them sung''.

The trio have sung in Club Ceili, and their songs on this were all in Irish. Margaret and Sean went on a tour of Scotland last year and collected many folk songs on their way. Next week when they appear on Telefis Eireann programme ''As Zozimus Said'' they will sing some of the songs they learned in Scotland.

Sean, who is a Technical School Teacher plays guitar and also bagpipes is appropriately, collecting folk songs, said Sean. ''I would like to see ballads here with more of an international flavor and also if Television could give a greater boost to them, it would be a help''. He would also like if their were separate ballad competitions for young ballad singers at the Fleadh Cheoil. In his opinion the ballad craze has done a great deal for Irish traditional music.

''People who would not go to hear a complete evening of Traditional Irish Music will go if there is singing included [ I agree ] in the programme and then they are surprised to find that they enjoy the traditional music and can really appreciate it''.

Paddy Roach is a final year student at the College Of Art, and so he of course spends most of his spare time painting. Paddy plays the guitar and is at the moment learning the Banjo. He has also written two ballads, ''Love songs'' but they have not yet been sung by The Ludlow Trio.

The Ludlows have appeared five times on Telefis Eareann and also on French Television. It was while singing in O'Donoghue's pub that we  were spotted and first asked to go for an interview for Telefis Eireann and after that we sang about four times on their ballad shows.

At the moment there is a record being made of a night of music and song at the Abbey Tavern and The Ludlow Trio will of course be heard on this. A unanimous wish of The Ludlow Trio is for a folk center in Dublin where our own ballads could be sung and where all visiting singers would be welcome also. This is really a wonderful idea and there is indeed a great need for such a center.
The above story was told by The Ludlow Trio to Hilda Dolan from The Evening Press newspaper Dublin in 1965. The Sea Around Us [ song lyrics ] was a big hit for the group back in the day.

---