the Drovers

The band was founded in Chicago by Irish fiddler Sean Cleland. The Drovers' 1991 first studio album, World of Monsters,{{cite web|title=World of Monsters|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/world-of-monsters-mw0000646366|website=All Music Guide}} featured Kathleen Keane on flute, vocals and button accordion, Jackie Moran drums, Dave Callahan lead vocals and bass and Mike Kirkpatrick guitar. "Book of Songs" brought the Drovers their first commercial radio exposure on WXRT in Chicago. The songs, "Boys and the Babies" and "When Fortune Turns Her Wheel", would later be re-recorded on the Blink soundtrack.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/irish-accents/Content?oid=881804|access-date=8 October 2017|publisher=Chicago Reader|date=22 April 1993|title=Irish accents }}{{cite news|title=Popular Uprisings|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/13/style/edgy-in-chicago.html?pagewanted=all|publisher=Billboard|date=April 30, 1994}}

The Drovers were awarded Illinois Entertainer's Best Unsigned Band award in 1991.{{cite news|last1=Kot|first1=Greg|title=Honor Roll for Local Acts, Smashing Night For Pumpkins|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-07-17/news/9203040449_1_local-scene-fairport-convention-band|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219191422/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-07-17/news/9203040449_1_local-scene-fairport-convention-band|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 19, 2014|publisher=Chicago Tribune|date=July 17, 1992}}

The next decade was spent touring the college rock circuit, while they gained worldwide exposure through the release of 'Blink (1993), in which they appear onscreen as themselves,{{cite web|title=Blink|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/1994-01-28/138935/|website=Austin Chronicle}} the band toured exclusively in North America.

The follow-up to Monsters was the 1993 EP Kill Mice Elf, the centerpiece of which is the cut, "She's as Pretty as Brian Jones Was". The disc includes contributions from vocalists Yvonne Bruner (Big Hat), Atalee Judy and Chantal Wentworth, and cellist Eric Remschneider.{{cite web|title=Kill Mice Elf|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/kill-mice-elf-mw0000178663|website=All Music Guide}}

In 1995 the Drovers released the Steve Albini-produced Little High Sky Show, and their increasingly psychedelic sound took many fans by surprise. The album includes Minneapolis musicians Robin Anders (Boiled in Lead) and Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three, Baseball Project), plus Chicago percussionist Doug Brush.{{cite web|title=Little High Sky Show|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/little-high-sky-show-mw0000178690|website=All Music Guide}}

While critically acknowledged and never officially dissolving, the Drovers eventually stopped performing and Callahan formed the Stroby Alliance with former Drover Tim Larson.

Bradley co-founded Eventric, a provider of concert tour logistics support services.{{cite web|last1=T.|first1=Newyear|title=Master Tour: Putting Tour Managers In The Data Driver's Seat|website=Hypebot}}{{cite news|last1=Jackson|first1=Cheryl|title=Chicago's Eventric helps some of the world's biggest musicians tour|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-eventric-tour-management-bsi-20170308-story.html|publisher=Chicago Tribune|date=March 8, 2017}}

Keane, Bain and Moran continue to tour and record as solo artists in the Irish traditional music world.

Cleland started the band bohola (www.bohola.com) with piano accordion player Jimmy Keane and released four albums on the Shanachie label. He is now the director of The Irish Music School of Chicago (www.irishmusicschool.com) and teaches and performs throughout North America and Ireland.{{cite news|title=Cleland Teaches Music With A Chicago Twist|url=http://www.newyorkirisharts.com/2012/10/cleland-teaches-music-with-a-chicago-twist/?print=print|publisher=Irish Echo|date=Oct 3–9, 2012}}

The Drovers are featured in the suspense film, Blink (1993), which stars Madeleine Stowe as a blind woman who plays fiddle for the group, and becomes entangled in a murder investigation where her blindness and subsequent surgery to correct it are at the forefront of the storyline. The film co-stars Aidan Quinn and Laurie Metcalf. The Drovers' music comprises the vast majority of the film's soundtrack.{{cite web|title=Cast of Blink|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109297/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast|website=IMDB}}

In addition to the core six musicians: Cleland, Keane, Kirkpatrick, Callahan, Moran and Bain, the group also recorded and toured with Stone Damon, Ike Reilly, Emily Pitcher, Todd Allison, Merritt Lear and Tim Larson.

Mike Kirkpatrick, The Drovers guitarist, passed away at his home in Chicago on August 27, 2020 after battling colon cancer. He was 65.{{cite web|title=Mike Kirkpatrick, who transformed popular Chicago band The Drovers, has died at 65|date=4 September 2020|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/9/4/21412784/michael-mike-kirkpatrick-drovers-old-town-school-trinity-irish-dancers-steppenwolf-theatre-leenane}}

• World of Monsters – 1991
• Kill Mice Elf – 1992
• Little High Sky Show – 1995
• Soundtrack from the motion picture Blink – 1994
• The Inner Flame – 1996
• Plus – 1997
• The Drovers – 2001
• Archives – 2013

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.facebook.com/DroversChicago The Drovers official page on Facebook] dead link
• [http://www.myspace.com/thedrovers The Drovers on Myspace] dead link
• [http://reverbnation.com/HalfSky Half Sky]
• [http://www.irishmusicschool.com/ Irish Music School of Chicago]
• [http://www.myspace.com/thestrobyalliance the Stroby Alliance on MySpace]

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Category:Musical groups from Chicago

Category:Musical groups established in 1988

Category:Irish-American culture