Pirates, shanghaiers, slavers, and smugglers, authentic maritime songs; ard… Read Full Bio ↴Pirates, shanghaiers, slavers, and smugglers, authentic maritime songs; ardent patriots, hard-pressed immigrants, and weathered sailors sheltering in the taverns of the seven seas. All are midway between some dicey spot in life and an uncertain future. Their compelling stories of bold adventure are excitingly re-told here by an all-star crew of Irish singers and musicians led by vocalist/author Dan Milner.

Dan Milner is a founding member of The New York Packet, the official maritime song group of South Street Seaport Museum, NYC. He also sings with Mick Moloney's Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, which is affiliated with New York University. From 1998 to 2008, Dan toured in Europe and the USA with Bob Conroy. He now performs at festivals with Robbie and Roxanne O'Connell, and Bonnie Milner. Dan's recorded with the great Louis Killen and Mick Moloney, and 8 All-Ireland champions. His just-released Smithsonian Folkways CD, Irish Pirate Ballads, features many of Irish America's foremost musicians and singers.
Blessed with a keen ear for a fine song and a clear sense of its cultural context, Dan Milner has been involved in the Irish song tradition all his life. The son of a traditional singer, he was raised in Ireland, England, Canada and the United States. A former National Park Ranger at the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, and currently a columnist-reviewer for Visions: the Journal of New York Folklore and occasional contributor to Sing Out! Dan's articles have also appeared in The Log of Mystic Seaport, South Street Seaport Museum’s Seaport magazine and Irish Music magazine of Dublin.
Over a 28-year span, he has organized more than 600 concerts of traditional music in New York City, notably at Malachy McCourt's Bells of Hell, The Eagle Tavern and South Street Seaport Museum. Other credits include The Bonnie Bunch of Roses, a classic book of 150 Irish and British folk songs (Oak Publications), and three acclaimed CDs produced for Folk-Legacy Records. He has taught at Yeshiva University and The Irish Arts Center, both in New York City.
Dan has performed and lectured at venues including Lincoln Center, Cecil Sharp House, Mystic Seaport, Cobh Maritime Song Festival, New-York Historical Society, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, Harvard University, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, Festival Maritim Bremen-Vegesack, Boston Singers Club, Brest 2000, National Maritime Museum San Francisco, La Fete des Chants de Marins Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Sidmouth International Festival, Star Club Glasgow, South Roscommon Singers Circle, New York University, Traditions Club London, Goilin Singers Club Dublin, Edinburgh Folk Club, Connecticut Historical Society, Consulate of Ireland New York, Warwick Folk Festival, Texas Maritime Museum, Anoch Paddy O'Brien Nenagh, The Mersey River Festival and The Irish Memorial National Historic Site of Canada at Grosse Isle
CDs: Irish Ballads & Songs of the Sea, Irish in America, and Irish Songs from Old New England are available through Folk-Legacy Records; Irish Pirate Ballads was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in February 2009.