My grandfather was a great singer and played the melodeon and my parents were great ceili goers so  suppose it's no surprise that I found myself playing accordion in the back row of the Green Velvet Ceili Band. As a restless teenager I joined a folk-rock band and got into the folk scene. From there it was only a short step into Blues, Western Swing, Tex Mex, Zydeco and ....yes Rock'n'Roll!

Despite interest from a number of record labels in the UK, the phone calls and promises came to nothing and dreams of packing up the day-job for a career in rock music were not to be.

I packed in the day-job anyway and ran away to the mountains of North Moravia, took up a job teaching English and started a family. Then I started guesting with a local bluegrass band. We started another folk-rock band, Happy to Meet, and gained unexpected fame (though no fortune!) on the Czech folk scene leading to awards, TV, magazine articles and big festival gigs in front of thousands.

Since then I've played over most of this country, as well as in Slovakia and Poland with acoustic trio Bottlewash Band,  sometimes guesting with other musicians and bands here, playing for Irish dancing groups and occasionally performing solo. 

Contact:

e-mail: oreilly@vsps-su.cz

telephone: ++420 777978503