I grew up near a small village (Athea) in West Limerick, where I developed my creative writing skills taking minutes for the Legion of Mary. I left college with a degree in philosophy and moved to Boston, where one Sunday afternoon, the words of a subway poet inspired me to quit my office job and take to the subway with my accordion. In the time-honoured tradition of the folk singer, I hitched around the U.S. and Canada, sharing music and stories with truckers, gurus, ex-cons and