Patrick Sky

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Patrick Sky, born Patrick Lynch in Georgia in 1940, is a musician, singer and songwriter of Irish and Native American (Creek Indian) ancestry. A contemporary of Bob Dylan and others in the Greenwich Village folk boom of the 1960s, following military service Sky released a number of well received albums from 1965 onwards and played with many of the leading performers of the period, particularly Buffy Sainte-Marie, Eric Andersen and the blues singer Mississippi John Hurt. Sky's song Many A Mile became a folk club staple, and has been recorded by Sainte-Marie and others.

Becoming increasingly disillusioned with the music business and politically radical, Sky released the controversial and scabrously satirical Songs That Made America Famous in 1973 (the album was recorded in 1971 but rejected by several record companies before it found a home); to this day he claims to have received no royalties for the album. This album featured the earlier known recorded version of the song Luang Prabang, written by Sky's friend Dave Van Ronk. Following its mixed reception (some critics found it obscene), Sky gradually moved into the field of Irish traditional music, founding Green Linnet Records in 1973. Today he is recognised as an expert in building and playing the Irish uillean pipes, often performing with his wife Cathy. He has also published several books on the subject.