We’re a big gang of different people, I was wondering what it was that got you hooked to this kind of music in the first place.
I myself got hooked in 1991, the first time I went to Scotland, my first cd, I believe, the compact collection by the corries.
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I had an instant love for Scotland, and for its music (among other things 
), and so the story goes..
One of my very first traditional LPs was a Corries one too. I still love 'em to bits. But what started me off was very specific. I bought a cheapie compilation double LP in 1980 which had all sorts of Irish stuff on it, a bit of Christy, De Dannan, Bothies, Fureys etc. But one track just set me on fire and I just had to find out more. It was Planxty doing Raggle Taggle Gypsy/Give Me Your Hand. I couldn’t believe how such energy could come from an all-acoustic band. I didn’t even know what the instruments were! That got me blood up for ITM, but the record that got me playing was that great Jackie Daly solo album, Music from Sliabh Luachra Vol.6 (what an unromantic title!).
Steve
These guys (Specifically Joe) got me interested in the whistle.
This got me interested in Irish music.
In 2003, in response to a question from my wife about Christmas gifts, I suggested one of those cheap little Irish whistles. Well, you all know what happens next, first one, then another, then a Susato etc.
For me, the interest in Irish music flowed from an interest in the whistle. That said, I’ve liked folk music, C&W, bluegrass since the 1960s. ITM is a root source for many aspects of these musical areas. It didn’t hurt that I’m middle-aged, 3rd generation Irish American and curious about my heritage. The whistle is now leading to a flute and the concertina.
And to be perfectly frank, I’ve always liked Van Morrison and I still like most of the music on Irish Heartbeat.
The lovely Fiona Ritchie’s:
which, like all great things (i.e., me) was born in Charlotte, NC 
The same here. The first book I learned tunes from was a Fairport Convention songbook. But all the local musicians play primarily Irish, so that’s what I moved on to. Then it was a matter of what I got exposed to and liked from there, so that today my primary interests are South Sligo and Newfoundland tunes.
I’m sure if instead there had been a lot of, say, Northumberland-style whistle players around here, I’d be playing that instead!
Genetic predisposition
Flogging Molly alerted me to it, later I got into more traditional stuff.
I, too, came about it through the whistle. Saw the nifty little thing on the internets, and decided I wanted to play it. Irish music was the natural choice for material, and I’ve come to realize just what a wonderful and colorful tradition it is.
I always had a passing interest. When younger I liked punk and hardcore music, and loved some of the really fast Irish music I heard. Naturally, I loved the Pogues. It wasn’t until I met my Irish girlfriend that I became interested in playing. She had some great stuff in her music collection and knows several Clare musicians. The CD that got me really hooked was the Josephine Marsh Band’s. It helps that there’s a great Trad scene in this area.
I don’t have a drop of Irish in me, and I don’t really care. I love the music. I would like to explore Sicilian folk music, though.
I have had Irish music around me for just about my whole life. When I was 9 we had the Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem on vinyl. In elementary school we had an Irish priest who directed a St Patrick’s Day show with all the students participating. All three of my sisters did Irish stepdancing. The youngest one actually won some medals at various Feishes. I had long periods when rock, classical and jazz and flamenco took me over. When a wrist injury ended my guitar playing days I searched for a way to continue making music. I had had three whistles in a drawer that I had noodled around on for about ten years. I decided that the whistle could be a way to make music that wouldn’t be too affected by my gimpy wrist. I called the local Irish American club, they sent me a list of teachers and after 3.5 years I’m able to play lots of tunes but I’ll never play at session speed because of the wrist. So I’ve come back to my origins and I enjoy it very much.
Mike
Me too. (Listening to T & S that is, although I was born in Washington state)
My aunt gave my dad a bunch of tapes when I was around seven years old. I remember the Battlefield Band, the CHieftains, and Steeleye Span among them. I think it originally started when I was even younger and saw my first pipe band concert, but I can’t recall. In a past life I was a blind harper to the McShaisters too.
At my birth, I’m told. The doctor came out to the waiting and said to my grandfather, George Henry you have a grandson! With that he wheeled (and I mean wheeled, he had been drinking all night in the Sergeant’s Mess)around went down the hallway on the maternity ward floor, opened the doors to the stairway and barked out “Pipes and Drums by the centre march!” With that, up came five highland pipers and three drummers, marching down the maternity ward at six in the morning and formed a circle, playing their drunken hearts out, as my dad stood there with me!
The hospital called the police, my grandfather knew all the cops, so they marched and played their way out of the hospital. That was my introduction to music that’s been with me all my life.
When I was five or six, I use to visit my grandfather in the regiment’s stores, he was the quartermaster but then I use to go over and sit in the back of the piping room and watch and listen. One day my mother heard someone whistling pipe tunes in the living room, she looked in and it was me. Now my mom played piano, so she knew that this lad was whistling tunes in key and note for note. She approached the pipe major who was a dear family friend, a couple weeks later when I slipped into the back of the classroom, Jock came up to me and handed me a half size chanter and took me into the corner for my first lesson. This kid slept with that chanter and spent every waking moment trying to play what I had learned. Sadly we move away two years later and because of family economics I never had another lesson.
But, we moved from southern Ontario to the Ottawa valley, and a whole new range of music presented itself to me that was new and wonderful but at the same time familiar but these were fiddlers not pipers! The fiddlers of the Ottawa valley are a mix of Scot, Irish, Welsh, and French-Canadien and oh what music! I joined the school dance group that did dances to the various breeds of music and it was a delight.
That is the beginning for me and it has never lefted me. When my world is topsy turvy, on goes the highland pipers on the stereo and it goes for hours but it never takes that long for me come out of whatever funk I was in.
MarkB
Chieftains 5 and Chieftains Live casettes my mom brought from Ireland. Those encouraged me to grab a whistle too.
I love this story!
For me it probably started back in high school, when my dad and I joined a Scottish country dance group for lessons. I stayed after the lessons were over and kept dancing.
And Archie Fisher. Can’t remember when I bought that LP, back around the same time.
Jennie
I was given a ticket to see Paddy Keenan about 16 years ago. After that I bought “After Hours” from the Bothy Band, and I haven’t been the same since.
Mark
I can’t remember exactly since it’s gotten all intertwined. But I think I fell in love with Ireland first, my grandmother being Irish even though it was rarely mentioned. When I was little, I loved the Celtic culture/stories, all the stuff having to do with fairies and magic. Then at some point, that early love was augmented by the music. But I don’t remember if it started when a friend of mine tried getting me interested in the bagpipes (granted - they are Scottish) or if it really sunk in when I went to Ireland. Either way, it was established after the Ireland trip. However true appreciation didn’t come until after I started playing ITM. Once that started, I was hooked for sure…
For me it was Gaelic song. Embarrassingly it started off with Enya and Clannad… where’s a boy from North Dakota to start? But then I got into slightly more traditional stuff with Altan and Capercaillie.
Capercaillie got me into Scottish music which got me into the Highland pipes (preceded by a brief affair with the whistle and a Matt Molloy tape). A piper friend’s low whistle got me buying the Dixon Duo which got me playing the flute (also influenced by that Matt Molloy tape).
The flute got me interested in more and more traditional Irish music to where my tastes are nearly 180º from where I started. Even my GHB tastes have become counter to where they started although starting border pipes pushed me from 180º to about 270º.
Cheers,
Aaron
I heard a Welsh music band playing Irish music on St. Patrick’s day in a bookstore. I just had to learn to play Irish music after that for some reason. I started buying CDs and learning as much as I could. Oddly enough, that same Welsh band now wants me to play Welsh music on the uilleann pipes for thier next CD that they’re recording. I’ve agreed to do it, but I think it’s weird. 
For me it was growing up with my dad. He’s a 2nd generation Irish-American who got interested in the music about 1974. He played button box, mandolin, flute and whistle. House sessions, dances, gigs that he played with forum member David Levine. Plus all his LPs we used to listen to at night, The Bothies, Planxty, Tommy Potts, Paddy Carty etc. Funny though, I didn’t actually start playing the music until my late 20’s, so there was almost a 20 year delayed reaction. The nice part is that when I did start playing, I already knew a lot of tunes! Sadly, my dad stopped playing altogether after he went back to grad school (“no time”). But, he’s been inspired to start playing the whistle again and we’ve finally gotten to have some tunes together.