Biography | Margaret Barry was an Irish Traveller, traditional singer and banjo player.
In the early 1950s, she moved to London, originally to appear on a TV series called The Songhunter, produced by a young David Attenborough. Attenborough described how Barrys striking wild, toothless appearance and her out-of-tune banjo playing prompted a volley of angry complaints about Irish tinkers being allowed on TV. Barry became well-known on the London folk scene in the 1950s, and was frequently accompanied by the fiddler Michael Gorman. |