{"id":31465,"date":"2026-02-01T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/?p=31465"},"modified":"2026-01-30T13:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:40:30","slug":"the-unstoppable-tim-foley-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/the-unstoppable-tim-foley-new\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unstoppable Tim Foley: Irish Music and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tim Foley<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tim Foley can\u2019t stop. He is a musician and driving force behind Skelpin, the successful Irish world-music band that\u2019s been a mainstay in San Diego for years. But he\u2019s also an adventurer whose ambitions extend well beyond the local scene.<\/em><\/p>\n

The band continues to thrive. They\u2019ve won awards; they were huge in Japan as the cliche goes; they are mainstays at the Belly Up, Humphrey\u2019s, and all over. Of course, they\u2019re in huge demand near St. Patrick\u2019s Day\u2014this year headlining downtown in Vegas. And Foley appeared with original music in the movie <\/em>Master and Commander.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even with as much energy as a music career takes, Foley isn\u2019t satisfied just to be on stage. Yes, he\u2019s a working musician but he also just happens to be finishing up law school.<\/em><\/p>\n

To hear it from his musical partner in Skelpin, Patric Petrie, \u201cI respect him so much. He has a wide range of talents, but he also wants to have a second career. I\u2019m just in awe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What follows is a conversation with Foley about versatility, world and Irish music, and what it means to keep saying yes.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s musically new right now\u2014in Skelpin\u2019s world or your music?<\/strong>
\nTim Foley: In Skelpin, our goal is to write some new music this year. So, for us it\u2019s still the beginning of 2026, but our goal is to have some new music. We\u2019re doing a thing in Vegas in March, and so that\u2019ll be fun.<\/p>\n

How is law school going while you\u2019re doing your music?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m taking a program through Purdue that\u2019s online and I\u2019m in my last semester.<\/p>\n

My family members are all attorneys. My dad and my sister do estate planning and I used to teach and only do music, and then I started working for them before COVID happened when gigs shut down, and they said, \u201cWhy don’t you just go to law school?\u201d And I was thinking, \u201cWhy not? I\u2019ll just do it at night online.\u201d Yeah, the first year blows, but, luckily, having worked with them, I had a leg up on it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the difference for you being with a band where you\u2019ve got friends and people to experience it with on stage versus solo when there\u2019s nobody else up there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Irish jam with Tim Foley and friends<\/p><\/div>\n

It really shows me how much it is playing with people that you like and trust. That\u2019s where the key is, right? When you are playing with people that you don\u2019t normally play with, sometimes it\u2019s easier to play on your own, right? You can experiment.<\/p>\n

And so, sometimes, if I really like it, you know, if it\u2019s just one of those mindless gigs and the money\u2019s barely worth it, obviously we all have to schlep through those. But sometimes they\u2019re great opportunities just to practice and just try new things. So that\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n

But I will say that when you play, like with Skelpin, it\u2019s fun, because I can still do that kind of optional practicing\u2014all trying things, experimenting, and you know they know where you\u2019re going.<\/p>\n

How did you get into Irish music?<\/strong>
\nI grew up in an Irish American family; my dad\u2019s family\u2019s all from Ireland and moved to Chicago. And so, I was just always a part of my culture.<\/p>\n

I always identified with that. And I always loved music; I always loved the weird instruments, so I wanted to play the Irish pipes. I knew I wanted to go away and study music in Ireland in college. I found a school and they had Uilleann pipes on their course listing.<\/p>\n

I just thought that if I want to play Uilleann pipes I\u2019m going to Cork, so I took it from there. I went and studied Irish music for a year over there, studied the pipes, flutes, and that kind of stuff. Uilleann pipes have always really spoken to me.<\/p>\n

I grew up listening to my parents\u2019 folk music. It was James Taylor, Paul Simon, all that kind of stuff. And my dad\u2019s Irish records, you know. Or it was pop music. I have three sisters. So, it was Whitney Houston, James Taylor, or the Dubliners.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been playing Irish music in the San Diego area for a while. When did you start performing Irish music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Patric Petrie & Tim Foley in 2009<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That would have been in college when I was 22. When I went and studied there, and when I came back, that\u2019s when I met Patric Petrie. I started going to the local sessions and we started playing together as Skelpin a few years after that.<\/p>\n

There are a couple great trad sessions in town, or at least there were at that time. So, I would go, and we have a small but close Irish community here in San Diego that really looks after each other.<\/p>\n

But there were some people that took me under their wing in those sessions, told me what songs to learn, and showed me things about the pipes.<\/p>\n

What surprised you about getting into session music?<\/strong>
\nFor one thing, just how many songs they know\u2014the thousands of ones they know. There are tunes that are grouped together, but they can change depending on where you are, what part of Ireland or what part of America. I just appreciate how that how it\u2019s so much a part of the fabric of the Irish culture in Ireland in a real organic way.<\/p>\n

Obviously, we love music in America, but like just how it\u2019s always just people in the pubs just playing and family parties, people singing. So just to learn that music was important, because then you can really be a part of that musical conversation like wallpaper, not in a bad way.<\/p>\n

Is there anything different about playing Irish music in public now than 20 years ago?<\/strong>
\nI should think maybe, but no. Irish music was huge when I was going to school there; you were coming out of Riverdance and the world stage with Eurovision. And then, of course, U2 was in its prime, and the Cranberries.<\/p>\n

There was a lot of great trad bands coming out of Ireland. And then, you know, maybe it kind of cooled off. Maybe Ireland\u2019s not as much of a fad as it was 20 years ago. But it\u2019s always just that people in America love Ireland and Irish music; it\u2019s such a part of our music here. Music-wise, they do. People love it.<\/p>\n

How did Skelpin start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Skelpin. Photo by Peter Oliver.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Well, Patric started the band; she\u2019s really the founder of the band. And she started it because there was a famous Irish dancer named Liam, Liam Harney, who was in the cast of Riverdance. He lived in San Diego and put on a dance show at one of the Irish pubs. They wanted a band, so Patric got this band together and named it Skelpin.<\/p>\n

And, you know, I joined them, and we were playing at Dublin Square in the Gaslamp district of San Diego. Our friend David Maldonado, one of my friends who plays flamenco guitar, was playing across the street at Cafe Zavia. Maldonado is a very well-known flamenco guitarist; we were friends.<\/p>\n

So, when we were playing at Dublin Square on our break, we\u2019d go over and listen to him and sit in and play fiddle and different stuff. And then when on his break, he\u2019d come over and jam with us. And that\u2019s when we all started playing together.<\/p>\n

And then we came up with this whole kind of Spanishy-Irish thing that\u2019s mostly Irish.<\/p>\n

How does Irish music fit into what people would call world music?<\/strong>
\nWhen Irish music was really having a resurgence in the late \u201990s, places like Tower records were doing a lot of stuff with Spanish music. And there\u2019s a great band called the Afro Celts, as you might know, which is on Peter Gabriel\u2019s label.<\/p>\n

And I love their stuff; West African and Irish music. The Celts were from all over the world. Ireland\u2019s the last surviving Celtic nation. So, I think it just pairs perfectly.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a multi-instrumentalist. Tell us about that.<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve played a lot of things. I could fart around on a piano, but I think if you\u2019re talented enough and musical enough, you can go jump into anything.<\/p>\n

But Uilleann pipes is another bag, literally. How hard or what\u2019s particular about playing that as opposed to other instruments?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I never even tried one until I went to the school. I had a tin whistle and some other stuff, but when I went to study, it was the first time I put one in my hands, which was the best because I\u2019ve always loved pipes. Even though the Highland pipes are Scottish, they\u2019d be seen at parades, but they are so temperamental. I mean, they\u2019re ike a person, you know. It\u2019s a dry reed, as you know, so it\u2019s totally affected by the humidity and the altitude. And they\u2019re just there\u2019s so much going on\u2026 and they\u2019re still handmade.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure they\u2019re much better made now than they were 100 years ago. But they\u2019re prone to leaking and joints falling apart, because it\u2019s all tied with hair. They\u2019re really hard to keep together.<\/p>\n

There are some days you pull them out and it\u2019s like nope, I\u2019m not gonna play today. But some days your fingers aren\u2019t working and you really have to be prepared. Yeah, it\u2019s easy to pick up a few chords, not that that\u2019s genius. But you really could say this about any instrument, right?<\/p>\n

The Uilleanns don\u2019t have dynamics, which is so crazy. You really have to relax yourself to play, but you\u2019re moving so many muscles, you can get tense. And then if you can\u2019t hear on stage, you notice you\u2019re pushing harder, but it doesn\u2019t make it louder.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve played on stages and at bars. What happens to you on a stage versus a session? How does it feel different?<\/strong>
\nFirst of all, I love to perform. And there\u2019s something in me where I love putting that energy out there and then getting the energy back from the audience.<\/p>\n

And then seeing how they\u2019re affected by it, not in a prideful way, but wow, I was a part of that. You know, I think any performer can connect with that. That\u2019s what I love about performing on stage, being able to move people and really being able to put my energy out, whether it\u2019s a performance or a gift. I don\u2019t think that highly of myself, but that\u2019s the total opposite of a session; if you go in there and try to perform, they\u2019re just like, look at this fucking guy here.<\/p>\n

You want to really connect with everybody there. So, you know, when you\u2019re playing with a band, there\u2019s a bit of the same listening that you do in a session. For example, I\u2019m here to be a part of the machine, the cog; I\u2019m just here to fit in and not to present something, you know?<\/p>\n

You\u2019re focused on each other.<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m a very spiritual person and I\u2019m also religious. Don\u2019t worry, ha ha. Part of my regular gigs is that I\u2019ll be playing at church and\u2014I\u2019ve always laughed because I\u2019ve got one foot in the bars on Saturdays but on Sundays I\u2019m playing in church. I got one foot in heaven and one foot in hell. But you know, as an LGBT person I totally have conflicting views with religion, you know, as an Irish person, I love\/hate being with the Catholic church, but there\u2019s that sense of spirituality that I get out of music. And so, sometimes you can get that in a church and sometimes you can\u2019t, but you can get that on a stage, and you can still get that in that session.<\/p>\n

And how about a small place, more pub types. Which ones could you always count on being not necessarily always the most fun, but that something\u2019s going to happen at that place.<\/strong>
\nOne of the craziest places we used to play was the Blarney Stone in Clairemont. I loved playing there. It was off the hook. And it was the cheapest sound system or the simplest sound system\u2014however you want to look at it\u2014but it was loud. It had good bass. Skelpin had some great times. That was one of our favorite places to play. It was the best and the worst.<\/p>\n