Finn & Haddie

Finn & Haddie is the duo of Neil Downey & Barry Finn who first met in the mid seventies while singing and playing at the Irish Music session in the ‘Village Coach House’ in Brookline, Massachusetts. They are New England based and perform primarily a cappella songs related to heavy work and hard labor. They specialize in the performance of traditional sea songs, shanties and work songs originating in the southern prison system.

Neil and Barry have performed individually and as a duo throughout the United States. Both are gifted songwriters who bring their unique styles, talents and experiences to this collaboration. They have performed at the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, New England Folk Festivals (NEFFA), New Hampshire’s Great Bay Festival, the Gloucester (US) Maritime Festival, Boston’s First Night, the San Francisco Maritime Festival, the Salem Maritime Festival, the Boston Antique & Classic Boat Festival, for Sea Revels in Boston, at Sail Boston Tall Ships Parades 88 and 92 and at the Massachusetts State House for the “Welcoming of the Captains” during Boston’s last Tall Ships Parade. They have also performed on board the USS Constitution, the USS Eagle, the USS Salem, the Unicorn, the Schooner Adventure, the Brig Carthaginian, the Polish schooner Zawisza Czarny, the Larinda, Canada’s schooner Empire Sandy, the Shenandoah & Nova Scotia’s Bluenose II.

“Finn & Haddie have performed only sporadically over the last few decades and we have never recorded due to both having day jobs, in nursing (Neil) and construction (Barry) as well as having lives. We apologize to all our fans that we’ve been scarce in the past but now that we are viewed as being unworthy of legitimate work, we have the spare time to record and perform more often, nationally or internationally. We are now more knowledgeable, far more mature and more available than ever so buy our CD [Fathom This] and come hear us perform. If you like what you hear, hire us.” (Barry Finn)

This duo’s website was last updated in 2007.  No availability of their album, Fathom This, was found on an internet search 11 March 2025.

Per a mention in Sing Out! magazine, Barry Finn passed away at the age of 58 on 16 Oct 2009.  He was survived by his wife Justine and his children Natalie and Gabriel.  We were unable to discover any current information about Neil Downey as of 11 March 2025.

A Finnan haddie is a haddock that has been cured with the smoke of green wood or peat. They are usually said to have originated in Findon, a fishing village south of Aberdeen, though an alternative tradition traces them to Findhorn in Moray. — Wikipedia