The Drovers

The Drovers were a Chicago-based rock band whose original songs were influenced by Irish traditional dance music.

Founded by Sean Cleland in 1988, the group recorded four albums and soundtrack music for the motion pictures, Backdraft and Blink. Songwriters Mike Kirkpatrick (guitar) and Dave Callahan (bass, vocals) drew from Irish rhythms to craft songs that became increasingly psychedelic over a 12-year period until the band ceased performing in September 2002. Kirkpatrick, in particular, composed songs that featured traditional Irish reels jigs of his own. Callahan's songs, while obviously influenced by Celtic/American folk music, tended toward a less ethnic-sounding psychedelia.