Joe Mills

Button accordionist Joe Mills was a founding member of east Galway’s Aughrim Slopes Céilí Band. He played and recorded with that acclaimed group until he emigrated to the USA in 1958. Joe spent some time leading a dance band in Philadelphia but settled in suburban Pelham, New York and became an active attendee of Irish Musicians Association sessions. He was also a composer of note. “The Congress Reel” (although perhaps an adaptation from an older jig) is one of his tunes as is “The Bloody Hollow” (often called “Jack Coen’s Jig”). Mills also insisted that he was the composer of the well-known “Cooley’s Reel,” which he called “Luttrell’s Pass” and said he had taught it to Joe Cooley.