Martin McHugh, an accordionist who kept Irish traditional music alive in Minnesota after a previous generation of players disappeared and, over the decades of music-making that followed, inspired an extraordinary revival with his soulful renditions of jigs, reels and other tunes, died this past week at his home in St. Paul. He was 92.
McHugh emigrated from rural Ireland in the 1940s, joining a community of traditional musicians already playing for immigrant crowds in St. Paul’s pubs and dance halls. Over the following two decades, however, older Irish players died, moved away, or indulged other pursuits.
