In 1953, Dr. Hugh Shields began to notate and record Butcher's songs, published later in two books: Shamrock, Rose & Thistle (1981) and All the Days of his Life (2011), the latter accompanied by a set of three CDs.
He inspired other singers such as Joe Holmes, Len Graham, and Frank Harte, as well as a younger generation of musicians, notably Andy Irvine and Paul Brady who added musical accompaniment to some of his songs.
Eddie Butcher was born on 8 May 1900,[1]: 1 in a house that stood on the dividing line between the small townlands of Duncrun and Tamlaght,[2]: 3 and lived all his life in Magilligan, County Londonderry, in the far north-west corner of modern Ulster.
[2]: 3 He also had a gift for writing his own songs, set to traditional airs and often about local events[2]: 3 or his own experience as a farm labourer or road worker in later life.
[7] In 1966, Butcher began to sing frequently on radio from Dublin or Belfast and some of his songs were released on discs,[3]: 19 first in 1969 on the EP Adam in Paradise,[8] followed in 1976 by an LP, also titled Shamrock, Rose & Thistle.
They joined him at his home for the 1975 sessions that yielded two albums of rare Ulster songs: Butcher's I Once Was a Daysman, and Chaste Muses, Bards and Sages by Holmes & Graham.
A dependable character if there was one, as steady as the 'Rock' below which he lived his life; full of obstinate ideas of his own, and loving to be praised; deeply imbued with his own culture and only really happy in its familiar surroundings.