Although he stopped performing for large audiences in 1965, he returned briefly in the 1990s to record his critically acclaimed solo album, Paddy Canny: Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler.
Pat Canny was a noted local fiddle player, and taught the instrument to his three sons: Paddy, Mickie, and Jack.
He learned techniques from a blind fiddle teacher named Paddy McNamara, who would board with the Canny family in winter and hold lessons in their home.
The band toured Britain and the United States in 1958, delivering a memorable performance at Carnegie Hall in New York on St. Patrick's Day.
Paddy's rendition of the traditional song "Trim the Velvet" was the signature tune of the long-running radio program A Job of Journeywork.
A nephew, Martin Hayes, has captured the All Ireland fiddle championship six times and continues to record and perform traditional Irish music.