This Irish-style fiddle and guitar player first gained international recognition through his recordings and performances with Co. Clare fiddler Martin Hayes in the early 1990s.
Born in Indiana in 1950, Bays relocated to the Pacific Northwest as a teenager and has made his home in Oregon and Washington since then.
At the time, he lived in Portland, Oregon, and was strongly influenced by Co. Cavan accordion player Michael Beglan, also fiddler Kevin Burke and guitarist Mícheál Ó Domhnaill.
In 1995 Bays began releasing his own albums under the Foxglove Records label, which he founded, including Out of the Woods, The Salmon's Leap, House to House with Roger Landes — voted best traditional album of 2005 by the Irish Times - Overland with Dáithí Sproule, and several more.
"[This quote needs a citation] The Irish Examiner deemed Bays "a rare beast, a master of both the fiddle and the guitar,"[This quote needs a citation] and Fiddler Magazine said he is "among the best Irish style fiddlers of his generation.