Stockton's Wing are an Irish band formed in 1977 by four All-Ireland champion musicians; Paul Roche on flute/whistle, Maurice Lennon on fiddle, Tommy Hayes on bodhran, and Kieran Hanrahan on banjo/mandolin, along with Tony Callinan on guitar and vocals.

[5] The band took its name from a line in the Bruce Springsteen song, "Backstreets"; "Slow dancin' in the dark on the beach at Stockton's Wing, where desperate lovers park to meet the last of the Duke Street Kings.”[6] The five founding members had won in the traditional music category of a talent competition, sponsored by Guinness, in Limerick.

"[8] At the Ballisodare Folk Festival they met Australian Stephen Cooney who then joined the band playing bass guitar, and didgeridoo, further adding to the evolving sonic tapestry.

1982 saw the release of Light In The Western Sky, with the band moving further into original compositions, and delivered the hit singles "Beautiful Affair" and "Walk Away".

Fran Breen joined Nanci Griffith's Blue Moon Orchestra, and Stephen Cooney began a fruitful collaboration with accordion player Séamus Begley.

Their sound in this era has been described as pioneering "a sort of Celtic Yacht Rock – mixing Steely Dan with Planxty, The Chieftains with The Doobie Brothers.