It seems like Michael Cooney was destined to play the pipes. He was raised in a family of Highland pipers from Co. Tipperary. His father, Martin, and his uncles played in the Sean Tracey Pipe Band in Littleton that his grandfather and great uncles founded. Irish dancing and singing also ran in the family. At a young age, Michael took a liking to the whistle. His father, eager to expose him to as much music as possible, began driving Michael all over the country for instruction.

His first road trips were for whistle lessons from Dan Cleary, who led the Ballinamere Ce’l’ Band of Co. Offaly in the 1940s. He also learned from Sean Ryan, a fiddle player originally from Newtown, Co. Tipperary. Michael enjoyed the whistle (he still does), but it was the pipes that eventually called to him - uilleann pipes - which were just being rediscovered during the folk revival of the 1970s. In 1975, the Cooneys moved back to Gortnahoe in Co. Tipperary from Westmeath, allowing the young piper to meet new musicians.

Michael's father, who was raised in the musical traditions of the nearby Slieveardagh Hills, a region rich in fiddle and flute playing, returned to that very place, now taking his son there to learn from the locals. After Michael received his first set of pipes (made by Tom White of Co. Wexford), he continued to go to the hills for music. Because pipers were scarce there, he learned instead from accordion players Paddy O'Brien and Pat Lyons, and fiddler Niall Cleere. Tuesday nights were devoted to lessons with Niall at his cottage in Kilbraugh, where the two would pore over tunes from one of O'Neill's collections. Occasionally, Niall added a regional tune, one he got from Pat Dunne, the legendary fiddler who taught musicthere at the turn of the last century. Saturday nights Michael would try out his new jigs and reels at Pat Lynch's Pub in The Commons, often ending the evening with "The Blackbird," one of Pat Lynch's favorites.

Michael defined his piping style by listening to his father's tapes of Johnny Doran, Willie Clancy, Felix Doran, Leo Rowsome, Patsy Touhey, and Seamus Ennis. He was also a big fan of Planxty and the Bothy Band, two groups from the folk revival that featured pipers.

In the 1980s, Michael "Piper" Cooney made a name for himself, winning multiple All-Ireland championships in pipes and whistle. He also spent some time in the US, where he played music with legends like Andy McGann, Paddy Reynolds, and Joe Burke.

A Stone' Throw takes us a fair distance through Michael's musical biography. There are reels here passed down to him from Niall Cleere and Paddy O'Brien, as well as a couple of Scottish tunes, and an American waltz picked up in St. Louis. Along with the solidly traditional, there's a dash of innovation in accompaniment. Pipes are matched with the surprising sound of a slide guitar in a slow air, and keyboards back much of the album. But what emerges above all is the smooth sound of a master piper.

Alison Brock