Boston College Front Row

Earle Hitchner, music columnist for the Irish Echo and a contributing music writer for the Wall Street Journal, speaks on the accomplishments of button accordionist Joe Derrane and the role of the accordion in Irish-American music. Derrane, a fixture of Irish-American music scene since the 1940s and '50s, won in 2004 the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship-America's highest honor in folk and traditional arts. Prior to Hitchner's lecture, Derrane performs two songs on the button accordion.