Kelly, John (1912–89), fiddle and concertina player, was one of eight children born to Michael Kelly and Elizabeth Kelly (née Keane) of Rehy, Carrigaholt, in the parish of Kilballyowen on the Loop Head peninsula in west Clare. He began to play the concertina at the age of seven, learning many tunes from his mother and uncle, Tom Keane, who also played the concertina. As a child he was influenced by Nell Galvin, a friend of Garrett Barry (d. 1899), the famous traditional piper. He met her and other musicians as contestants at the Kilkee Feis in the mid-1920s. He started to play the fiddle when he was about ten. His first fiddle was gut-strung, tuned to C, and made by the local blacksmith. A neighbour, Patsy Geary, a travelling fiddle player from Co. Tipperary, greatly influenced both his interest in fiddle playing and his style of play: John was constantly attracted by styles and settings of other districts and musicians. As a young man he often played at house dances throughout west Clare several nights a week. In 1932 he met the travelling piper Johnny Doran (qv) at the Kilkee races. They became friends, and Kelly is the only musician known to have made a recording with Doran.
Kelly moved in 1945 to Dublin, where he established a musical instrument and hardware shop called the Horse Shoe in Capel Street. The shop became a focal point for musicians visiting Dublin, such as the Donegal fiddle player Niallaí Ó Baoill and the Clare piper Willie Clancy (qv). Kelly was close friends with numerous musicians but especially with the fiddle players Joe Ryan and Bobby Casey from Clare. He also became a close associate of Seán Ó Riada (qv), with whom he played and was a founding member of Ceoltóirí Cualann. He worked with the Castle Céilí Band and with Ceoltóirí Laighean, and he was involved in the establishment of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and was an adjudicator at its Fleádhanna.
Kelly appeared at the Pipers’ Club in Thomas Street and later in Church Street and was a member of the club's committee, though he was also active at other traditional clubs in Dublin and played regularly with Joe Ryan in O'Donoghue's pub in Merrion Row and in the Four Seasons beside his music shop. Almost as renowned for his knowledge of the musical tradition as he was for his playing, he collected old records and made recordings of traditional musicians, persuading Kevin Danaher (qv) of the Irish Folklore Commission to make the only known recordings of Johnny Doran.
On 1 December 1945 Kelly married Frances Hilliard from Wicklow, who played the accordion. The couple had one daughter and four sons, two of whom, John and James, became highly regarded fiddle players and made many recordings. Kelly had been a staunch supporter of the Willie Clancy Summer School (at which he taught and where he was a major figure): on his death, in March 1989, a special recital was held in his honour at the school. Kelly was one of the finest exponents of the west Clare fiddle style. His music features on recordings such as John Kelly, fiddle and concertina player, the disc Seoda ceoil issued by Gael Linn in 1968 (CEF 018), and the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann release Ceol an Chláir. His name has been immortalised in tunes such as ‘John Kelly's slide’ and ‘John Kelly's reel’.