Noel Hill comes from County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, where the concertina tradition is so strong the instruments was nicknamed "the Clareman's Trumpet" and legend has it there was once a concertina in every other household. It was into one of these households that Noel Hill was born, and as a young child Noel was forbidden to touch his older brother's concertina. But he couldn't keep his hands off the instrument and was always stealing away with it.