From the CD Booklet " Traditional Irish Music "

Paddy Carty was born in Rafford, County Galway, some 68 years ago. He came from a musical family - both his parents were musicians. He started to play tin whistle at six, and after learning tunes from his parents and the local musicians, he then began to learn tunes from records, notably those of the Ballinakill Ceili Band. He graduated to the fife and then went on to the concert flute.
In the late 1940s he joined the Aughrim Slopes Ceili Band and came into contact with such players as Paddy Fahy and Paddy Kelly, two fiddlers who influenced his music greatly.

Paddy's first flute was the old 8-key model with open holes and conical bore, but after deciding he wanted more power from the flute he switched to a metal Boehm-system flute which supplied it to a great extent. It had, however, certain fingering drawbacks and when Paddy made a trip to London he picked up a "Radcliff Model " flute made by the Rudall Carte Company. This flute had the cylindrical bore of the Boehm and its power but retained the basic fingering of the simple system, the fingering with which he was so familiar. Paddy considered this to be the ideal flute.

Paddy entered the Connaught and All-Ireland Championships in 1960, 1961, and 1963 and swept all competitions. Paddy was also a member of the Leitrim Ceili Band when they won the All-Ireland on two occasions.So here you have a self-taught player with five All-Ireland medals and three Connaught Championships to his credit.