Patrick Ball was born and raised in California and gave little thought to such things as where his ancestors came from or his career goals, but he did become acquainted with the piano and guitar. During college, he continued his flirtatious relationship with music and found he was irresistibly drawn to words, the music of words, writers who made words sing, and writers from Ireland. When he began to study history to fulfill his academic requirements, he found the lyrical, turbulent history of Ireland engaged him. So much so, he enrolled in graduate school and soon made his way to Ireland, where he fell in love with the eloquence and fire of the Irish oral tradition and Celtic harp. It was then that pieces of his life fell into place. For he came to know that marvelous unity of Irish words, music and history that would become his passion and, eventually, his livelihood.

Ball now lives in County Clare, Ireland with his wife and dog. He continues to tour extensively throughout the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Canada.