Irish Ballads date back at least as far as the Elizabethan Era and typically tend to be Nationalist and rebellious in their nature. Irish ballads tend to revolve around either political events or wars, and it's been noted that huge amounts of Irish ballads are created during major Irish upheavals (such as the 1916 Easter Rising, for example). However, some are also recent creations, such as the Fields of Athenry, written by Pete St John in the 1970s.