Turlach Boylan grew up on a farm in County Derry, the oldest of seven children. After studying various instruments including piano and trumpet, he abandoned classical music and began playing Irish music in earnest on the flute at the age of 16. He studied for a couple of years with County Antrim flute master John Kennedy before moving to Belfast to pursue an engineering degree.

Like all the members of his family, he was active in competitions, reaching the All-Ireland finals several times and winning the All-Ireland Senior Flute Slow Airs competition in 1986. For a few minutes he was the only All-Ireland champion in his family until his sister Maeve won a Junior piano accordion title. Since then Maeve has won the All-Ireland Senior Piano competition. Sister Clodagh has a Junior fiddle title, brother Ruairi has Junior Flute and Flute Slow-Airs titles and sister Sheila placed 2nd in the Senior fiddle contest. In addition, Turlach has reached the All-Ireland finals of the Scor competition as a part of a trio with Maeve and oldest sister Caitriona on banjo.

After graduating from Queen's University in Belfast with a Masters in Engineering, Turlach was transferred by his company to Houston and opted to stay when business changed. Six years later, Turlach left to start a computer programming business. In 1999, he founded Big Plain Records, a record label aimed at promoting Irish Traditional Music in the United States and Canada. He is also a founding partner of Bandstore, an internet business selling music recordings by independent artists.

A visit to Ireland in late 1996 and the introduction to several inspiring musicians in Houston rekindled his passion for music which had been waning in Houston. This renewed fervor included the desire to make a recording, a project which finally came to fruition in 1999 with the release of The Tidy Cottage, his first solo flute album.

Turlach Boylan was a master artist in Irish tin whistle in the Missouri Folk Arts Program's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2008.