niaLL TONer
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Niall was born in Dublin, Ireland and nurtured an early interest in
music by tuning in to Radio Luxemburg and the AFN radio service from
Germany. The Saturday night re-broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry from
Nashville was his first exposure to Country music, and when a local
school-friend showed up with a collection that included the music of
Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, The Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers, Niall's
musical fate was sealed. Niall Toner is widely regarded as one of
Ireland's leading experts in bluegrass and American country music, and
he brings this knowledge of music to a wide audience, both through his
live performances with The Niall Toner Band and various workshops, as
well as through his radio show, Roots Freeway, which is broadcast on
Ireland's national radio station, RTE Radio One.
Niall Toner - Official Website <http://www.rte.ie/radio1/rootsfreeway/>
How did your love of bluegrass music develop? When I was a youngster in Harold's Cross in Dublin, my earliest music experiences were split between my Dad's Ukele and Tenor Guitar playing, the Skiffle Music of people like Lonnie Donegan, the Pop/Rock Music of Marty Wilde and Gene Vincent, and the hard-core Irish Traditionl Music of our next door neighbours, the Purcells, who were GAA supporters and native Gaelic speakers who all played Flutes and Tin Whistles and such. Then into this mix came Fran O'Donnell and his Brother, Al, who had both been living in Grantham in Lincolnshire, and who returned to Kenilworth Park with several instruments, including Banjos, Mandolins and Guitars, and a massive collection of Vinyl LPs, comprised mostly of Country and Bluegrass Music. One day, after I had heard Elvis Presley singing Blue Moon Of Kentucky on AFN Radio from Germany, I was telling Fran about this great sound, and he said to me, 'wait 'till you hear the original'. I wasn't even quite sure what he meant until he played the Bill Monroe version of the song, and I was hooked!
Who introduced you to it? I suppose the answer to question one answers this question also, but over the next couple of formative years there were many more 'introductions' to great old music from people like Trevor Crozier, Terry Woods, Andy Irvine and a host of others.
What artists did you listen to? I began with Bill Monroe, and went from there to exploring artists like Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Charlie Poole, The Blue Sky Boys, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder, The Rolling Stones and so forth. Somebody once asked me what did I think was the greatest gift my Father gave me, and I said that apart from the Guitar he bought for my 11th Birthday, he gave me a strong sense of curiosity. This meant, and still means, that I always want to hear what came before ..... so, I love the concept of looking back, and finding out, where possible, where the music came from.
Tell me about how you started playing music? I mentioned that Al O'Donnell had brought Instruments home with him from England, where he had already been exposed to the early Folk Revival. Al showed me a couple of simple Chords on the Guitar, and my Dad also encouraged me by saying that if I learnt a particular song, he would buy me a better Guitar than the one I had received for my 11th Birthday. This I did, to his satisfaction, so for my 12th He presented me with a beautiful Harmony Acoustic, which I still treasure. I started with Carter Family songs, which were [deceptively] simple in format, and worked my way through most of Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodger's repertoire, and all the time trying to aspire to the dizzy standard of the music of the Maestro, Bill Monroe.
Can you remember writing your first song? What age were you? In the early Sixties, I was in my early 20s, I re-located to Cork City with my day job as a salesman for Lyons Tea Company, bringing my Guitar in my Van with me on my travels. I began to do small Gigs in Clubs and Pubs, performing a repertoire of mostly Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams and New Lost City Rambler songs. One night it occurred to me that I was hardly going to make my mark by doing versions of someone else's songs, and I should be composing my own. It was a struggle. Every time I thought I had something worthwhile, I would end up comparing my effort to even the most menial and least-performed Hank Williams song, which in turn would lead me to abandoning my effort altogether! I think my very first song was called Don't Get Caught With Your Levis Down, and I will leave it to the reader/listener to figure out what it was about. A friend from Fermoy, Ron Kavana says that he performed that song for many years around the clubs in England, but I doubt that it's ever going to be a hit. I then abandoned the writing altogether until the early 1990s, when I re-started in earnest, and I'm still writing and learning.
Tell me a little about some of the bands you were in? In Dublin I was in a couple of Rock Bands in the early 60s, and an Irish Ballad Group called the Irish Rovers. [ Not the very famous group of the same name !] In Cork I was a member of Paddy's Goatskin and String Band, which I left to form the Lee Valley String Band, with Chris Twomey. [ They are still going strong, and play every Monday night in the Corner House in Coburg Street, Cork.] On returning to Dublin, I formed the Sackville String Band, and later, in th late 1980s, I formed Hank Halfhead and The Rambling Turkeys with my eldest Son, Niall. About 70 musicians passed through HH, including Glen Hansard, who went on to fame and fortune with The Frames and The Swell Season. In 2001 I moved from Dublin to rural County Carlow, and formed the Niall Toner Band, NTB, with Clem O'Brien and Dick Gladney. This was the first line-up I ever had that concentrated exclusively on original songs and instrumentals, mostly my compositions. We have released three full CDs, and several singles, and will be releasing another all-original, all-acoustic CD in 2012.
You've just signed a record deal - how did that come about? You can gather from the foregoing that I have been 'chipping away' at the Music Business for quite some years now. I have been pitching songs and sending out demos for the best part of the last twenty years, with small successes here and there, and my songs have been recorded by many of my own idols. [ see www.nialltonerband.com for details ] As part of my ongoing search for wealth and fame, I arranged to perform a showcase Gig at the International Bluegrass Music's Annual Conference in Nashville in 2011. A PR Agent, Mountain Music Entertainment, arranged to have several Record Companies attend my Showcase, and as a result, I was offered a World Wide Record Deal with Pinecastle Records. [ Overnight success after some time, and better late than never, spring to mind ] Pinecastle are planning the first new release on their label for early September this year. www.pinecastlerecords.com
Did you ever think of packing it all in? No. If you want to succeed, you have to keep chipping away.
Any advice for young singer/songwriters? Learn your craft. Don't be afraid to ask questions of writers who have been working at their craft for longer than you have. Listen to the greats, and learn from them. Buy youself a copy of Tunesmith, by Jimmy Webb. It's the best book on songwriting ever written. You will learn from it. Oh yeah, keep chipping away, and look to my recent success. Age/Sex/Status are of no importance ............... |
