RECENT ARTICLE ON TONY SMALL IN CONNACHT TRIBUNE: Galway holds music close to its heart, a place where a song can always be sung-and heard. Singers& Their Songs, a series of gigs taking place in The Crane from the 18th to the 23rd December, bears this mind as it showcases both emerging talents and more experienced players. Tony Small, who plays The Crane on Sunday, December 23rd, could claim to be both. He may have forty years of gigs behind him but the Galway man still writes with a youthful fever, with each day bringing a new song. “I was at it this morning, I was it at it last night when I went to bed,” he enthuses. It preoccupies a part of my head all the time; there’s a tune going on or there’s a line waiting to be looked at. This stuff is burning away all the time; it’s like on a back boiler. It’s an obsession really.” This fascination with folk music began was sparked in the early sixties, when Small first encountered Galway’s nascent song writing scene. “When I was about 14 or 15 I started playing around Galway,” he remembers. “A folk club started up in the Enda Hotel, where the Atlanta was, on Dominick St around 1964. I was very young then- I wasn’t allowed to get in but I got in! I saw my first guitar player in there; the first songwriter I ever met. I was lucky-there was very little happening in Galway in those days. From then on music’s been what kept me going. All through school, through college. Music made the choices for me really.” The sixties are pored over by musicologists, and the era is looked upon as ‘the Big Bang’ in modern folk music. As someone who witnessed them first hand, what was the pivotal moment for Tony Small? When the Clancy Brothers came along and made the music accessible,” he replies. “When I was young we were listening to tenors, chanteurs and divas singing Irish songs. They were mostly recorded abroad and brought home. All of a sudden here were these guys with guitars; 4 or 5 chords and you could have a night’s entertainment. That was a huge pull of the music out of the darkness of the after war period. Things started to happen.” Small was hooked and a wandering soul was born. “I used to follow the show bands because there was nothing else,” he says. “I remember hitching off to dances and marquees all over the country just to hear Dickie Rock or The Freshmen or Sonny Knowles; to see a show. Running around after the girls of course, but that was kind of a side effect!” He continues “Then I became interested in songs; we got to hear Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton. Then the whole thin blossomed- everything moved from the dance hall to the bars and all of a sudden there was music everywhere.” Keen to follow his passion wherever it called him Tony made his first trip to London at the age of 16. There he found a whole world pf players as well as a host of familiar faces. “I learned most of my music, when I started playing in bands in London,” he says. “There was a street in West Hampstead and there were Galway people in nearly every house, from here to Ballinasloe.” Forty years on and Small is still inspired by music on a daily basis and remains in thrall to the power a song can have. “I was listening to a song last night by Tom Waits called Night On Earth,” he explains. A short song, three and a half minutes long. It’s the same as reading Ulysess-you can capture all of that atmosphere, all of that innuendo, all of the meaning, all of the humour, in four minutes. It’s that glimpse of something, I think that’s what so attractive about songs. What do they say? Historians write down who won the battles and the songs write down what people thought and how they were feeling.” In 2000 Tony Small released Galway, a collection of songs with his hometown at their heart. Although he drew from a host of sources there was one song in particular that kick-started the process. “My dad had one song TheQuays Of Galway Town and I suppose that was the key that started me looking for local songs,” says Tony. “Francis Fahey, from Kinvara, he’s a great songwriter and he wrote reams and reams of songs about the local area. Padraic Stevens is doing it in Tuam now. There are new songs all the time and that’s really important.” With a wealth of material at his disposal it wasn’t easy for Small to Whittle Galway down to its twelve tracks. “We recorded a lot more during those sessions, I think we recorded about 20 songs,” he recalls. “And there are more now; they keep coming to me. I get songs about football matches, Black and Tan times.” The past may loom large over some of his songs but there’s nothing antiquated about Tony Small’s approach to being a working singer-songwriter. He has the modern musician’s calling card, a Myspace site-which he fastidiously maintains. “I don’t know how many friends I have but there’s a whole heap of them up there and they all have a few tracks up,” he enthuses. “People change their tracks all the time and I get to hear stuff that I’d never hear. I put a song up every week on the site. I get a little bit of work out of it; sell a couple of albums, nothing major. But it is a contact vehicle and you can keep up with a lot of folk artists.” The Crane continues to be a haven for such artists and Small is proud to finishing the Singers& Their Songs on the 23rd December. “I’m looking forward to that,” he says. “Paddy Connors had a pub called The Coachman on Dominick St and we used to play sessions there. Then he got the Crane and brought the musicians with him. I did the first gig there. It’s been a stalwart in the Galway music scene ever since.” “Mick Crehan’s there now, doing absolutely wonderful work,” he adds. “You can hear all kinds of music, every day of the week. I’ve great memories of the place. The golden era of Galway, in my mind, The Crane would be connected with that. It’s a very important house for Galway.” Tony Small plays with a joyful fervour that still runs through every note of his songs. Make sure to see him in full flight on Sunday, December 23rd. “Music is for everybody; it’s the only thing that’s really equal,” he concludes. “If somebody sings a song, I’m gonna listen.” (article by Jimi Mc Donnell.. Connacht Tribune Dec 23rd 2007))
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HELLO EVERYONE, I'M AWAY TO THE EAST FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS.. BERLIN AND EAST OF. LOOKING FORWQARD TO SEEING SOME FRIENDS (OLD AND NEW).
FAREWELL JOE DOLAN... (Galway Joe of The Swingtime aces, The Capitol, Sweeney's Men...)
Trip to Jerusalem, Tokyo Rose, Foxy Devil, Wrong Way, Corrigan. Mrs. Wellington etc etc.
FAREWELL JIMMY FAULKNER.
FAREWELL BILLY Mc QUAID>
REALLY ENJOYING THE GIGS THESE DAYS... THERE ARE MORE TO COME! THANKS TO ALL WHO SHOW UP AND TO THOSE WHO ATTEND THE MONTHLY RESIDENCY AT THE CRANE BAR IN GALWAY..
Sounds Like
Making decisions about what goes on my new album and tying up ends, keys, lyrics and all the melodies.. Suggestions Welcome!
By the way, after many requests, Here is THE WELCOME on Blog, Bulletin and Play!
CONTACTS 0868155257.
Tony's latest album, the critically acclaimed "Galway" features 12 songs, all relating to the locality and he is currently at work on a new collection. Some of the newer material has a contemporary feel, keeping in touch with the integrity of the folk-tradition but adding a flavour of the new millennium.
Describing himself as a troubadour who has taken his music all over the world, (This year so far he has rambled through Ireland, from Sherkin Island to Charlestown, Dingle to California, Berlin to Galway and points between.)Tony Small has been writing and singing since the 1960s.
Current Album GALWAY available from me at smallt@eircom.net and Open Ear at info@ openear.ie and at The Crane Bar in Galway!
If any of this makes sense or if you have suggestions, give me a shout!
Contacts smallt@eircom.net
00353 86 8155257
i know, it is raining all the time here too. just hotter. i sent her along a message. beautiful paintings, huh? translucent butterflies to you... aren't they amazing?
My friends...,will those of you who visit my page, please pay a visit to Tony Small? Close your eyes, and feel it!!!To know me, is to know who I love to listen to!Tony is a special soul.I salute him...
"In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It reminded me of a conversation I had with someone close to me who is battling depression. At one point during our chat, I told her she should "...boldly move forward and don't look down"...but that Emerson quote would have been a nice addition to the conversation. HA!
i can't imagine dingle quiet in june. as long as you're keeping it full of music. summer's here are hot and slow. really hot... but aside from that everything is just lovely! happy playing!
Hi Tony. we arrive, chat, share a song, discuss a particular area of songwriting as a potential jumping off point for the day, pair (or three) off and then co-write for a few hours. Parisch
We (The Galway Songwriters club) are having another co-writing session in Galway City, Terryland on Sunday April 20th 11:30am and it is FREE. Come write some tunes!
Contact me at galwaysongwritersclub@gmail.com for more info or to book a place.
thank you for adding me!! i used to live in dingle, and i think the welcome was one of the most common afterhours session songs. i can't think of ireland without hearing it my mind... i love your music!!!!
