1. The new album A ROCK TO CLING TO, the reviews, the reaction, the campaign, the tour!

Well lads my new album A ROCK TO CLING TO was released on EMI Records on September 16th 2011, when we rocked the Late Late Show with the single THE BEST IS YET TO COME. The campaign I have to say was really professional, I covered most local radio stations in Ireland. The National Ploughing Championships, lots of newspapers, the RTE guide, all that kind of stuff. Thanks to my manager Lorcan and all the team at EMI. I did so many gigs up and down the country it’s all a bit of a blur, like! Ones that stood out were Ionad Phádraig in Dobhar, Donegal and the session afterwards in Tigh Hiúdaí Beag, a cracker of a night. The Spirit Store in Dundalk – always a great place to play, De Barra’s in Clonakilty – again one of the best venues in the country, for warmth and atmosphere. Loved my gig in Tramore as well and met great people there and heard great stories, especially the story of the GORMÓG, I think I’m gonna write a song about him like! Whelan’s of Wexford Street, Dublin was also a great night!

Oh Oh I remember now I did drop a bit of a bombshell in a radio interview on Midlands radio 4 with Anne Marie Kelly, a lovely lady. She had me on for nearly an hour chatting away about this and that and Dana and the Catholic Church came up and I actually said -”He was a terrible evil man, that Polish pope”, and Anne Marie said why, and I said – “Well he didn’t lift one finger to help any of the thousands of children that were being raped and humiliated by his clergy in Ireland, not to mention the whole rest of the world!” It just kind of came out of me like! Well next thing lads the phone starts hopping, first a wave of people saying I had just lost a fan, I was a gobshite, stuff like that, then a short silence, and then a much bigger wave of support, saying things like it was about time somebody said it and all that. I think we are very good in ireland at living in huge quantities of DENIAL, we love to believe the big facade and are capable ofcompletely avoiding the truth! The Celtic Tiger was like that, the Catholic Church is like that. Sure if there is a God one thing is for sure he is as much outside the church as he is inside it, do you get it gentle reader, do you get it?

Anyway the album A ROCK TO CLING TO came out nearly three months ago and the best thing about it is the number of people who have come up to me and said – “Love the album, John” That is a brilliant result like. Happy days in the Hit Factory! Thanks everyone, Johnny the Dreamer Spillane.

2. The Christy Moore song – HAITI.

Hey lads, what an honour! Christy Moore’s new album FOLKSONG came out there last month, October 2011, and it is a great honour for me that there is a song on it that me and Christy wrote together, called HAITI - here’s how it came about. I was doing a gig in the Button Factory in Temple Bar, Dublin, last january twelve months. The news of the disaster in Haiti had just struck. It was a Cork County night, and I was playing with a bunch of lads from the County Cork – Colm Murphy, Johnny McCarthy, Conall Ó Gráda, Gearóid Dineen, and anyway Christy was there at the gig and I sang my brand new song A ROCK TO CLING TO. Anyway at the end of the night I was up there on the stage gathering up my bits and pieces, and there was the bold Christy Moore talking up to me from the floor below like – what a buzz – I’ll tell ye lads I turn into a bit of a twelve year old boy when it comes to Christy - that’s the age I was when I fell in love with the black Planxty album like. Anyway there I am all grown up, with me up on the stage and Christy below, do you get it gentle reader, do you get it? Anyway say Christy to me that he loves the ROCK TO CLING TO song and that he has just had an idea and he listening to it like, that me and him should sit down together and write a song to make a few bob to help the people of Haiti. I said what an honour. I would love to do it. That’s how the song came into being.Well there were a number of phone calls and I wrote a blast of verses and Christy wrote a few as well, we just threw down our thoughts, then we kind of married them together and then didn’t he call down here to Passage West and we did a bit of work on it. What a buzz, Christy calling to my house to write a song! I am such a fan! I called away down to him then down the Sheep’s Head, and next thing we had the song wrote. Next thing anyway didn’t I go off to America for 3 weeks, on a fantastic roadtrip around the Southern states, doing house gigs and singing the song, which I was calling HAITIAN GIRL. When I got back to Ireland however, didn’t I find that the bold Christy was still writing the song, like. I mean it had settled down for me into a finished song in my mind, but Christy Moore was still chipping away at the ol’ block, changing a word here, a phrase there, sharpening and improving the song! In this way it happened that we have TWO different version of the SAME song! Then came the GIG! So anyway Christy put together this fabulous benefit night to raise funds and send a load of money to Haiti. It took place last year 2010 at the end of April, in Vicar Street Dublin before a packed audience. It was a double bill, Christy Moore and John Spillane, I mean same font lads, same font size like! Declan Sinnott also played. Well it was a fantastic night and the HIGHLIGHT OF MY CAREER so far like. Christy and Declan played a set and I played a set, and it went brilliant for me, and I came off the stage and says himself to myself - YOU WERE SHINING JOHN! What a buzz. Then we went on and did a load of songs together for the grand finale! There was a lot of money sent to Haiti from that night! Some of my greatest musical experiences feature Christy Moore; like when he sang me my song MAGIC NIGHTS IN THE LOBBY BAR, and when he visited the farm in Bantry, and he learning my song GORTATAGORT

Thank you CHRISTY MOORE and best of luck with your brilliant new album - FOLKSONG!

3. The Páidí O Shea story and THE BALLAD OF PATRICK MURPHY

Well what fantastic excitement when my song THE BALLAD OF PATRICK MURPHY was chosen by the great Kerry football legend Páidí Ó Sé as his musical choice on the radio last week. The show was MIRIAM MEETS which goes out every Sunday morning on RTE radio one and in fairness it seems like nearly half the country were listening to it. I’ve played about 6 gigs in Páidí Ó Sé’s bar in Ard a’ Bhóthair, Ventry, Co. Kerry over the last year or so and have really enjoyed them! What a fantastic character like!

Sometime I’ve got to write down all the talk and the stories I’ve heard below there in that Gaeltacht stronghold! Like the time I went around the Dingle peninsula with Páidí after the gig to gather up the posters – “The most important part of putting up the posters is taking down the posters John!” And anyway there we are in this dark graveyard in Ventry and a big poster of me up against the wall, like. – “In ainm Dé a Phaidí, cá bhfuilimid? – In the name of God Páidí, where are we?” ”It’s Holy Saturday, John, they visit their dead.” Anyway Páidí took a fierce shine to my new song I wrote there in May for the Murphy family of Passage West -THE BALLAD OF PATRICK MURPHY- for their grandfather who was shot dead by a bailiff in 1911. The world Premiere and the song can be seen in Youtube by following this link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evxLi714iEQ

THANK YOU PÁIDÍ for the great honour you paid me by choosing my song!

Rock On, john!

4. The NOEL BRAZIL celebration night.

Well last thursday the 30th of November 2011, we had a celebration of the songs of NOEL BRAZIL, who died ten years ago. Charlie’s Bar, Union Quay, Cork was the setting - Noel’s favourite bar in the whole world. Noel was a friend of mine. A great Dublin songwriter, who lived in and loved Cork, Noel died at the age of 46. Stunningly intelligent songs, often filled with pain, sensitivity and loss. Many of his songs were recorded by Mary Black. Christy Moore also covered his song Metropolitan Avenue. I have heard Donal Lunny describe Noel as ‘The Raymond Carver of Irish songwriting’. Unusual phrasing, stark imagery, chopping beat, dark rocky numbers, hope that didn’t seem so hopeful, were some of the marks of his songs. Some of the great Noel Brazil songs include ELLIS ISLAND, SUMMER SENT YOU, COLUMBUS, THE LAND OF LOVE, SPARKS MIGHT FLY, METROPLOITAN AVENUE. The tribute last thursday was organised by Martin Leahy and Reuben Lynch, who played drums and bass with Noel when he was alive.It was a fantastic night and everyone put a lot of love and respect into their versions of the songs. I put together my own take on WALK WITH ME, one of my favourites. Also singing and playing on the night were; Hank Wedel, Ray Barron, Sarah Corkery, Declan Sinnott, Ricky Lynch, Shane Scanlan, Reuben Lynch, Martin Leahy, Dan Dan Fitzgerald, Mick Geraghty, Mary Greene. Noel left us a fantastic legacy of songs,

THANK YOU NOEL!

5. A LOVELY NEW COVER VERSION OF ONE OF MY SONGS!

Here is the link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNql4ExIJlA Marketa Iglova, who is one half of the Swell Season, along with Glen Hansard, covers my song SINCE YOU AND I WERE TRUE on YouTube. She does a really lovely unaccompanied version. Due to a little bit of confusion in the Hit Factory at the time, this song has two titles, WHEN YOU AND I WERE TRUE and SINCE YOU AND I WERE TRUE. Marketa learned it from my old buddy Pauline Scanlon, of Lumiere fame, who does a lovely version on her album HUSH. This song has also been covered by Méav, who is one of CELTIC WOMEN. She also sings it on the Youtube; here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyJBYVpaY-k

HAPPY DAYS IN THE HIT FACTORY LADS, ANOTHER BALL IN THE BACK OF THE NET LIKE! Thank you Marketa! Rock On! John!

I’ll be playing in de Barra’s in Clonakilty this thursday night

September 1st 2011 and will be performing a WORLD PREMIERE of a new

song called: - CLONAKILTY LULLABY.

The words are going to go something like this;

Clonakilty Lullaby.

We’ll go rambling out the causeway on a lovely summer’s day,

Lullaby, lullaby, don’t you cry.

We’ll be wandering in the moonlight down by Inchadoney Bay,

Lullaby, lullaby, don’t you cry.

Clonakilty lullaby, lullaby,

Hush little baby don’t you cry.

The moon shines down so handsome, she is proud but she is shy,

Lullaby, lullaby, don’t you cry.

She is sad but she is beautiful, like a pearl up in the sky,

Lullaby, lullaby, don’t you cry.

Clonakilty lullaby, lullaby,

Hush little baby don’t you cry.

The girls up in the hayloft, weaving flowers in the straw,

Lullaby, lullaby, don’t you cry.

And a little child goes tumbling through the mouth of Béal na Bláth,

Lullaby, lullaby, don’t you cry

There ya go lads, Fair Play To Me,

John!

I’ve been playing gigs there on the first thursday of every month for about 8 years now. I can’t really remember how it started, but I remember standing on stage there in March 2003 and Diarmuid O’Sullivan surprising me with a bottle of champagne! I had just won the Meteor Ireland Music Award for BEST ACT FOLK AND TRADITIONAL, and was waving my gong around as I popped the Cork! I always loved playing de Barra’s – it’s a lovely warm venue, withgood sound and great atmosphere and respect for music. Ian Carey has been doing sound for me there from the start and gets a big warm, rich, magical sound.The crowds have often been up and down over the years, busy in Summer and quiet in Winter. Every new album saw a swell in the crowds;  from the heady days of WILL WE BE BRILLIANT OR WHAT? in 2002 to HEY DREAMER in 2005. MY DARK ROSALEEN in 2008 gave it another push, and in that same year IRISH SONGS WE LEARNED AT SCHOOL brought in a different kind of crowd again.

I had one of my most fantastic musical experiences in de Barras the night Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott were playing there and i visited them in their dressing room upstairs before the gig. Christy looked at me, looked at Declan and said “Will we play it for him?” Declan nodded and Christy Moore then sang me my own song – back to me like – MAGIC NIGHTS IN THE LOBBY BAR. it was my first time hearing him sing it and indeed the first time i heard anyone except myself singing it. I was incredibly moved. I had really loved the music of PLANXTY as a child, especially Christy’s singing, like, and it was like the completion of a circle for me, that i had followed the music, grown up, become a songwriter, and written a song that Christy was now singing TO ME! DO YOU GET IT GENTLE READER, DO YOU GET IT?

Anyway a lot of my songs have received their WORLD PREMIERE at de Barras! Some have gone on to the waste paper basket and more have made it out into the light of day – for Ireland and for glory and for home!

It’s always been a good place for me to try out new stuff, as I’ve got so used to the place like.

Yes I know I promised them a song long ‘go. Yes i know, I know i was to have written a song for Clonakilty in thanks and praise, and i still haven’t come up with the goods. It better be a very good song to make up for the wait.

” CLONAKILTY YOU’VE BEEN GOOD TO ME

I SANG UNDERNEATH YOUR APPLE TREE

FOR BOBBY BLACKWELL IN DE BARRAS BAR

CLONAKILTY YOU’VE BEEN GOOD TO ME

AND MY MUSIC ALWAYS WELCOMED HERE

I SANG UNDERNEATH YOUR APPLE TREE

AS WE DRANK FROM A DEEP DARK RIVER OF PORTER”

Anyway everybody i will be CONTINUING the monthly gig in 2011 starting on THURSDAY JANUARY 6TH. I hope to be joined by Hailey and Talie Murphy, fabulous backing singers, and hopefully more special mystery guests!

A thousand thanks to Ray Blackwell, all the Blackwells, Diarmuid, Ian, Gavin, and all the team at de Barras.

HAVE A PEACFUL AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR, WELL DONE EVERYONE, WELL DONE!

Go raibh maith agaibh,

John Spillane.

What a buzz lads, what a buzz, what a buzz.

Thank you so so much Christy!
All this encourages me greatly to sit down and WRITE A SONG.
You ain’t seen nothing yet!
A Happy John, Cork, 24-3-2010!

PASSAGE WEST:

I have been living in the town of Passage West, County Cork for about 11 years now and about a year or so ago, an approach was made to me by a member of the local community who walked up to me in the street, pressed a book into my hand, and said, “John, would you ever write a song for Passage?”

Well, I was delighted with this approach, and gave him the standard reply:  “You’ve come to the right place, Walty boy.” “Congratulations!. Welcome to the Hit Factory!”

And then I sat down and wrote this song, a new ballad called “Passage West”! Hope you like it.

PASSAGE WEST
(Words & Music by John Spillane)

I met my love in Passage west
The sun was sinking down to rest
The river to the stars confessed
‘Twas the dark haired woman I loved best

We wandered down by the Chapel Square
And there was magic in the air
And Mother Nature gently pressed
The burning river to her breast

I offered her a golden ring
My hand, my heart and everything
I offered her a sweet love nest
By the flowing banks of Passage West

Oh, love, will you go, will you go, will you go?
Or, love, will you stay, will you stay, will you stay?
Oh, love, will you go, will you go, will you go?
Or, love, will you stay, will you stay, will you stay?

We watched the ferry come and go
We watched the river ebb and flow
The tide breathe in, the tide breathe out
We watched the Passage flowers grow

The ghostly forms of the hungry years
In sad procession did appear
With hope and sorrow made their way
For their passage west to Amerikay

Chorus

The famine queen stood tall and proud
On either bank the people bowed
From Passage West came a Fenian yell
Rule Brittania, rule in hell!

The grass grows green on the other side
And mighty ships sail out the tide
To far flung harbours across the sea
Far away from Passage, my love and me

Chorus

LOVERS LEAP:

Sometimes I play gigs in a place called the Lodge Bar outside Mallow in North Cork. Down behind the Lodge flows the river Blackwater, and there is a beautiful place on the river there, a great cliff, all covered with trees, and a small cave down at the bottom of it, and the river Blackwater flowing quietly by. And the beach and the trees and the horses in the field.

Anyway, I was playing there last winter and was talking to one of the locals, and I said, “Only that t’is dark now, Robbie, I would have gone for a walk down by that beautiful place by the river.”

He replied, “Lovers Leap!”

I said, “What?”

He said, “Lovers Leap! About a hundred years ago in the town of Mallow, a boy and a girl fell in love, but they were Catholic and Protestant, and were not allowed to get married. So, they took themselves down to that place by the river there, and drowned themselves in the river Blackwater. And ever since, the place has been known locally as Lovers Leap.”

I said, “Oh my God, what a story! I’m gonna’ write a song about it!”

And then I sat down and wrote this song. It’s not exactly a laugh-a-minute of a song, like, of course, being all about suicide drowning in the river Blackwater, in North Cork. But I hope you like it.

LOVERS LEAP
(Words & Music by John Spillane)

About a mile from Mallow Town
There is a place called Lover’s Leap
A beauty spot of great renown
A jagged rock that rises steep
A lonely cliff above the deep Blackwater

The gentry planted all these trees
The oak, the beech and the lonely pine
And courting couples often please
To wander there and take their time
And breathe the beauty by the shining river

About a hundred years ago
Or so the local people tell
Under a weight of great sorrow
A handsome courting couple fell
To their doom inside the great Blackwater

Lover’s Leap
Forever in endless peace
Together in blissful peace

A Catholic and Protestant
Had fallen for each other’s charms
Their families would not consent
They fled and sought each other’s arms
They sought each other’s arms and fled
And dived into their marriage bed
Inside the cold Blackwater

They reached the rocky height that night
One last kiss one last embrace
They cried and held each other tight
Then stepping into endless space
They wandered out into the air
And left this earth for ever more
And reached the sad Blackwater

Their bodies wrapped in endless night
Their souls sailed on into the bright
Encircling stars and the caring moon
The sun shone down upon their love
From heaven’s branches high above the great Blackwater

Chorus

The priest he offered up the host
The river offered up the moon
And Jesus wept to see his name
Divided in a crazy game
And Mary sent an angel down
Who wandered on through Mallow Town
And reached the sad Blackwater

Chorus

THE DANCE OF THE CHERRY TREES:

This is a song I wrote about the cherry blossom trees, who do the business on the streets of Cork in the springtime of the year.

I was being interviewed about it on the local radio by DJ Neil Prendeville, and he said to me, he said, ‘That’s a beautiful song you wrote about the cherry trees, John! You even have the trees talking, like! But come here! What were you on when you wrote it?”

Quick as a whip I replied, “I was on the bus to Passage West, Neil!”

I gave myself ten out of ten for that!

Fair play to me! Fair play to us all!

THE DANCE OF THE CHERRY TREES
(Words & Music by John Spillane)

Let me tell ya ‘bout the cherry trees
Every April in our town
They put on the most outrageous clothes
And they sing and they dance around.

Hardly anybody sings or dances
Hardly anybody dances or sings
In this town that I call my own
You have to hand it to the cherry trees
And they seem to be saying, to me anyway

“You know we’ve traveled all around the sun
You know it’s taken us one whole year
Well done, everyone, well done.”
On behalf of me and the Cherry trees,
WELL DONE! – Well done, everyone!

Cherry blossom in the air
Cherry blossom on the street
Cherry blossom in your hair
And a blossom at your feet

Chorus

You know me, sometimes I think I’m getting old
Not as young as I used to be
So it means even more to me
To see the dance of the cherry trees
And they seem to be saying, is it only to me?

Chorus

Unbelievable! I GOT IT!

There was a convention in Kansas City of all the Irish Festivals in America – 80 delegates from 24 different festivals. There was a great night of music there in the Boulevard Brewery, and performances by McPEAKE from Belfast, RAWLINS CROSS from Nova Scotia, THE ELDERS from Kansas, and ME!

They presented me with the award just before my gig. Well, I was delighted! It was a great honour to accept this award, a beautiful piece of workmanship, a Cetic Cross carved in wood with a map of Ireland fashioned from Conamara marble, with two hidden compartments, contained musical medals and medallions! I’ll try to put up a picture here, like!

ANYWAY – HAPPY DAYS IN THE HIT FACTORY – ANOTHER BALL IN THE BACK OF THE NET!

THANKS A MILLION TO THE IRISH MUSIC ASSOCIATION in America, and to everyone who voted for me.

And a special thanks to all at the KANSAS CITY IRISH FEST!

Thanks lads,
John.