Connacht Tribune
Galway journalist launches new book on life of Big Tom
Back in 1967, as a young teenager making the daily trek to Tuam Vocational School, known to everyone at the time as ‘The Tech’, Tom Gilmore first started listening to Irish country music legend Big Tom when he topped the Irish charts with his first hit Gentle Mother.
Little did Tom Gilmore realise at the time, that just over 50 years later, he would be the author of the book that would chart and chronicle the life of a man who left an indelible mark on the Irish music scene through close on six decades.
The seed for the book, Big Tom, The King of Irish Country, was sown over a year ago when Big Tom McBride was still alive, although in ailing health, when the O’Brien Press contacted Tom Gilmore about the possibility of such a project.
For one reason or another, it wasn’t followed up on at the time, but in early May, shortly after Big Tom had passed away, the call came again from Michael O’Brien, MD of O’Brien Press, with the request to write the book – 60,000 words required (it actually ended up at 63,000 words).
“I suppose that it was a bit daunting but it was a great honour too as over the years I had become great friends with Big Tom and his family. One of the things that made it possible for me on a practical level was the fact that I had retired so I could throw myself full-time into the job,” Tom Gilmore told the Connacht Tribune.
About eight of nine years previously, Tom Gilmore had done a two-hour radio special with Big Tom for Galway Bay FM and as luck would have it, in a trawl through the attic, he unearthed two ‘mini-discs’ with the contents of those interviews and that was a great start.
While Tom Gilmore might have listened to Gentle Mother on the radio back in ’67 he was still a couple of years too young for the dancehall scene but on a Saturday night in 1969 he eventually made it to the Sound of Music in Glenamaddy (under the stewardship of the late Joe O’Neill), and from there on he was ‘hooked’.
Back around 1973, Tom Gilmore along with Michael Lyster, now of RTE, started up the Music Scene column in the Tuam Herald, and as the few bob ‘started to be made’ the Morris Minor was bought and the regular weekend treks followed to carnivals and dancehalls around the county.
Around the mid-70s, Tom and five of his mates made the trip to Castleblayney to the Embassy Ballroom (since demolished and now the Glencarn Hotel) for a country music festival, featuring Big Tom of course – 40 years later the ‘same gang’ visited Big Tom at his Oram home in a sentimental re-enactment of more innocent times.
“As always we got a great welcome from Big Tom and his family. I went over the to piano and when Big Tom came into the room, he said to me that he could have given me a job years back.
“But it was always a lovely house to visit. He was a most decent man and he always made visitors feel most welcome – trips to Big Tom’s home in Oram were always very special,” Tom recalls.
Since Big Tom passed away last April and the book project was settled upon, Tom Gilmore had more trips to make up North, garnering anecdotes as well as bits and pieces of trivia from the singer’s family and friends, including Margo, ex-band members with the Mainliners band, his manager Kevin McCoey and Big Tom’s brother-in-law Paddy King.
“I suppose the first two to two-and-a-half months of the project were spent in gathering all the pieces of information that I needed to write the book. After that, it was a matter of deciding on the format and how the chapters would pan out, and then of course just keeping the head down and writing it,” said Tom Gilmore.
The end result is quite an exceptional product, beautifully produced and laid out by O’Brien Press, divided into 12 chapters dealing with Big Tom’s roots and early years; his Gaelic football career (he as an avid GAA man); emigration to London; family loves and tragedies; and of course his life and times as one of the country’s top entertainers.
At heart, Big Tom was a country boy who loved to sing, follow the GAA and drive his tractors, but primarily he was the man, who night after night, through late 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and 90s, drew thousands and thousands of people to halls and marquees in all corners of Ireland.
Songs like Gentle Mother, I Love You Still, Lonesome at Your Table, Broken Marriage Vows, Four Country Roads, My Donegal Shore and the Going Out The Same Way You Came In, are just some of the many songs that will resonate with people across the nation.
His passing led to President Michael D. Higgins making the journey to Oram for the wake where he met with the McBride family and paid a touching personal tribute to the influence of Big Tom, not just in Irish musical circles but on Irish society.
Johnny McCauley was the man who penned many of his greatest hits, and as Tom Gilmore points out, many people mightn’t realise that Big Tom was probably the first Irish artist – back in the early 1980s – to go to Nashville and record a full original album, written by Johnny McCauley and called Blue Wings
Another little titbit about Big Tom is that one of the singers and bands that he loved was Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones (who in their time, believe it or not, have done a selection of country songs). Rumour has it, according to Tom Gilmore, that Mick Jagger got an autograph from Big Tom many years ago when the pair met!
On a more serious note, Tom Gilmore, is happy that the Big Tom book is complete – it was officially launched last Saturday at the Íontas Theatre in Castleblayney – and he hopes that it will be a lasting tribute to a man whose name is known across every nook and cranny throughout Ireland.
“It was a labour of love and a great honour to write this book about a wonderful singer who touched the hearts of people all over Ireland for over half a century. I always regarded him as a great friend, and like so many more people around Ireland, I will miss him a lot,” said Tom Gilmore.
■ Big Tom The King of Irish Country, written by Tom Gilmore, is a hardback published by The O’Brien Press available at all good bookshops retailing at €20.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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