Shane interviewed Sean O Neill about his life and times as The wandering Minstrel. In January 2000, Sean O'Neill gave up the day job and revived an old tradition - that of the traveling bard or, as he soon became known, The Wandering Minstrel.
Picture the scene you're in the middle of cooking dinner, helping the kids with their homework and you've had a hard day at the office and the doorbell rings. You answer the door. There is a stranger standing there with a guitar on his back and a bag on his shoulder. He introduces himself as a wandering minstrel, he tells you that he is writing his own songs and promoting his own CD from which he would be delighted to sing you a random track . At first you are a bit taken aback but quickly recover your composure and say that you'd love to hear a song and you call the children so that they can share the experience.
That man is Sean O Neill, Sean formerly a highly respected photographer, work's five days a week as Ireland's wandering minstrel, selling enough copies of his debut CD, "Losers and Sinners" to earn a wage and finance his writing and was once described by Hot-Press journalist, Stuart Clarke as a "one man music industry", indeed Stuart reckons that Sean could well have reached the lower end of the charts had his sales been monitored.
Sean, a father of three grown up children, had begun writing songs only eighteen months earlier, but had been very prolific, wanted to focus on getting them 'out there'. Running a photography business for almost thirty years had paid the bills and reared the family but Sean found that it was beginning to get in the way of the singing and songwriting. With hardly a backward glance, Sean relocated to Dublin, reduced his outgoings to a bare minimum (no car, mortgage or continental holidays) and, with the first hundred copies of his self-penned 'Losers & Sinners CD pressed, he walked, bussed and Darted around Dublin's suburbs, singing a random track - on the doorstep - from his album for anyone open or curious enough to listen.
I asked Sean about how things were going and he replied that life was good he was enjoying what he was doing and it was great meeting people from all walks of life, If you see thsi man travelling your area take the time out and give yourself a few minutes of something that is rare, a relaxed few minutes of music for you and you alone.
You can visit Sean's website to read more about his music his travels and his writings here
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