John Sheehan The Dubliners

This week I spoke with John Sheehan on the phone about his upcoming concert in Cork Opera House this August. Sometimes referred to as, "The quiet one," John is the only member of the group to have had a formal musical education. He was rather proud of this status Until quite recently when an old man in a rural district of Ireland came up to him, following a concert, and said, "Tell me, young fellow, do you read music or are you gifted?"

John's introduction to music began at school with the Christian Brothers in Marino, Dublin, where he learned the tin whistle. This experience was shared with Paddy Maloney, now of Chieftains' fame, and another classmate, Liam Rowsome, fiddle playing son of the legendary piper, Leo Rowsome. So you can see there was a certain musical pedigree in the making at that particular time.

Soon he was to transfer the musical knowledge gained on the whistle to a fiddle he found lying around at home. Enthusiastically supported and encouraged by his parents, he attended the Municipal School of Music in Dublin where he studied classical violin for more than five years. During this time he continued to maintain his interest in Irish traditional music which sometimes led him to improvise on the "classics" by putting in a few embellishments here and there. This, of course, was not approved by his tutor who would remark disparagingly, "Ah, ah, you're composing again!" However, he continued to apply his classical technique to his traditional playing which would ultimately lead to the development of that unique and much admired personal style so in evidence today. Over the years, John has been in steady demand as a session musician on other artistes' records, the more recent being PADDY REILLY, FOSTER & ALLEN, DANIEL O'DONNELL, KATE BUSH, TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY and THE FUREYS.

Writing his own music has been one of John's hobbies for a number of years and recently led to a big chart hit with his composition, "The Marino Waltz." This tune was subsequently covered by a number of other artistes and was followed by the release of an album of original instrumental pieces which were co-written by renowned classical guitarist, Michael Howard, and entitled "In Our Own Time." Both are working together on a new album which should be released in 1992.

Shane Supple interviews John Sheehan by Shane Supple on Mixcloud