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The dawn of a new decade marks another chapter in the amazing life journey of Johnny McEvoy. With a 22-date concert tour getting underway this week, he remains the only singer from the 1960s still doing the regular circuit and retaining such a loyal support base.
Johnny was 21 when he topped the Irish charts with a song called Muirsheen Durkan back in 1966. Some months later he made it two in a row when he stormed to the top again with The Boston Burglar which spent 23 weeks in the top 20.
This was the middle of the folk boom in Ireland and America and Johnny was catapulted into the top echelons of the music scene in the space of 12 months. It was a remarkable period in Irish showbiz.
The 1970s was the real boom decade for country music here in Ireland with Big Tom and The Mainliners, Ray Lynam and The Hillbillies, Gene Stuart, Brian Coll, John Glenn, Margo, Phil Begley, Larry Cunningham, Roly Daniels, The Cotton Mill Boys, Dermot Hegarty, Dermot Henry, The Indians, Pat Ely, Brian Harkin and many others playing to huge crowds in dancehalls, carnivals and marquees.
Johnny eased with natural grace into the country scene and had a top 20 hit in 1972 with All I Have To Offer You Is Me, a song that gave Charley Pride his first number one in the American charts. He played the dancehall circuit with his own band which also included Gloria Smyth for a time.
The songs of Hank Williams have had a major impact on Johnny and his iconic album from the 1970s, Johnny McEvoy sings Hank Williams, is a real collector’s item.
Few have the power to pack such emotion into every song as Johnny McEvoy whose interpretations of songs in the folk, country and ballad traditions are top of the league.
His song-writing career that began in 1976 has flourished over the decades and he has penned some absolute gems that include Long Long Before Your Time, The Ballad of John Williams, Run Around Angel, Michael (a tribute to Michael Collins), The Band Played Red River Valley, When We Danced to an Old Fashioned Tune, Rich Man’s Garden, and You Seldom Come To See Me Anymore.
Concert tour promoter, Tom Kelly, who served as manager for Brendan Grace for 27 years, says it is an absolute privilege to be associated with Johnny McEvoy. “He is one of the truly great folk singers on the island of Ireland. He is also a gifted story-teller and a great songwriter.
“If you leave aside his glory years as a young entertainer in the late 1960s, I would say the last three years have been the most successful time in his career since then. He has enjoyed an amazing surge in popularity all over again. So many people have a special time and a huge respect for Johnny McEvoy.”
Johnny’s Irish tour gets underway in the Ashdown Park Hotel in Gorey on the 2 January with shows in the Dolmen Hotel, Carlow, on Friday 3 January and the Diamond Coast Hotel, Enniscrone, on Saturday 4 January.
Other concert dates in January are in Newbridge, Kilkenny, Claremorris, Maynooth, Navan, Roscommon, Galway, Drogheda and Buncrana. There are a further 10 dates over February and March.
Full details and contact numbers in relation to all the tour dates are available on johnnymcevoy.com or tomkellypromotions.com
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