Another year has rolled by in the blink of an eye and the National Ploughing Championships is here again. This time, the action takes place in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

I had the privilege of having Anna May McHugh, the lady who has guided the Ploughing Championships to becoming the biggest outdoor festival and celebration in Europe, as a guest on my series of The Half Door on Irish TV some months ago. In her lovely home near Ballylynan in Co Laois, I enjoyed a special day in the presence of this great Irish woman.

Good country music always prides itself on the quality of the lyrics. It is a music that loves to tell a story, a music that is grounded in reality, just like some poets who have so majestically captured the essence of rural life over the years.

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I was fascinated to learn that Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare and Leighlin organised a competition last year to find the most popular poems with a ploughing theme. The competition attracted over 1,000 entries.

The winning poem was one written many years ago by Belfast-born poet Joseph Campbell (1879-1944) called I Will Go With My Father A Ploughing:

I will go with my father a-ploughing

To the green field by the sea,

And the rooks and the crows and the seagull

Will come flocking after me.

I will sing to the patient horses

With the lark in the while of the air,

And my father will sing the

plough-song

That blesses the cleaving share

Two poems by the great south Derry poet Seamus Heaney filled second and third spot, while one of my own favourites by Patrick (Paddy) Kavanagh from Monaghan (1904-1967) was placed fourth. It beautifully captures the eternal spirit of the Irish connection with the soil in these following lines:

Forget the men on Brady’s hill.

Forget what Brady’s boy may say

For destiny will not fulfil

Unless you let the harrow play

Forget the worm’s opinion too

Of hooves and pointed harrow-pins,

For you are driving your

horses through

The mist where Genesis begins

In a week where poetry and music and gentle banter exist alongside the economics and commercial life of the country, it is good to stand back, reflect and enjoy the calmness and serenity of the spoken and written word.

Country music and traditional music have been incorporated in a special way into the Ploughing Championships over many years. Both find a natural home in the great outdoors. The majestic setting for the Ploughing each year somehow captures the sweeping vistas that take you to the land of the big country.

The band stand will again play host to some well-known acts on the Irish entertainment scene over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 20, 21, and 22 September. Derek Ryan will have the honour of being first on as President Michael D Higgins performs the official opening on Tuesday.

Aldi have Mike Denver performing in their massive marquee over the three days. Seamus Moore will also have his own shows during the three days at Hugh Lynch’s Bar.

Many regulars, including PJ Murrihy, The Duets, Geraldine and Kinfolk (two shows on Wednesday) and others, will be back again and performing on the bandstand during the festival.

Richie Kavanagh, the man from Carlow, will officially launch his new DVD, Will Ya Have A Mug A Tae, which features a lively batch of songs composed by the man himself. Richie is a special favourite at this three-day festival every year, and fans can look forward to seeing him perform live each day.

It is all of 28 years since Tony Coffey and Seán Murphy from west Waterford made their debut as The Bachelors in Trouble at the Ploughing Championships. These hardy souls, so immersed in rural life, are back again and have a brand new dvd for their many followers.

“We would hardly know what to do with ourselves if we did not travel to the Ploughing in September. Our fans are always looking for something new and our latest dvd is Saints, Sinners and the Black Ass.

“It was shot on location around Leamybrien, Kilrossanty, Kilmacthomas, the Waterford Greenway, and a bit at the Lahern Crossroads Céilí near Mallow in Co Cork. We have all the usual crew as well as a new addition, retired garda sergeant Michael Hearne who plays the part of the Missioner. Singers features on the new video include Richie Kavanagh, Paddy O’Brien, Pat Daly and Catriona O’Donovan,” says Tony.

The Ploughing Championships will attract over 250,000 people next week, reflecting the extraordinary connection so many people have with the land.

This connection has been celebrated in song and poetry down the years. It is a love that is transferred from generation to generation. How many of us see an elderly man in a field or a bog and conjure up memories of our own father and the generations that went before? There is nothing like the soil to anchor us to reality.

• I will be at the Irish Farmers Journal stand from 2pm to 4pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, so do come over and say hello. I’m looking forward to meeting many of the loyal readers of the Country Sound pages. CL