The third dance from the end

Sometimes it takes years and sometimes it never happens at all. But at the end of the day, it still takes just three minutes or so to give a singer the song that can change their life. One big song that hits the jackpot and, after all the years of hard work and miles of road, you become an overnight success.

Simon Casey from Ballycumber would appear to have scooped the jackpot with his new single, The Third Dance from the End. It is also the title of his new 14-track album that was just released.

Fifteen years have flown by since the man from Offaly made it through to the final of the RTÉ talent show, You’re A Star. Those were halcyon days for the young singer, who was bathed in the national limelight.

The success garnered from these shows has a certain lifespan, and then it is all down to hard work and graft to try and maintain a profile.

Simon Casey knows the score by now. But he has always had one trump card ready to play – pure talent.

Growing up in a rural part of Offaly, close to Moate in Westmeath, he came from a region of the midlands steeped in country music tradition. Ray Lynam and The Hillbillies were iconic players who put down the foundations here.

Like Buck Owens and The Buckaroos, who pioneered the Bakersfield sound out of California in former times, Ray and the lads set the woods on fire with their sheer class and style, that swept over Ireland in the 1970s.

Simon could not escape the love there is for country music in the heartlands of Ireland. And though other musical styles appeal to him, country music has never been far away.

In recent years he was chuffed to record As She’s Walking Away with Ray Lynam, for whom he has enormous respect. The duet marked a serious return to the country fold for Simon.

When Noel O’Farrell from Mullingar, who hosts the Saturday Mix show on Midlands Radio, sang The Third Dance From The End for him while they were out in Spain at the Stars in the Sun Music Holidays, he was captivated by the lyrics and the story.

“I knew from the moment I heard it that it was special and my kind of song. It is based on a true story and Noel got the idea from a neighbour of his, whose wife had died a short time earlier. He asked the man how he was feeling and he related the story of how she had asked him to dance in a ‘ladies’ choice’ all those years before. Back in those times, the third dance from the end of the night was often a ladies choice, where a girl came over and asked a lad to dance. He said it was the loveliest moment in his life when she did and that they had lived a great life together down through the years and that it would never have happed only for that third dance from the end.”

Simon, who fronts a wedding band with brothers Danny, Des and Paul Sheerin, recorded the song which was produced by Des Sheerin in his studios in Tang, Co Westmeath.

“The response over the last six weeks has been unreal. It has been at number one on the iTunes charts for a few weeks and the momentum is building all along. We shot a video for the song in the castle chapel at Markree Castle, near Collooney in Co Sligo,” says Simon.

The new album, The Third Dance From The End, takes Simon to a new plateau. It is clear that he enjoyed every minute in the studio.

“I have to say I am very proud of this album and I loved singing the songs on it. Some of the ones included were songs I released as singles in recent years, such as Another Day Gone and As She Walked Away, and they were not available on any album before.

“Go Rest High On That Mountain is a beautiful Vince Gill classic and a song that I absolutely love, and I am so delighted with it. It is full of emotion. I think there is a lot of emotion in the songs on the album. Feels Like Home is included, as is A Living Prayer. The album has a lot of uplifting songs and it is definitely the most country-flavoured album I have ever done.

“The Sheerins encouraged me to get a move on and finish the album. I am blessed to have so many wonderful musicians almost on my doorstep.”

Simon is also looking forward to a number of church concerts between now and Christmas. These include the Friary Church in Athlone on 6 December, along with the Army Band in support of the Samaritans. Teresa Mannion from RTÉ will compere.

There is another concert at Mucklagh Church near Tullamore on 12 December, where he will be joined by Dave Lalor. Simon is also very much looking forward to a very special concert at Ballymore Church (Westmeath) on 14 December, along with Paul Skelton, with proceeds in support of the church restoration fund.

“If there is one song I feel I would like to sing for the rest of my life, it is this one,” he says.

As they say in parts of Laois and Offaly, I endorse that. CL