Daniel O’Donnell here June 5th

DANIEL BRINGS HIS IRISH CHARM TO HARBOUR STATION

The autumn days are here again, the night winds chilly blow,

The woodlands turn to golden hue, the harvest moon’s aglow.

To hear again of days long past to come no more I know,

When I mowed Pat Murphy’s meadow in the sunny long ago.

To me, When I Mowed Pat Murphy’s Meadow is one of the most hauntingly nostalgic songs in the entire pantheon of traditional ballads but also the most unknown and astonishingly seldom recorded.

Daniel O’Donnell who is appearing in concert at Saint John’s Harbour Station, June 5, agreed with me on that when I talked with him by phone two weeks ago.

I knew that song only from the one solitary recording I’d found early in my collecting years: that by a beloved early Irish recording act The McNulty Family. It had actually been written as a poem in the early 1900′s by a J.M. Devine, of Kings Cove, Newfoundland, a man of Irish ancestry. It had been set to music by Peter McNulty shortly before he, his sister Eileen and their mother Ann recorded it in the mid-1950′s.

Although recorded by several Newfoundland singers locally and Irish entertainer Patrick Murrihet in the 1980′s, it has remained for Daniel O’Donnell, a modern day music phenomenon to make it known to a far wider international audience. It along with a number of other lesser known Irish songs.

But Daniel’s repertoire, of course, encompasses vastly more than the Irish songs learned in the village of Kincasslagh, County Donegal at his mother’s knee. His repertoire now is truly international in scope and diversity. Inspirational songs, world theme anthems appeal greatly to him. Anyone who has watched one of his U.S. Public Broadcasting concerts over MPBS carried here by Rogers Cable can vouch for that.

I had a number to call Daniel that I thought would be his home in Meenbanad, Co. Donegal. It turned out he was in Spain, on a vacation before hitting the concert trail, a trail that brings him here to Harbour Station for another much anticipated concert. He is really looking forward to it as well. Our Canadian East Coast audiences he says are so warm, like Ireland’s, that he feels so at home here.

And “yes” he said to my first question “Mary Duff will be with me and my band, of course”

I’d been surprised, phoning several times that morning with no one picking-up, when he’d called me back, apologetic about not having been there. I was surprised that such an acclaimed, famous entertainer, the idol of actually millions, could be so sincerely concerned about that. As his tour promoter Leo Puddester, who called me later from Florida, said, “Daniel is the real thing! He is exactly the caring, down to earth person he seems on concert stages and those Public Broadcasting specials!”

That was reflected in his knowledge and praise of many earlier Irish vocalists we talked of: Willie Brady, Ruby Murray, Carmel Quinn, Brendan O’Dowda and Bridie Gallagher among others.

“Bridie, yes” he said. “I see her often. She lives near us in Donegal. They call her The Girl From Donegal, a real legend. She is quite along in years now but still sings beautifully.”

I said I thought her treatments of The Old Wishin’ Chair and The Road They Call The Kylemore Pass were two of the most ethereally beautiful songs I‘d ever heard on records and he concurred. It is so rare to talk to such a successful entertainer who has not lost his appreciation of the talent of others.

As a youngster Daniel sang in a church choir. In high school music was his dream. In 1980, however, he moved to Galway and began business studies but found he couldn’t apply himself so quit to join Margo’s, an older sister’s band. In 1983 he recorded his first single My Donegal Shore, paid for it and sold all the copies himself. He, then, formed his own band Country Fever. When it broke up he formed another The Grassroots.

After acquiring a manager, Sean Reilly, in1985 he played sold-out concerts in England regularly. In 1989 he was voted Donegal Person of The Year which he still considers his greatest honour ever. He appeared on the biggest TV shows in the U.K. and was named Irish Entertainer of The Year in 1988 and 1991.

Then in 1992 after a couple of hectic, event packed years he suffered a physical burn-out that side-lined him for three months. He returned then to a reduced concert schedule. His first U.K. hit single was I Just Want To Dance With You released that year and later covered in the U.S. by George Strait. He also forged a close professional relationship with sensational Irish songstress Mary Duff who still tours regularly with him. He was voted Irish Entertainer Of The Year again in 1996.

He’s had 20 Top 40 albums and 15 Top 40 singles on UK charts and 18 of his albums have climbed to top spots on Billboard’s World Music Charts in the U.S. To date he has starred on seven two-hour PBS specials televised across North America. That has contributed greatly to his fame on this side of the Atlantic. Earlier in 2011, this year, Daniel became the first artist to ever have a CD album stay on U.K. Charts for 24 consecutive weeks.

Don’t miss this global entertainment giant in concert at Saint John’s Harbour Station, Sunday, June 5. Get your tickets now at the Station’s box office, call 657-1234 or 1-800-217-2800 to reserve by credit card.