It’s not many music artists that will leave the interview with the promise of supplying you with some scones for your mum but that is the way John McNicholl works.
The former pastry chef and premiere Irish country music artist who toured Australia for an one off performance last year is set to return with a more extended tour later this year or early next year.
I was one of the lucky guests at John’s first musical weekend in Claremorris, Mayo, Ireland recently. It was a pleasant surprise for all patrons dining in the little Irish pub at the hotel to be welcomed individually and personally by John, this personal touch too is part of how John works. He thinks its important to make an effort.
He tells me he prefers to surround himself with a happy and caring staff, part of this is due to his family and the lessons they have taught him that keep him grounded. He recounts to me memories of his own mum and dad, not well off financially themselves, and with 15 children to raise, donating some of their own belongings to people in the community much worse off than themselves. This lesson resonated with John and he tells me he hopes to emulate their kindness himself someday.
Its the family focus and down to earth dealings that sees John name Dolly Parton, herself part of a large family (one less than John’s own family he reminds me!), as someone he would like to duet with. He mentions to me how Dolly sometimes visits rural pubs in Ireland in disguise and does some impromptu performances. This kind of down to earth attitude is very much part of John’s persona and evidenced in the fact prior to his own performance on the last day of the weekend he took to the dance floor with fans!
It’s not just singing and dancing that John is skilled at. As a former baker John still bakes about 3 times a week, mainly for himself and family. It was his casual mention of the fact he had just baked scones for his Mum and family that prompted me to say my Mum was also a scone eater and John’s offer to provide some for her.
Another regular habit for John is to say his prayers before each show as without doing so he wouldn’t feel ready to go on stage. Sometimes he sits for an hour in church. He’s not an overt ‘bible basher’ but his faith is important to him, as is the prayer ritual he keeps.
We discuss Australia and how John believes the relaxed attitude of Australians is very like the Irish and of course of the many Irish now in Australia and all the GAA and Mayo tops (he saw when he was here last year), sported by patrons on Bondi beach.
Johns dream is to one day perform at the Sydney opera house, a place he found very inspiring when he visited.
‘Come on dance’, John’s latest self-penned sensational single has already been picked up by a singer in Barcelona and John’s eager to see what the interpretation will be like. He finds it a great honour to have his song recorded by another artist.
John has also written 8 or 9 new songs that will be showcased on his forthcoming album. The songs will nicely fit into his country style although John has also written contemporary songs that remain on the back-burner at the moment as he looks to cater for his large country music fan base.
John has also ventured into television co hosting Celtic Note (www.celticnote.com) with fellow Irish artist Sandy Kelly. John and Sandy show a mix of music videos and interview the artists showcasing different artist each week. John muses on what he’s going to say on an upcoming episode when he has to talk about his own video clips!
The Irish dance concerts such as the ones we are attending are a little different to the conventional concert in that patrons are invited to dance right from the start of proceedings rather than toward the end of the concert. John believes a mixture of both the ‘dance’ and conventional concert formats have helped him develop his abilities as a performer although he does have a leaning towards the more conventional concert format.
John’s heroes in music are fellow Irish entertainers Daniel O’Donnell, Maura O’Connell, Dolores Keane and Margo, he has great respect for all of them and their achievements.
Perhaps a little inkling to John’s nature can be seen in the origin of the McNicholl name from the Viking settlers of Scotland and from the name Nicholas, of the saint who became famous for giving. Whether it be scones or songs, John and the McNicholl family are very giving people.
John should be very proud of his achievements and the way he is conducting his career. Hopefully we will see some of that very personal approach to performing out here in Australia either later this year or early next year.
John’s first live DVD “John McNicholl Live”is out now and available at http://www.tmusiconline.com/ and selected stores.
Paula Xiberras
