‘I kind of fell into being The Country Boy a bit by accident’

In this week’s edition of The Third Degree Tommy Rosney, The Country Boy reflects on settling in Letterkenny, how he became a radio presenter and his passion for music.

Hi Tommy, thank you for doing this interview. How are things with you?
Thanks Paul. Well my knee’s killing me and I have a bit of diabetes, but I’m good. I try to keep fairly fit, and I’ve cut out the sweets and crisps.

I seem to remember you in the 70s seeming slightly exotic – a tall Sligo man living in Letterkenny. What brought you here at that time?
I did my apprenticeship in drapery, and I worked for three years in Mullaney Brothers in Sligo. As my three years were coming up, I knew I would be moving on, so I applied for a job in Bests. This would have been about 1974. And I got straight in. I was there a couple of months, and the guy who was managing the drapery in Letterkenny, Patrick Price, was getting married to Phyllis, Lord rest her, and I was asked to come up for two weeks to help manage the drapery in Bests. After the two weeks I went back to Sligo, but in the two weeks I had got to know Donald Conway, the assistant manager in the drapery in Letterkenny. So when Patrick left a few months later, I got asked to Letterkenny to do it fulltime. This was in 1975.

Did you feel a bit out of place at that time at all?
A bit. I’d never been away from home before. Letterkenny was small at the time. The first place I got digs in was Devlin’s, just across the Oldtown bridge, with three young Gardaí stationed in Letterkenny. But I couldn’t believe how quick I settled in Letterkenny, because when I was up for the two weeks, I really liked it: a wee small town, not too far away from Sligo. I used to go home regularly. I’d thumb. Sometimes you’d be lucky and just get a straight lift.

Did you always fancy being a radio presenter, or was that just an unexpected opportunity you took?
It’s amazing how I got involved in the radio, back in 1981. Jerome Keeney and Richard Crowley used to have a little pirate station and were trying to give it a go. And they put the word out to anybody interested in DJ work, to do a demo. I didn’t know what a demo was! At the time I was staying in McDaids in Ros Suilighe, and I used to have a twin cassette deck with a radio and a little microphone in the middle. And I used to record a song onto a tape, pause it, record myself saying, “”Now, here’s a song from Loretta Lynn” and went on. So I had a wee demo tape and gave it to Jerome. Heard nothing for two months, then one day I was in the shop and Jerome and Richard came in and said “Tommy, we listened to your demo tape and we liked what we heard in your voice. Would you be interested?” I said cheers, I was excited. There was no money in it, but it was great. A month later I went up to Jerome’s house and he showed me the equipment (the old 4-track cartridges) and we started testing.
I had a case of 45 cassettes, and the night before I would cue up the songs I was going to play. I’d put names and times down on the outside of the tape, so when I was putting the tape down, I knew it was all was ready to go. I did that for 45 songs a night. And when I started off, even though there was nobody listening, I said, “Hello, you’re welcome to the country show, I’m Tommy. Hope you can hang around for the next two hours. I play the best country.”

Your show has always felt a bit different: more about the music than yourself. Was it always about the music for you?
I learned to talk on the radio when the tape machine broke down – I’d be having to slot them in and out and keep talking while I was doing that. But it was never an ego thing for me, it was always the music. But as well, I was never a script person – I had a fulltime job, and when I wasn’t on the radio I was preparing the shows. But at the time it was just me and Big Dan Murtagh playing country music, and people would hear my voice and say “that’s from down the Sligo direction.” I suppose it sounded a bit different back then. But I always knew my subject, and I’d be a perfectionist about the music but would always try to come across on radio as laid back.

I’m guessing you also find a lot of those “blather shows” – the national stations’ breakfast shows, for instance – hard to endure?
I don’t like BS. I don’t do it myself. There’ve always been people like that, playing up to businesspeople and maybe not knowing anything about the music. I wouldn’t do that, I’m just doing my own thing, and a lot of people listen to that and know the stuff I play. But some of the stuff they get up to on radio these days, I don’t know anyone who wants to hear it. It’s all script, and I think a lot of people who really listen to things don’t have any time for that.

How much of the music you play is your choice, and how much are you obliged (in one way or another) to play?
No, that doesn’t really happen. I’ll say one thing about Highland Radio, they give us a free hand. You could play any music you wanted. But Highland too would have a sort of thing about, if something was just a bad recording, it doesn’t do you or the song any justice. That’s good. I always say to artists, if you want to record an album, go and do it right. Because a lot of local artists go into a studio and the studio people might take a hand at them with backing tracks. You know, this whole thing about Britain’s Got Talent. I see people going on there, and if somebody had said to them, you know what, you can’t sing and you’re not great on the instruments, maybe this isn’t really your thing. The most important thing is, they give me space to do what I like. I like to play requests for people. A lot of the time you’ve got a lot of the same people listening, and they might ask for different songs every night. It’s great to have listeners like that.

Are there current, non-country acts that you also listen to?
I’ll listen to any kind of music, except maybe some of the modern dancey stuff. I kind of fell into being The Country Boy a bit by accident, because nobody else was doing that at the time. But I do love country. Lately I’ve been listening to Verlon Thompson, he used to play with Guy Clark. Great guitarist. I interviewed him when I was in America back in 2018. A friend of mine from Convoy introduced us, and I went to his studio in Nashville with her to interview him. I’ve interviewed a lot of people – George Jones, Townes van Zandt, Ricky Scaggs, even John Schneider, who was Bo Duke in Dukes Of Hazzard – but I do them and whoever hears them hears them. I wouldn’t go bragging about it. I’ve been to Nashville about 10 times since 1984.
I would try and explain to people what country music is all about. I play more traditional country, but there’s so many brands of it. Indie, bluegrass, all that. But that new stuff that’s coming out in Nashville at the moment, they’re using the word country, but it’s not country. It might be good on its own, but it’s not always country.

Your show was shelved during Covid. How did that feel, and how did you fill the time instead? I presume you were very happy to get back.
When it happened first, it was a real shock. I heard first the station might be closing down altogether, but instead it just went seven in the morning to seven in the evening. So any of us on after seven in the evening were affected. And with all those other businesses closing down, we were a bit nervous. But with so little revenue or ads coming in, I understood why that had to be done, and I was able to take stock a bit, and then it was great to get back.

You turned 70 recently – was that significant for you, as a time to take stock or think about retiring?
No. I’ll do radio until I die. Probably live on the air!

What does happiness/contentment look like for you?
I am happy. When I’m not in the studio, I’m always happy with my family. I have three adult kids now, Louise, Don and Anita. Aside from the family, my main passion is music. And football as a sport – Liverpool and Sligo Rovers. And I would have a season ticket for Sligo Rovers since I was a young fella.

Are there any local issues you would like to draw attention to?
I wish the traffic could be managed better. There are some pretty bad roads, and the traffic at the Polestar at the minute is the worst option. The traffic in this town is mental.

Quick fire:
The book or the film?
Well, I like reading biographies of country singers. But I love films. Films and a bit of telly.

Your perfect night?
Chilling out at home with Margo and Louise. I don’t drink or smoke, and since Covid I don’t even really feel like going out much.

What do you look for most in a friend?
Trust. I have one friend from college in Sligo, and I would trust him with my life. I think if you have one friend like that you’re doing well.

Do you have a particular motto/belief that you try to live by?
Not a motto, but I try to see the good in everybody.

If anyone else would like to take part in this interview, to raise a profile or an issue, or just for fun, please contact Paul at Dnthirddegree@gmail.com

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