Big Tom did make me a star... but he was bigger!

SETS THE CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS

THEY called him Big Tom – King of Country, and he always wore his crown with modesty and unfailing good humour.

I only encountered him a couple of times, the last occasion being the Late Late Country Special, a year ago.

The showbands ruled the entertainment roost in Ireland from the late 1950s until the early 1960s.

Over the years, more than 500 professional bands were out on the road every night, except Monday.

Monday nights was when musicians and their managers would congregate in the Television Club at the Spotlight Showband Night Out and tell each other lies about the size of the crowds they had had the week before. But the wind was changing. It was the arrival home of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, having conquered America, who were an inspiration to the folk community with its own set of stars such as Danny Doyle and Johnny McEvoy.

This period was called the Ballad Boom. Coming up fast behind them, though, was a hybrid sound called Country’n’Irish, with Larry Cunningham and Brian Coll, and their likes.

It was from this new mixture of folk and Country music that Big Tom outdid them all, singing a sentimental waltz called ‘Gentle Mother’.

My first encounter with him was in 1967 when he was riding high. I wrote and released a song ‘Big Tom Will Make Me A Star’, which was a tribute as well as a humorous poke at the big man.

‘Been on the road for ten long years Going nowhere fast Until one night I met Big Tom He smiled as he went past I said, Tom, old son, you’re the only one who can tell me what to do And he said alright We’ll meet tonight In Castleblayney at half past two Big Tom will make me Big Tom will make me Big Tom will make me a star Ask Susan McCann She’s your only man If you’re ever going to go far.’

Last year I saw him sitting quietly amongst family and Country fans at the show in RTÉ and I went across to him and stuck out my hand.

He growled and gave me a baleful stare, before breaking into a warm smile: ‘So did I make you a star?’

Many people will find it hard to comprehend what a huge star Tom was.

His dances attracted people from far and wide.

Legend has it that at one such marquee, the size of the crowd was so big that not alone did they have to close the flaps to the tent, they also had to close the gates to the field!

During the summer months he would play in marquees which would spring up at every crossroads.

‘Gentle Mother’, Tom’s huge hit, struck a note with punters and this big hulk of a man became an overnight sensation.

CASTLEBLANEY was a hot bed of great characters in the music business and Tom stands out as one of the giants. There is a great apocryphal story of Tom and his band, ‘The Mainliners, when they were playing in America.

The story goes that Big Tom was booked by a promoter on the assumption that with a band called ‘The Mainliners’ he was booking a hip act with druggy connections.

It’s such a good story you’d like it to be true.

There is one other story, though, that exemplifies Big Tom’s sense of humour.

He was standing at the bar in the Galtymore Ballroom in London when Joe Dolan, an incorrigible wag, crept up behind him and burst forth with the chorus of ‘Four Country Roads’, another one of Big Tom’s huge hits. ‘Four Roads to Glenamaddy...’ trilled Joe.

‘It’s you, it’s you, it’s you,’ responded Big Tom, quick as a flash, turning around and singing the words of one of Joe’s own big hits straight back to him.