Country Sound: those were the good ole days

While Paschal Mooney had strong views about RTÉ Radio 2 and the bureaucratic nature of the station back in the mid-1980s, he has retained a deep personal regard for Cathal McCabe who was a producer at the station and soon afterwards became head of music at RTÉ Radio One.

“Cathal wasn’t a bureaucrat and wasn’t a civil servant. He was a dyed in the wool market driven northerner who was a breath of fresh air at the time. He was so flexible and so accommodating when it came to good ideas. I have a huge respect for Cathal,” says Paschal.

After his move from Radio 2, Paschal Mooney and Aonghus McAnally co-presented the nightly Both Sides Now on Radio One, a show greatly encouraged by Cathal McCabe, and which ran for a good few years. Other documentary-style shows on the Irish in Britain were also compiled and presented by Paschal as special commissions.

“Cathal was also very supportive of the Country Star Time series which I hosted on RTÉ television back in the 1980s. Those were memorable times and the shows attracted great viewing audiences”.

The Radio 2 Keep It Country promotions also took to the road and played to full houses almost everywhere. Paschal co-ordinated all the shows and also served as compere each night. “They were phenomenally popular in that era. I remember one of the early ones was in The Cush Inn, Kildangan, in Co Kildare. There was a big queue outside when I got there.

“I recall the owner saying he had tables spread around the floor and I just said to him, ‘Get rid of the tables, there are around 300 people outside waiting to get in’. He took my advice and they all got in.”

In 1977, Paschal made it to Nashville. His first trip there was unplanned as he had accompanied the Top Rank All Stars on a trip to New York. Castleblayney showbiz impresario, Tony Loughman, had put together the biggest country music agency of that era and had taken a sizeable group of well-known singers and friends to New York for a series of three fund raising games.

“It was based along similar lines to the Jimmy Magee All Stars which played novelty GAA games around Ireland during the showband era. Tony had a connection with a Mr Clancy who owned a string of Blarney Stone pubs in the New York region at the time and who invited Tony and the Top Ranks Stars to New York.

“Kevin McCooey, who later went on to manage Big Tom, mentioned to me that he would love to go to Nashville so we decided there and then to do that. We flew down to Nashville and I recall Kevin recognising so many of the country singers at Nashville Airport. It was like a hallway of stars.

“That was where I met Olivia Newton John. She was the subject a lot of controversy in Nashville when she and John Denver were chosen as the female and male country singers of the year in that era.

“Some of the traditional establishment spoke out strongly against them getting the awards saying they were not country enough. But the music was moving on. Olivia was such a lovely person. She was a superstar, but could not have been more obliging and down to earth.

“I went to Nashville for the annual convention almost every year after that until around 1996. I interviewed so many of the big names in that era. I had the privilege of interviewing many of them at the big Wembley International Country Festival in London. They included Dolly Parton, Charley Pride and so many others.

“Marty Robbins was a gentleman. I introduced him on stage in the National Stadium in Dublin. He truly was one of the greatest ever entertainers in country music. He had it all.”

Paschal also has fond memories of the Gold Star Awards in the 1980s.

“A promoter in England conceived the idea of a country music Eurovision contest. He negotiated with a TV station in the Netherlands to transmit the Gold Star Final each year and I was asked to look after the Irish jury.

“We ran an Irish version each year and Ireland dominated the contest winning it around six times. The last one to win it was Louise Morrissey and she is still the holder of the title as no contest has been held since that time. Paddy O’Brien, Mary Duff, Phil Begley, TR Dallas and Susan McCann were among our representatives in those times.”

The Mooney family from Leitrim have a long history in Irish politics. Paschal’s father, Joe Mooney, was a Fianna Fáil councillor and senator, his mother Eva also served Leitrim County Council while his grandfather Andrew was elected as a Sinn Féin councillor back in 1920.

“I was elected to the Fianna Fáil National Executive in 1979 and I had the honour of serving in Seanad Éireann from 1987 until 2016 with one short break. From a family point of view, the Oireachtas elections in 2020 were the first time in a century that a Mooney name was not on the ballot paper. It was a great honour to serve as a senator.”

Back to the current country scene and Paschal feels that the Irish revival of the last decade has reached a plateau.

“Every musical genre has its cycle. American country music changed at different stages. You had John Denver and Olivia Newton John in the 1970s, Garth Brooks in the 90s and the kind of music of the last decade which is very far removed from the country music I and most Irish people have known over the years.

“In my opinion, a lot of the modern stuff is rap-country or pop country. I feel it has peaked now.”

Meanwhile, Paschal continues his love affair with radio and is the host of the Afternoon Delight show on Sligo-based Ocean FM from Monday to Friday between 2pm and 4pm and features a wide variety of music. He also hosts a three-hour show from 11am to 2pm every Saturday on the station that services Sligo, north Leitrim and south Donegal.

“The biggest satisfaction is knowing the happiness that music brings to the lives of people... and perhaps none more so than at times like this,” reflects Paschal. “Good radio will always have a special place in the heart of communities around the world.”

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