April 11, 2024 • 16 mins
On this exciting episode, we are thrilled to host the talented George Murphy, an artist and singer-songwriter from Beaumont, Dublin who skyrocketed to fame through the show 'You're A Star'. Journey with us as George talks about his two-decade-long roller-coaster ride in the Irish music industry, his band 'The Rising Suns', and his ambitious collaborations with music mavens like Aslan, the Dubliners, and Phil Coulter.
Our conversation with George extends beyond just his music. Hear about his acting aims, his upcoming one-man show penned by respected playwright Gary Brown, and how he had to sideline his acting dreams for his devotion to music. George also imparts a glimpse of his grounded lifestyle, maintained by his close group of pals despite his soaring success. And more than that, he sheds light on his childhood, highlighting his deep-rooted connection to his roots.
Discover joys of fatherhood through George's eyes and how he's nurturing his daughter's emerging musical talents. Be enthralled with an impromptu performance by George himself with his soul-stirring rendition of "Come My Little Son". Come, be a part of this warm conversation as we uncover less explored facets of George Murphy's life, a colorful montage of music, acting, friendships, and family.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good evening, folks. Today's guest is singer-songwriter George Murphy,
who hails from the Dublin suburb of Beaumont.
George exploded onto the Irish music scene after his memorable appearances on
RTE's television show, You're a Star.
George, you're very welcome on the show. Thank you so much for your time.
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from and how
(00:21):
you ended up where you ended up?
Well how long have you got here i mean it's it's it's been a bit of a roller coaster,
journey now for the last 20 coming up on
21 years now i yeah like you said i i auditioned for the tv show back when i
was only 17 years of age and i didn't realize that it was going to change my
(00:42):
life forever and that i would end up being blessed to be involved in in the
irish music scene as as as much as I have been.
And to work with some of the people I grew up listening to, like heroes of mine,
like Aslan and the Dubliners and the Furies and Phil Coulter and that kind of thing.
And I've recorded like five studio albums now and traveled all over the world,
(01:06):
touring, playing music.
And that's kind of the short synopsis, if you will.
But yeah, I mean, what's strange, I suppose, for me here is it still very much
feels like the beginning, because I've, I've started this new band called the
Rising Suns and we've just finished recording our first studio album together.
And I'm taking on some of the biggest venues in the country that I've ever played.
(01:28):
Like we've sold out Vicar Street and we've done the Cork Opera House
and we're going to be in the Millennium Forum in Derry in
a couple of weeks time and getting to play these rooms with
people who I kind of started a session with in the
corner of our local pub to go from the corner
of a local pub singing a few songs and drinking a few pints to
selling out the biggest auditoriums in
(01:49):
the country is just it's incredible you know Unbelievable wow
fair dudes and George because you were solo artist before and you're going into
a band how does that feel because you've got all these different personalities
and you know I suppose you still want it to go the way you want it to go you
know what you're doing are the band members willing to be led by you?
(02:10):
I mean, to a degree, they kind of let me kind of lead the charge, I suppose.
But at the same time, they do have their own opinions and their own ideas of
what direction we should go in.
And there is arguments and there is bickering. I can't say that there isn't.
But I kind of welcome that because, you know, you're doing something honest
then, you know, you're you know, if you're arguing over something that everybody
(02:33):
is trying to get to the right place.
But differences of opinion when it comes to music are healthy sometimes because
an idea that I might not be able to come up with on my own, somebody else might come up with.
And when everybody throws their hat in the ring and we try to kind of complement
everybody's talent and the talent that they're bringing to the table,
I think it leads to the to the best end result, you know.
(02:56):
No, that's very fair and very honest of you to say.
And do the other guys sing as well or is it just playing instruments?
No, they sing. They sing also. I mean, I'm kind of the lead singer,
but my cousin Dave is a very strong singer as well.
Myself and Dave kind of went out as a two piece for a long time.
And then we started this session and we filled these other players in around us.
(03:18):
But I mean, we kind of started the session with the idea that we would just
have the traditional Irish kind of sound of banjos and whistles and fiddles
and put the word out that if anybody played an instrument and they wanted to
join in on the session, that they were more than welcome to come down.
Then all of a sudden, like a guy arrived with an electric guitar and a bass
guitar and then drums and stuff like that.
(03:40):
And it was taken on a bit more of a kind of a rock and roll element.
And that's not really the direction that we were looking to go in.
But when we heard the rock and roll sound mixed with the Irish traditional sound,
I just kind of had a bit of a kind of epiphany moment, I suppose.
I was like, this works really, really well together.
So I sat down with my management team and I said, I'd like to take these guys on the road and.
(04:04):
I think they kind of advised against me because they said, look,
it's not going to work with guys who have day jobs and can't give their full
commitment and dedication to a music career.
And it's also not going to work if there's eight of you because it's just logistically
a nightmare in terms of travel and accommodation and finance and a band of that size.
(04:24):
But we weren't really in it for the money. We just wanted to to make some music
together and try and make some memories and build a bit of an audience.
And thankfully, like I said, we've gone from the corner of a local pub to selling
out the biggest rooms in the country, you know.
That's amazing. And I'm really excited for you guys to come to the UK because
(04:45):
my husband and I are going to go see you. You're playing.
What was the name of the place that you said you were playing in Birmingham?
Yeah, so we're just after confirming that we're going to be on the Park Festival,
which runs on the weekend of the 24th and 25th of August.
August, we've also been asked, invited over to play the Irish Cultural Centre
(05:06):
in Hammersmith in London.
So we're going to be playing there as well. But there's lots of offers coming
in from Scotland and the UK and stuff like that.
And look, I'd love to take them all on board.
But the problem is, like I said, the lads all have their day jobs.
So I have to kind of to some degree work around their schedule.
And summer months are pretty good because there's
(05:28):
a good few of the the lads are school teachers and they have
three months off in the summer so we can kind of make it
work around then you know but yeah i mean
it's it's it's all go i mean i suppose the cool thing about the
band is as well but people know that we're born out of a
session and so when one or two of the musicians can't make it like it it doesn't
really affect the gig to the like obviously we miss them and their musicality
(05:52):
but but the show can still go ahead as a five piece as a six piece and we just
kind of get on with it and we can make it work with whatever player's kind of torn up, you know?
Yeah, no, that's fair enough. And it's not going to slow you down at all.
It's just something that you can work with.
You've been used to being on your own anyway. So anything else after that as a bonus.
Talk to me about when you were younger, you were 17, I believe, when you did Eurostar.
(06:16):
What did it feel like to go in in front of these people?
I think, was it Phil Coulter, a judge back then?
He was, yeah. I mean, that must have been it. Is that why you took the audition
on? Because you wanted to see him?
Or is that why you chose to do Luke Kelly? What were you feeling?
Yeah, no, I kind of, I chose kind of to do a Luke Kelly song because I knew
(06:37):
that Phil Coulter had worked with Luke Kelly and I couldn't believe how well
it worked in the sense that Phil pulled me aside after my very first audition
and he told me he was going to produce my first album.
Album now look I was 17 walking in
off the streets of Dublin I hadn't even told my mother and father that
I was going for this audition and I came home and told them
(06:57):
that Phil Coulter said he was going to produce an album with
me and you know they were like yeah right whatever like that's
never going to happen and the show ran on then for another
kind of like six seven eight months or whatever it was
it went on for a long time until they whittled it down to the
finalists and all that kind of stuff and Phil never mentioned
it again he said it to me that very first day and then
(07:17):
he never said it again and then when the show came to an end a
couple of weeks passed and I had a management team in
place I was getting record deal offers from
Universal and Sony and stuff like
that and as soon as the deal was put in place I got a call from Phil Coulter
to say I told you I was going to produce your album I'm a man of my words and
(07:38):
I went up the north then and actually lived with Phil we moved in together and
I would get up in the morning and have breakfast with him and stuff like that.
And then we'd head off to the studio, record for the day, come home,
have dinner, go to bed, wake up the next day and in the studio again, you know.
Oh, my goodness. I didn't realize that. This is amazing.
(08:00):
I didn't know that. Phil, I mean, who doesn't love Phil?
Anyone that watches Irish TV and loves Irish music knows that Phil Coulter wrote
some of the best songs ever.
That's really impressive. And do you still work
with Phil now or are you kind of doing your own thing I'm
kind of more doing my own thing I mean I I Phil
will still take my calls and I'll still I'll still chat to him
(08:22):
about projects and take some advice off him and stuff like that
and he he was always a like a
great friend and a mentor in in the beginning but like like every songwriter
like Phil himself would tell you like you kind of have to make your own path
in in this industry at a certain point and I mean Phil definitely gave me a
good the leg up to start with but I'm kind of trying to find my own route forward now you know.
(08:47):
You've achieved so much so young I mean you did start young and I believe I
was watching an interview that you did you said that your background you did
a degree in performing arts is that right or music?
Yeah, yeah. I actually, my kind of main passion when I finished school and what
I wanted to get involved in was acting.
And I've been provided a few opportunities now. I'm actually,
(09:10):
I'm learning a script at the moment to do a one man show.
It was written by a playwright called Gary Brown, but it's kind of a musical
play about a Dublin docker and growing up around the Dublin docks and the hardships
that the families and people went through,
like trying to get work and trying to put food on the table
and that kind of thing but it's there's a lot of songs about it
(09:33):
and the songs have been kind of co-written by myself and Damien
Dempsey and uh and Gary Brown also so that's
going to be another opportunity to kind of act and stuff like that but that's
what I I got involved in in college I was I was studying and and trying to go
down the acting route and then I was offered a record deal in music and that
the acting kind kind of took a backseat then and has been in the backseat for
(09:57):
the last 20 years, I suppose.
It's just never been, it's never been an itch. I managed to scratch as much
as I would have liked because I was always just kept so busy with the music,
you know. That's what I was going to say.
You know, when you're doing something with acting and learning lines,
it's very time consuming.
So, you know, there's two brilliant things that you're probably,
I would say you would be a very, very good actor.
Definitely very, very good actor. And I would like to see you on the big screens and say,
(10:21):
once upon a time I had you on the the podcast tell me this
george what was it like growing up in bowman what was
the area like what were your friends like has your friends changed
after you became we won't say famous because i know that you don't like using
that word but when you started to reach your level of success what was it like
no in fairness what i suppose what's really good about my group of friends is
(10:43):
like nobody is allowed to get carried away with themselves i mean all we kind
of do is is take take the mick out of one another,
you know, and it's, it's nearly the, the, the more successful you are at something,
regardless of whether it's me at music or one of my friends as a,
as a personal trainer and restarting his own company, like whatever they do,
the more successful you are, the more you're going to have the piss ripped out
(11:06):
of you by the rest of the lads.
You know what I mean? Or like if I come in after doing a big gig and I've.
You know, maybe doing well financially because of it, like they'll all be saying,
okay, well, George is going to get the bill or George is going to,
you know, like, it's not like I'm rich and they know I'm not rich,
but it's, it's, it's all,
they know well how to bring you back down to earth. And the same is true of myself.
(11:27):
Like, like I wouldn't let any of them get carried away and they,
they never let me get carried away.
And we're all very supportive of each other while at the same time,
constantly ripping the mick out of one another as well, you know?
But I think I think that's a good way to, to have a group of friends.
And I suppose the cool thing about, um, about us as a group as well as,
I mean, the same kind of 10, 15, 20 people that I would have kicked the ball
(11:52):
around with when I was in the park at eight, nine, 10 years of age,
they're the same lads that I would go.
And like on, we'd be going on stags in the next few weeks.
And we, we go to the pub to watch the football, but it's, it's all the same crew.
And there's about 20 of us that still get together. and we're all
now nearly pushing 40 at this stage you
know well that's it must be a really nice area to
(12:15):
grow up in them because i'm originally from plundalkin and
we kind of had to friends that i've had for 15 years over
the the last few years they kind of drift off i think
the more you go in the direction that you want in life you kind of
lose them on the way so i think it's a credit to you to have the friends
that you've had since you were a kid and it's very humble
you're a very humble person i can tell by talking to you yeah well
(12:35):
i mean thank you for saying i mean look don't get me wrong
like families and marriages and and
you know and jobs like they do get in the way it's
not like i still see these people on a daily basis but we
all try to make time for one another when it comes to say like the weekends
or special occasions or birthday parties and that kind of thing and and we we
(12:57):
like my kids would keep in touch with my friends kids and stuff like that and
we use that as an opportunity to for us to catch up by getting our kids together
and that that kind of thing,
you know, and it's just the circle of life, I suppose.
Absolutely. Does any of your kids play instruments or sing as well?
Yeah, my daughter is a fantastic singer. She's brilliant.
(13:18):
She plays a little bit of piano, a little bit of ukulele. I'm trying to teach her the guitar.
She's kind of getting a little bit, getting to that age where she's a bit too cool for school now.
And she doesn't really want daddy teaching her songs. Like, I mean,
when she was kind of growing up, I would have been getting her to listen to
the Beatles and to the stuff that I thought was cool.
(13:39):
But like she's at an age now where she has her own interests and
the stuff she's listening to wouldn't exactly float my
boat but at the same time you have to allow her to
have her own her own interests and and find
her own way I don't want to push it on her too much she does have a
lot of talent but I don't want to be too forceful with
it because um the more I push the more she pulls away
(14:00):
you know that's very true I knew a person years ago
who had an all Ireland for the the banjo and his
father wanted him obviously playing the banjo when he was
younger and because it wasn't a cool instrument it wasn't a guitar it wasn't
drums he he resented it and when he was 18
he would never play the banjo again yeah yeah
it is so do you know what I you probably
(14:21):
get asked this a lot and I know I've seen you when you were doing your auditions
you did it without any instruments or anything can you
give us a little tiny piece of something from Luke Kelly oh jeez hang on funnily
enough I actually have the guitar here because I was playing before before I
was on air is there anything in particular you want to hear do you know my little son,
(14:46):
come my little son oh god look at me singing.
Oh come little son I will tell you What we'll do,
Undress yourself And get into the Tale I will tell to you,
(15:13):
It's all about your daddy, he's a man you seldom see.
For his heart's a room far away from home, far away from you and me.
But remember, he's still your dad, though he's one and far away.
(15:42):
In the cold heat of the hours of the week On England's motorway.
No idea how good that's going to come across on the phone, but sure,
there you go. You know what, you have me crying.
You have the ability to touch hearts all over and I cannot wait to go see you live.
(16:05):
That was absolutely brilliant and I don't care how you convey it.
Thanks very much, thank you.
You very good okay george thank you so
much for coming on the show i really appreciate it and i wish you
everybody no problem here the very the very best of luck with the podcast and
uh if we are over in the uk or if you're back over in ireland or whatever and
you want to come and see a show just drop me a message if we can organize a
(16:28):
guest list or whatever for you we'll sort that out you're a sweetheart thank
you so much george murphy guys lovely to chat to you.
Good evening, folks. Today's guest is singer-songwriter George Murphy,
who hails from the Dublin suburb of Beaumont.
George exploded onto the Irish music scene after his memorable appearances on
RTE's television show, You're a Star.
George, you're very welcome on the show. Thank you so much for your time.
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from and how
(00:21):
you ended up where you ended up?
Well how long have you got here i mean it's it's it's been a bit of a roller coaster,
journey now for the last 20 coming up on
21 years now i yeah like you said i i auditioned for the tv show back when i
was only 17 years of age and i didn't realize that it was going to change my
(00:42):
life forever and that i would end up being blessed to be involved in in the
irish music scene as as as much as I have been.
And to work with some of the people I grew up listening to, like heroes of mine,
like Aslan and the Dubliners and the Furies and Phil Coulter and that kind of thing.
And I've recorded like five studio albums now and traveled all over the world,
(01:06):
touring, playing music.
And that's kind of the short synopsis, if you will.
But yeah, I mean, what's strange, I suppose, for me here is it still very much
feels like the beginning, because I've, I've started this new band called the
Rising Suns and we've just finished recording our first studio album together.
And I'm taking on some of the biggest venues in the country that I've ever played.
(01:28):
Like we've sold out Vicar Street and we've done the Cork Opera House
and we're going to be in the Millennium Forum in Derry in
a couple of weeks time and getting to play these rooms with
people who I kind of started a session with in the
corner of our local pub to go from the corner
of a local pub singing a few songs and drinking a few pints to
selling out the biggest auditoriums in
(01:49):
the country is just it's incredible you know Unbelievable wow
fair dudes and George because you were solo artist before and you're going into
a band how does that feel because you've got all these different personalities
and you know I suppose you still want it to go the way you want it to go you
know what you're doing are the band members willing to be led by you?
(02:10):
I mean, to a degree, they kind of let me kind of lead the charge, I suppose.
But at the same time, they do have their own opinions and their own ideas of
what direction we should go in.
And there is arguments and there is bickering. I can't say that there isn't.
But I kind of welcome that because, you know, you're doing something honest
then, you know, you're you know, if you're arguing over something that everybody
(02:33):
is trying to get to the right place.
But differences of opinion when it comes to music are healthy sometimes because
an idea that I might not be able to come up with on my own, somebody else might come up with.
And when everybody throws their hat in the ring and we try to kind of complement
everybody's talent and the talent that they're bringing to the table,
I think it leads to the to the best end result, you know.
(02:56):
No, that's very fair and very honest of you to say.
And do the other guys sing as well or is it just playing instruments?
No, they sing. They sing also. I mean, I'm kind of the lead singer,
but my cousin Dave is a very strong singer as well.
Myself and Dave kind of went out as a two piece for a long time.
And then we started this session and we filled these other players in around us.
(03:18):
But I mean, we kind of started the session with the idea that we would just
have the traditional Irish kind of sound of banjos and whistles and fiddles
and put the word out that if anybody played an instrument and they wanted to
join in on the session, that they were more than welcome to come down.
Then all of a sudden, like a guy arrived with an electric guitar and a bass
guitar and then drums and stuff like that.
(03:40):
And it was taken on a bit more of a kind of a rock and roll element.
And that's not really the direction that we were looking to go in.
But when we heard the rock and roll sound mixed with the Irish traditional sound,
I just kind of had a bit of a kind of epiphany moment, I suppose.
I was like, this works really, really well together.
So I sat down with my management team and I said, I'd like to take these guys on the road and.
(04:04):
I think they kind of advised against me because they said, look,
it's not going to work with guys who have day jobs and can't give their full
commitment and dedication to a music career.
And it's also not going to work if there's eight of you because it's just logistically
a nightmare in terms of travel and accommodation and finance and a band of that size.
(04:24):
But we weren't really in it for the money. We just wanted to to make some music
together and try and make some memories and build a bit of an audience.
And thankfully, like I said, we've gone from the corner of a local pub to selling
out the biggest rooms in the country, you know.
That's amazing. And I'm really excited for you guys to come to the UK because
(04:45):
my husband and I are going to go see you. You're playing.
What was the name of the place that you said you were playing in Birmingham?
Yeah, so we're just after confirming that we're going to be on the Park Festival,
which runs on the weekend of the 24th and 25th of August.
August, we've also been asked, invited over to play the Irish Cultural Centre
(05:06):
in Hammersmith in London.
So we're going to be playing there as well. But there's lots of offers coming
in from Scotland and the UK and stuff like that.
And look, I'd love to take them all on board.
But the problem is, like I said, the lads all have their day jobs.
So I have to kind of to some degree work around their schedule.
And summer months are pretty good because there's
(05:28):
a good few of the the lads are school teachers and they have
three months off in the summer so we can kind of make it
work around then you know but yeah i mean
it's it's it's all go i mean i suppose the cool thing about the
band is as well but people know that we're born out of a
session and so when one or two of the musicians can't make it like it it doesn't
really affect the gig to the like obviously we miss them and their musicality
(05:52):
but but the show can still go ahead as a five piece as a six piece and we just
kind of get on with it and we can make it work with whatever player's kind of torn up, you know?
Yeah, no, that's fair enough. And it's not going to slow you down at all.
It's just something that you can work with.
You've been used to being on your own anyway. So anything else after that as a bonus.
Talk to me about when you were younger, you were 17, I believe, when you did Eurostar.
(06:16):
What did it feel like to go in in front of these people?
I think, was it Phil Coulter, a judge back then?
He was, yeah. I mean, that must have been it. Is that why you took the audition
on? Because you wanted to see him?
Or is that why you chose to do Luke Kelly? What were you feeling?
Yeah, no, I kind of, I chose kind of to do a Luke Kelly song because I knew
(06:37):
that Phil Coulter had worked with Luke Kelly and I couldn't believe how well
it worked in the sense that Phil pulled me aside after my very first audition
and he told me he was going to produce my first album.
Album now look I was 17 walking in
off the streets of Dublin I hadn't even told my mother and father that
I was going for this audition and I came home and told them
(06:57):
that Phil Coulter said he was going to produce an album with
me and you know they were like yeah right whatever like that's
never going to happen and the show ran on then for another
kind of like six seven eight months or whatever it was
it went on for a long time until they whittled it down to the
finalists and all that kind of stuff and Phil never mentioned
it again he said it to me that very first day and then
(07:17):
he never said it again and then when the show came to an end a
couple of weeks passed and I had a management team in
place I was getting record deal offers from
Universal and Sony and stuff like
that and as soon as the deal was put in place I got a call from Phil Coulter
to say I told you I was going to produce your album I'm a man of my words and
(07:38):
I went up the north then and actually lived with Phil we moved in together and
I would get up in the morning and have breakfast with him and stuff like that.
And then we'd head off to the studio, record for the day, come home,
have dinner, go to bed, wake up the next day and in the studio again, you know.
Oh, my goodness. I didn't realize that. This is amazing.
(08:00):
I didn't know that. Phil, I mean, who doesn't love Phil?
Anyone that watches Irish TV and loves Irish music knows that Phil Coulter wrote
some of the best songs ever.
That's really impressive. And do you still work
with Phil now or are you kind of doing your own thing I'm
kind of more doing my own thing I mean I I Phil
will still take my calls and I'll still I'll still chat to him
(08:22):
about projects and take some advice off him and stuff like that
and he he was always a like a
great friend and a mentor in in the beginning but like like every songwriter
like Phil himself would tell you like you kind of have to make your own path
in in this industry at a certain point and I mean Phil definitely gave me a
good the leg up to start with but I'm kind of trying to find my own route forward now you know.
(08:47):
You've achieved so much so young I mean you did start young and I believe I
was watching an interview that you did you said that your background you did
a degree in performing arts is that right or music?
Yeah, yeah. I actually, my kind of main passion when I finished school and what
I wanted to get involved in was acting.
And I've been provided a few opportunities now. I'm actually,
(09:10):
I'm learning a script at the moment to do a one man show.
It was written by a playwright called Gary Brown, but it's kind of a musical
play about a Dublin docker and growing up around the Dublin docks and the hardships
that the families and people went through,
like trying to get work and trying to put food on the table
and that kind of thing but it's there's a lot of songs about it
(09:33):
and the songs have been kind of co-written by myself and Damien
Dempsey and uh and Gary Brown also so that's
going to be another opportunity to kind of act and stuff like that but that's
what I I got involved in in college I was I was studying and and trying to go
down the acting route and then I was offered a record deal in music and that
the acting kind kind of took a backseat then and has been in the backseat for
(09:57):
the last 20 years, I suppose.
It's just never been, it's never been an itch. I managed to scratch as much
as I would have liked because I was always just kept so busy with the music,
you know. That's what I was going to say.
You know, when you're doing something with acting and learning lines,
it's very time consuming.
So, you know, there's two brilliant things that you're probably,
I would say you would be a very, very good actor.
Definitely very, very good actor. And I would like to see you on the big screens and say,
(10:21):
once upon a time I had you on the the podcast tell me this
george what was it like growing up in bowman what was
the area like what were your friends like has your friends changed
after you became we won't say famous because i know that you don't like using
that word but when you started to reach your level of success what was it like
no in fairness what i suppose what's really good about my group of friends is
(10:43):
like nobody is allowed to get carried away with themselves i mean all we kind
of do is is take take the mick out of one another,
you know, and it's, it's nearly the, the, the more successful you are at something,
regardless of whether it's me at music or one of my friends as a,
as a personal trainer and restarting his own company, like whatever they do,
the more successful you are, the more you're going to have the piss ripped out
(11:06):
of you by the rest of the lads.
You know what I mean? Or like if I come in after doing a big gig and I've.
You know, maybe doing well financially because of it, like they'll all be saying,
okay, well, George is going to get the bill or George is going to,
you know, like, it's not like I'm rich and they know I'm not rich,
but it's, it's, it's all,
they know well how to bring you back down to earth. And the same is true of myself.
(11:27):
Like, like I wouldn't let any of them get carried away and they,
they never let me get carried away.
And we're all very supportive of each other while at the same time,
constantly ripping the mick out of one another as well, you know?
But I think I think that's a good way to, to have a group of friends.
And I suppose the cool thing about, um, about us as a group as well as,
I mean, the same kind of 10, 15, 20 people that I would have kicked the ball
(11:52):
around with when I was in the park at eight, nine, 10 years of age,
they're the same lads that I would go.
And like on, we'd be going on stags in the next few weeks.
And we, we go to the pub to watch the football, but it's, it's all the same crew.
And there's about 20 of us that still get together. and we're all
now nearly pushing 40 at this stage you
know well that's it must be a really nice area to
(12:15):
grow up in them because i'm originally from plundalkin and
we kind of had to friends that i've had for 15 years over
the the last few years they kind of drift off i think
the more you go in the direction that you want in life you kind of
lose them on the way so i think it's a credit to you to have the friends
that you've had since you were a kid and it's very humble
you're a very humble person i can tell by talking to you yeah well
(12:35):
i mean thank you for saying i mean look don't get me wrong
like families and marriages and and
you know and jobs like they do get in the way it's
not like i still see these people on a daily basis but we
all try to make time for one another when it comes to say like the weekends
or special occasions or birthday parties and that kind of thing and and we we
(12:57):
like my kids would keep in touch with my friends kids and stuff like that and
we use that as an opportunity to for us to catch up by getting our kids together
and that that kind of thing,
you know, and it's just the circle of life, I suppose.
Absolutely. Does any of your kids play instruments or sing as well?
Yeah, my daughter is a fantastic singer. She's brilliant.
(13:18):
She plays a little bit of piano, a little bit of ukulele. I'm trying to teach her the guitar.
She's kind of getting a little bit, getting to that age where she's a bit too cool for school now.
And she doesn't really want daddy teaching her songs. Like, I mean,
when she was kind of growing up, I would have been getting her to listen to
the Beatles and to the stuff that I thought was cool.
(13:39):
But like she's at an age now where she has her own interests and
the stuff she's listening to wouldn't exactly float my
boat but at the same time you have to allow her to
have her own her own interests and and find
her own way I don't want to push it on her too much she does have a
lot of talent but I don't want to be too forceful with
it because um the more I push the more she pulls away
(14:00):
you know that's very true I knew a person years ago
who had an all Ireland for the the banjo and his
father wanted him obviously playing the banjo when he was
younger and because it wasn't a cool instrument it wasn't a guitar it wasn't
drums he he resented it and when he was 18
he would never play the banjo again yeah yeah
it is so do you know what I you probably
(14:21):
get asked this a lot and I know I've seen you when you were doing your auditions
you did it without any instruments or anything can you
give us a little tiny piece of something from Luke Kelly oh jeez hang on funnily
enough I actually have the guitar here because I was playing before before I
was on air is there anything in particular you want to hear do you know my little son,
(14:46):
come my little son oh god look at me singing.
Oh come little son I will tell you What we'll do,
Undress yourself And get into the Tale I will tell to you,
(15:13):
It's all about your daddy, he's a man you seldom see.
For his heart's a room far away from home, far away from you and me.
But remember, he's still your dad, though he's one and far away.
(15:42):
In the cold heat of the hours of the week On England's motorway.
No idea how good that's going to come across on the phone, but sure,
there you go. You know what, you have me crying.
You have the ability to touch hearts all over and I cannot wait to go see you live.
(16:05):
That was absolutely brilliant and I don't care how you convey it.
Thanks very much, thank you.
You very good okay george thank you so
much for coming on the show i really appreciate it and i wish you
everybody no problem here the very the very best of luck with the podcast and
uh if we are over in the uk or if you're back over in ireland or whatever and
you want to come and see a show just drop me a message if we can organize a
(16:28):
guest list or whatever for you we'll sort that out you're a sweetheart thank
you so much george murphy guys lovely to chat to you.
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