Iris Dement

Iris Dement in Headford

Country Roads
Michael Commins

AMERICAN country star Iris Dement will play a special concert in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloughanover, Headford on Saturday, July 26. And it promises to be a very special night of great music and song. This is one of four dates being undertaken by Iris during her Irish visit, the others being in Dublin, Belfast and Kilkenny.
Iris was born in 1961 in Arizona, the youngest of a family of 14 children. At the age of three, her family moved to California. Her love of music manifested itself from a young age. Country, folk and gospel were always her forte and her early influences included Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Loretta Lynn, and Joni Mitchell.
She moved to Nashville in 1988 and the early 1990s saw the release of her debut album, Infamous Angel. Her superb song-writing skills and her distinctive and evocative singing from the soul have won her a legion of cross-over followers from the country and folk genres.
Today, she has a dedicated following and among her best-known numbers, along with ‘Infamous Ange’l, are ‘Our Town’, ‘Dance the Shores of Jordan’, ‘Let The Mystery Be’, and ‘Fifty Miles of Elbow Room’.
Her husband, Greg Brown, a highly-rated folk singer, is also doing a show at the Headford venue on the following night, Sunday, July 27.
Further details on both concerts in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloughanover, Headford can be had from Sandy Joyce at 093 35454. Both are gigs not to be missed.

Country music fills the air in poignant farewell to Benny

ROSCOMMON singer and musician Benny Madden (56) died suddenly in the Beaumont Hospital in recent days. News of his passing was received with shock and sadness throughout his home region and especially around Tulsk and Castlerea.
In his young years, Benny played guitar with Gerry Cronin and The Ohio and the Johnny Flynn Showband, both of whom were based in Tuam. He enjoyed many great nights on the road with the bands, including some tours of England.
He had a huge love for American country music and Johnny Cash was one of his special favourites. In the family home near Tulsk, music albums, cassettes and compact discs could be found in almost every room. He had his own favourite shows that he listened to on a regular basis on the regional stations and also hosted a country show on Roscommon Community Radio (Roscam) on a number of occasions.
Benny was a featured guest on one of my late shows on Mid-West some years ago. He spoke about how he was coping with the loss of his sight. It happened 16 years ago through complications with diabetes. Radio was a lifeline for him and his love of music never deserted him. He passed on this love to his nieces Erica and Natalie Flanagan who made their own four-track disc some years back and who still have a great passion for the music scene.
Benny was waked in the family home in Camogue and country music filled the rooms with the songs of Johnny Cash and others playing away in the background. It was just as he would have wished it himself, such was his immersion in the music all down the years.
Memories of happy times intermingled with tears of sadness as the family welcomed all who called to the home and shared stories about Benny and his love of life, family and music.
I will miss the phone calls from Benny who would ring every now and again to tell me about some ‘lovely new song’ he had heard or make an enquiry about some singers and people in the business. He was very much ‘one of our own’, moulded and shaped by the rural folk in this western landscape. He never lost touch with his roots and loved the company of people who shared his interests in music and song.
There were poignant scenes at the funeral Mass and ceremonies as some special songs were rendered as a fitting farewell to a man who had brought much joy and happiness to the lives of many.
He is deeply regretted by his wife Bernadette, daughter Donna, son Derek, mother Annie, brothers Michael, sisters Tina and Rosie, parents-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and many friends.