Fureys

"Sorry! Can you hear me?" Eddie Furey shouted down the telephone. There was uproar in the background.

"Hold on, I'll go in here."

Eddie was at a funeral up the country and had been "telling jokes and yarns" with some members of his family when I called.

It was great to be chatting to the man who, together with his brothers and Davey Arthur, has played and hung out with many of the greats, including Bono, Bob Geldof and the Scottish Eurythmics duo Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart.

I was particularly intrigued as to how Eddie and the boys had met up with the Eurythmics.

"Well, back in the '70s Dave Stewart was our roadie for 6 weeks," says Eddie, "and I used to be showing him a few chords here and there. In fact he said recently that I was the man who'd introduced him to the guitar."

Eddie, the eldest of the Fureys, spent many years in Scotland as a young man, where he once shared a flat with comedian Billy Connelly. He also became a good friend of Gerry Rafferty, whose band Stealers Wheel had hits with Baker St and Stuck in the Middle with You.

Their music also struck a chord with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as Eddie explained;

"Tony Blair once received a letter from a young girl from the Shankill Road. This girl told him that she’d never experienced peace in her lifetime. So he invited her to Downing Street and when she was there with him he introduced her to Green Fields of France. Apparently it is his favourite peace song."

Eddie also has strong memories of Pope John Paul's visit to Ireland. "The Pope had heard our song The Lonesome Boatman", says Eddie, "and he was very taken with it. He said it reminded him of St Peter. So when he came to Drogheda we got invited to play for him. He was such a great man and a good man. He was surrounded by security men but he blessed us after the performance. Then he went off in the Popemobile. I get a lump in my throat now thinking of him."

The Furey Brothers are well-loved for their music and particularly their stirring live performances. The band are on tour with their new CD "The Fureys Today" and will be playing in the ballroom of the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney on Saturday 17th July. They will play a further two gigs there on the 24th and 21st July and three dates in August. A CD/DVD will be released at Christmas "The Fureys Live at Vicar St".

They will also give their annual performance for Josephine Chaplin (Charlie's daughter) in Waterville later on this summer. Money raised from that will go to help the lifeboat association and Crumlin Hospital for Sick Children.

With their cousins the Hannafins living in Tralee and Davey Arthur now a Caherciveen resident the Fureys are in danger of turning into Kerrymen. Somehow I get the impression that they'd get a heroes' welcome!