All back to Declan’s

When Declan Nerney arrives in Cavan to play two shows in the coming weeks, it’s something of a homecoming.

Oh but Declan is from Drumlish, we all know the marquee song that put the Longford village on the map. But still, he lived in Cavan for six years back in the mid-1970s when he started out as a musician.

Even after 50-plus years as a busy musician playing live, he can’t just go through the motions. Head along to the Lavey Inn for the dance on Saturday, November 29, or the concert in the Ramor Arts Centre on Sunday, December 7 and you’ll see.

“There’s two hours of all our hits - The Marquee in Drumlish, Stop the World, and the Gallant John Joe - they’re the songs people want to hear at the dances. There’s a good old sentiment in all of those songs that reminds them of the days they went to dancing in the sports centre in Cavan.

“They love the familiarity of the songs, when they’re dancing. They love to know when the chorus is coming up and can sing a long. It helps them dance better if the tune is familiar to them.”

Declan admits he had “shied away” from performing concerts for a long time.

“For concerts you have to be able to tell a little bit of a story, and a bit of history. So probably the older you get the more you have to tell.

“You don’t get that opportunity at the dance. At the dance it’s song after song and people aren’t interested in stories, whereas they are at the concert.”

Declan and his band have a brand new 14-track album out called ‘Forever More’, however, the Celt can’t resist bringing up ‘Stop the World and Let Me Off’. Originally a quirky 1950s track recorded by the legendary Patsy Cline, it’s also had also had country heavyweights Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings give it a go.

“It was a song that was battered around for a long time, but nobody ever really had a hit with it, and I decided to go down a showband vibe with it with the brass and give it a whole different meaning.

“It’s probably a combination of the tune and the lyrics - sometimes you get the combination right, and that is the whole trick of the sound. When you’re in the studio, it’s a bit like fishing, you never know what could come out.”

And yet, if you were to ask anyone in rural Ireland who sings Stop the World, it would be Nerney they would say.

“It has turned out that way,” Declan replies. “It’s not that I set out to be like that.”

The Celt asks if Declan sees himself playing forever?

After a good laugh he half composes himself, and says, “At this stage it feels that I’m after been playing forever. Because it’s a long, long time since I joined Gene Stewart down in Cavan, would you believe in 1974 and Peter Smith, who was a great member of the Mighty Avons band, and a great friend, and Gerry Walsh - all of those lads were with Gene Stewart. I came in as a very young guitarist.”

More bands followed and for the last 36 years Declan’s been centre stage with his own band.

“A musician is a strange oul’ sort of an animal, because the tunes are more important than anything else. When you get up on stage you forget about remuneration or whatever else comes - it’s just about seeing people enjoy themselves in front of you - you get a buzz out of that. The more they’re enjoying it, the more the band enjoy it as well - the band plays for the people.”

Given he’s been on the circuit for so long, he’s gained “quite an amount” of personal friends amongst his audience.

“I know their good stories and their sad stories, and we relish in them. You get to know a lot about human beings and yourself as well and what life is all about.

“So there’s a little bit more to it all than putting on a new shiny suit and going out there and singing a few songs, and people thinking it’s all very glamorous. When people come to your dance and put their trust in you for a good oul’ night - it’s like they’re coming to visit your own house, they’re in your sitting room. That’s the way I see it. When the people close the door in the Lavey Inn or in the Ramor - they’re in my house in my mind, so it’s up to me to entertain them to the last.”

Now that’s a proper homecoming.