PHILOMENA BEGLEY: ‘Why I’ll always be country in my heart and soul’

Philomena Begley, 79, daughter of a bread man, was born and grew up in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone, enjoying a very simple, but “110% happy” childhood as one of eight (five girls and three boys) in a close-knit family.

“We weren’t rich, but we weren’t poor either because there was a lot of love and laughter in our house,” says the singer also often known as the Queen of Country or indeed the Queen of the Silver Dollar (after one of her hits), when at the height of a glittering level of fame she went all the way from Tyrone to Nashville and across the US with Porter Wagoner, Tammy Wynette and Billie Jo Spears as beloved comrades, donning the kind of skin-hugging yet demure glitzy outfits with bouffant hair and impeccable make-up, with troupes of fans rapt before her as she sang with a set of pipes only God himself could have crafted.

The star began as so many did working the 1970s showband circuit and then moving into the country music scene that enjoys such continued popularity, especially here in Northern Ireland and in the Republic - for whatever reason country music endures here with a predominance that may seem strange to outsiders, but we can’t seem to get enough of the stuff.

How does Philly, as she prefers to be known, explain this phenomenon?

“I think it’s about the emotions in these songs,” she says, still sharp as a pin as she approaches 80.

“Everyone has been through these emotions and so everyone can relate to these songs.

“And they all have great stories too, so it’s not just the melody but the lyrics that people connect with too.

“Plus these are songs you can dance to and who doesn’t enjoy a dance?”

After leaving Pomeroy Primary, like many of her generation Begley was sent out to work aged 13, and spent seven years working alongside other women and men in a hat factory in Cookstown where she remembers “maximum craic” and singing as she worked: “I would start a tune and then the whole place would join in,” she laughs. “I would say I got my education in life there, really, instead of secondary school.”

Then one night at a local dance hall, aged 20, somebody asked her up on stage to sing a song for a dare and just like that, in an instant, she and others realised that a star was born, and having just celebrated 60 years performing at the Country Music Awards last week alongside Susan McCann, Derek Ryan, her niece Andrea Begley (who came to fame on the 2013 edition of The Voice UK talent show coming first place thanks to her cut-glass, soaring vocals), alongside a host of other local country stars young and old, she is looking back on it all with an immense sense of gratitude: ”I just feel so lucky to have been able to spend so many years singing songs I love and entertaining people. Performing is the best tonic in the world bar none, because as soon as the music starts and you step up to the microphone, you forget all your troubles, worries and cares and are just in that moment of connection with the audience in front of you.

“Performing, singing, none of it has ever felt like work to me because I love it so much and have made so many friends along the way.”

All those years ago when she first stepped timorously on stage, the crowd was mesmerised and she was soon a member of the popular Old Cross Ceili Band, which then became known as the Old Cross Bandshow and the group released three records between 1968 and 1969. In September 1970, the band changed its name to The Country Flavour and Begley’s first record became her first chart hit when Here Today, Gone Tomorrow reached number seven in the Irish charts. This was swiftly followed by her debut album Truck Driving Woman (although she seems far too glamorous to have ever driven a truck, even though these days she resides on a farm in Galbally, Tyrone with her husband of 48-years Tom, although the extent of her farming duties today only involves occasionally helping him get cows through gates or down lanes).

In 1974, she formed the Ramblin’ Men and Philomena felt very happy to be the only gal on tour with a group of men, enjoying the banter, and feeling “just like one of the lads really”.
Begley regularly toured with Ray Lynam from 1975 and they recorded many duets together, probably their most popular being My Elusive Dreams, which went on to be mentioned in The Pogues’ song, A Pair of Brown Eyes.
In 1975, Philomena, a mum-of-three and a proud grandmother who loves to bake soda bread, when she has the time, and lockdown gave her more of that than she would have liked, most famously had a hit with her version of Billie Jo Spears’ song Blanket on the Ground which went all the way to number five in the Irish charts, and she went on to befriend the American star, to tour with her and form a great friendship that lasted many years.

“Bille had such a sense of fun and I adored being on stage with her when we toured together. I was gutted when she passed away after the last tour we did together in 2011. But I’ve been lucky that I’ve toured the US and Europe and like every country singer alive I was delighted to be invited to sing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville by Porter Wagoner all the way back in 1978, and that allowed me to rub shoulders with the cream of Music City.”

‘WHEN PHILOMENA SINGS YOU BELIEVE HER...SHE HAS EXPERIENCED ALL THE EMOTIONS SHE EXPRESSES’

Philomena’s star was seriously on the ascent from 1978 onwards when she made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville at the behest of Porter Wagoner, and the opportunity allowed her to both meet and work with a litany of the biggest names in American country music.

“Billie Jo [Spears} was dear to me, but I loved Tammy Wynette too and have distinct memories of being in her house. I’ve worked with Charlie Pride, I’ve met George Jones, Merle Haggard, Emmy-Lou Harris, Buck Owen, all those stars of my generation who I looked up to , so many of whom are now dead, and so many others that if you asked me who I loved most, I just couldn’t say because to me in country music all the artists are like one big family and it’s a family I’ve been so lucky to have spent my life being a part of.”

Since storming Nashville in the late 70s - every country singer knows they have fully arrived when they tread the boards of the Opry - Begley frequently returned to Music City throughout her career and has toured the US and Europe frequently.

Standout career moments for her include being a guest of honour at the infamously extravagant St Patrick’s Day parade in New York City, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and a packed-out Wembley alongside other American country stars.

One of Begley’s biggest pals and fans, to this very day, is contemporary Irish country star Daniel O’Donnell, who once said of her with real affection: “When Philomena sings a song you believe her... You feel that she’s experienced every emotion she expresses.”

Philomena laughs at this compliment, as though to shrug it off, with that typical Northern Irish reticence before praise: “Daniel used to come to see me perform when he was a wee boy, say eight or nine, and to this day we are great friends and we’re both very supportive of each other’s careers. More than that Daniel is just the loveliest man, but I have so many friends who are country singers that I don’t want to single anyone out in case I start I row because I love so many of them, certainly everyone I’ve worked with and know personally, and while I am certainly not averse to listening to other kinds of music - I do like pop now and again and especially Adele - but I cannot stand that ‘head banger’ stuff, I think it’s fair to say that I will always be country in my heart and soul.”

There’s an authenticity, a salt-of-the-earth quality, to the Queen of the Silver Dollar, Ulster’s Queen of Country in fact, that nobody could deny.

‘WHY I’D NEVER RETIRE FROM COUNTRY MUSIC IN A MILLION YEARS’

Philomena is adamant that she would “never in a million years think about retiring” from performing the musical career she loves so much, even now at the venerable age of 79, with an astonishing 60 years of gigging, recording and touring behind her that has taken her all over the world, from the small village of Pomeroy all the way to the Grand Ole Opry and beyond.

“So long as I have my health and am on my feet I intend to keep going,” she said, having realised during the imposed quietude and stasis of lockdown that “there is nothing worse than sitting on a couch doing nothing at home and not being able to get out.

“I found lockdown unbearable really, because even all throughout the Troubles I was touring and performing and those were dark times. It’s just not in my nature to be content sitting at home because the buzz I get from singing in front of an audience is second to none.”

Reflecting on her own life in country music, Philomena says: “When I look back on my career I can honestly say that I loved every minute of every hour of it, and the craic was ninety!”

Philomena started her formal singing career on May 11, 1962, supporting the Old Cross Ceili Band in Ardboe Hall, Co Tyrone.

In her autobiography she reflected on how the predominant Catholic orthodoxy of the 1970s when she first started touring meant certain songs, considered too risqué, were debarred from set lists. So when they weren’t allowed to perform the American country music songs of the era, her band neatly converted them into old-time waltzes.

“The Catholic clergy prohibited us from bringing anything new into our traditional Irish sets,” she said. “In those days, you would have been excommunicated if you broke the rules in the ceili halls, so we didn’t dare upset anyone. We knew the Church’s rules were not to be broken.

“You’d also see the priest walking up through the crowd making sure that couples didn’t get too close during the slow dances.

“So, it was the parish carnivals, rather then the ceili halls, that became our testing ground for these new country sounds.”

Philomena, who will perhaps always be best known for Blanket on the Ground and Queen of the Silver Dollar, and who adores the music of George Jones and Patsy Cline particularly, is now looking forward to embarking on a new tour celebrating 60 years in the business.

Catch Philomena Begley at the Burnavon, Cookstown on March 5 and look out for her new single We Believe In Happy Endings which she has recorded with her son Aidan Quinn and is set to be released soon.

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