50 years in the music business has left Johnny McEvoy with many a tale to tell. He joined Sean O’Rourke with stories aplenty and a selection of tunes, not to mention a new book.
My Songs, My Stories, My Life In Music isn’t your conventional autobiography. Rather, it’s a songbook filled with personal notes and anecdotes, a treasure trove for any Johnny fan this Christmas. First, though Sean is keen to hear about the time Johnny introduced the Rolling Stones on stage.
"(My manager) called me one day and said 'The Rolling Stones are in town - would you be interested in going on and doing an opening spot?' Of course, I jumped at the idea, full of bravado, and we went in. I was singing with another chap, we called ourselves the Ramblers Two… Before the show, the compare got cold feet. They asked me would I introduce them and I said, again without thinking, 'Yeah I’ll do that!' I wouldn’t do it nowadays."
The Ramblers Two played a few songs to warm up a crowd that was already at fever-pitch, but soon found themselves, victims of flying ashtrays, as fans called out for Mick and Keith, but nonetheless, it was a great show and a great experience for the young Johnny.
Remembering his biggest hit, Muirsheen Durkin, Johnny recalls how his mother knew best. He was invited into studio to record two songs and was at a loss for what to play.
"The night before I went into the studio, I was sitting at home and I was playing with the guitar and I was going through every song I knew which wasn’t many at the time. My mother heard me singing Muirsheen Durkin and she said, well, why don’t you do that one, so that was how it happened!"
Luckily it did. That was the song that changed Johnny’s life overnight.
"I’d gone from singing to 20, 30 people… Suddenly the record came out, it was number 1 on a Monday night... By the weekend, I was playing to 2000 people. It was very frightening. I found it extremely difficult to get used to it, because I was basically a very shy person… Many times my jacket was torn off me, my watch was ripped off me, it was crazy."
Johnny’s book came about as a project to busy himself with when taking a hiatus from his career to care for his wife Odette who was ill with cancer. Odette passed away four years ago, and the book was something he took on "to keep me sane" in the midst of the trauma. Johnny finds himself now in a good place in life, poised to go on tour in February 2018 and sounding as strong as ever.
