Tommy Sands

Not to be confused with the 1950s pop singer of the same name, Tommy Sands served as the chief songwriter for the Sands Family, the ensemble formed by him and his five siblings that ranked among Ireland’s most influential folk acts of the 1960s and 1970s. Although the group has restricted its live appearances in the early 2000s to a single yearly circuit through Germany and Ireland, Sands has kept developing fresh material as a solo performer while also hosting the weekly Country Ceili program on Belfast’s Downtown Radio, a role he has held since 1976.

He was raised in a household steeped in music: his father and six uncles all played fiddle, and his mother played accordion. The family farm, situated in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains, stood out as one of the rare venues where Protestants and Catholics gathered to share tunes and dancing. Shortly after taking up the fiddle himself, Sands began composing songs, many of which mirror the political upheaval and social hardships of his native region.

Although he enrolled in college to pursue theology and philosophy, the pull of music proved stronger; he left school and started the 120-mile walk home, only to be overtaken by a car carrying his siblings on their way to a gig. Drawing inspiration from the Clancy Brothers, the Sands Family—Tommy, Eugene, Ben, Colum, and Anne—emerged at the forefront of the Irish folk revival.

The group’s initial visit to the United States occurred in 1970 after they won a national ballad contest that awarded them a concert slot in New York. Following their Carnegie Hall appearance, they secured management in Boston and extended their stay in America for six months. Upon returning to Europe in 1971, the Sands Family discovered a strong and growing audience in Germany.

That run of success ended abruptly in 1975 with the death of youngest brother Eugene in a car accident. Subsequent tours featured the three surviving brothers together with sister Anne.

Tommy Sands released his first solo album, Singing of the Times, in 1985; it contained the enduring songs “There Were Roses” and “Daughters and Sons.” Three years later came Down by Bendy’s Lane: Irish Songs and Stories for Children. His third record, Hedges of County Down (1989), concentrated on traditional Irish repertoire, while the fourth, Beyond the Shadows (1990), returned to original material. The Heart’s a Wonder, issued in 1995, featured “The Music of Healing,” written with American folk singer Pete Seeger. That song served as the anthem for the Citizen’s Assembly Sands convened in Belfast in August 1986, an event that brought together many of Ulster’s leading artists and writers. The same album marked Sands’s first collaboration with Sarajevo cellist Vedran Smailovic. In 1997 Sands, Smailovic, and Irish songstress Dolores Keane contributed the title track to the multi-artist collection Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger. One of Sands’s most extensive undertakings is the stage musical The Shadow of O’Casey, which he co-wrote with Shivaun, daughter of playwright Sean O’Casey.