When Hot Press met Niall Toner

Last month, the seasoned broadcaster behind Roots Freeway and renowned bluegrass player Niall Toner was the recipient of a prestigious honour in the music scene he loves. The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) had just created the Personality Of The Year Award and Toner was selected as its first recipient.

It was the cherry on top of a fantastic 12 months or so that saw Toner travelling to Nashville to gig and record, with the subsequent release Onwards And Upwards garnering rave reviews (read Greg McAteer's here) across the board.

Roots Freeway returns to RTÉ Radio on Saturday June 1. Toner then releases his book, The Nuts And Bolts Of Songwriting on June 8, before spending the rest of the summer gigging around the country. The perfect time then, to catch up with the man himself, reflect on recent events and look ahead to the future...

When did you hear that the EBMA were honouring you?

I got very short notice– they said can you be in Prague on Saturday to accept your award!

As you do.

As you do, just like that! Because of the short notice, I couldn’t really attend so I sent apologies and made a little acceptance clip.

Did you have a feeling around Christmas were you kinda went, 'you know what? I’ve been a great personality this past 12 months!'

Go on! Im not even sure what it means! It’s a great honour. It really stretches the years although the success of the recent album obviously prompted it. But I mean I've been doing this for a long long time yea know so. They left the award in RTE so I went in last week to collect it and I was surprised RTE made a huge fuss of it. They want to put it up in the radio reception area there as a trophy!

The bluegrass scene is a tight-knit community. You're being honoured by people you have respect for, which must make it all the more important?

Yes, because the association comprises players. Most people who are involved in it are mostly players. It's like the jazz community – I used to say there's no real fools in jazz, in the sense that you have to be really good to play the basic repertoire and it's pretty much the same in this kind of music.

The EBMA award follows the fantastic reception to Onwards And Upwards...

The reviews have been fabulous. Greg McAteer reviewed it for Hot Press and gave it a glowing review, which was wonderful. It got five stars from the bible of my kind of music, Bluegrass Unlimited in the States. Maverick magazine in England, same thing. It's very hard to know how that's reflected in actual sales, I don't have firm figures on that yet. But it's going well and is being very well played around the world.

The album was recorded in Nashville. How was that experience – a very different one or could it have been done in any studio?

No, no I loved it. It was very different. I've had a songwriting relationship for 15 years with a guy called Keith Sewell. Keith plays with Lyle Lovett's band and in recent times he's been producing things for Cork people. When I went to do the songs, he asked me for rough demos. When he heard them he said, 'I think we can do a great job on this here in Nashville if you want to give it a shot.' It was a very fresh experience. He recruited the players, who were just of an astounding quality. Basically Lyle Lovett's band! The microphone I was singing into had previously been used by Johnny Cash so it was like singing into history.

Did you gig over there?

Yeah, quite a bit. I did a tour after that, that's my third tour of the states. I toured quite extensively up and down the Appalachians, from Nashville down to Asheville, North Carolina, and on to deep North Carolina. Mainly coffee houses on universities, music clubs, theatres, those kind of shows. Radio shows. I don't like to emphasise the 'Irish' thing too much but once I open my mouth they're interested! It's like a bonus badge of some sort. Although somebody says it's like bringing ice to the Eskimos or sand to the Arabs.

There's always been that connection to Irish roots from years back?

Well that's what they really respect and that's what intrigues them. Bill Monroe, one of my big idols, used to always refer to this thing called 'the ancient tones' that came from Ireland and Scotland. I guess that would give that bluegrass and country music its lonesome, sad qualities. The songs of murder and death.

What the Irish are good at!

You can't beat an old murder ballad!

Your back on the airwaves from June 1. Do you miss it?

I do. Obviously it helps to provide a steadier income than running around playing places. But I also miss it because, if I weren't doing it on the radio, I'd be doing at home for friends of mine anyway. Going 'listen to this'. So that's Root Freeway, that returns on June 1 for a 13-week run.

Other plans?

Gigging as well through out the summer. Playing about once a month for the summer season.

I've got a book coming out, officialy launched at the Annual Borris Book Fair on June 8. I've put my thoughts on how I write songs in a book called The Nuts And Bolts Of Songwriting. I've been toying with it for a couple of years. Something galvanised recently, I thought I should just put it out while the idea is still interesting. My tips for writing songs. It has everything that motivates me, how I look for ideas and put them together. It also has contributions from other songwriters like Mick Hanley and Eleanor McEvoy. It's full of tips.