The Paul Brock Interview – Part 2: Music in Athlone and the late Frank Dolphin

Athlone Miscellany

By Gearoid O’Brien

The Paul Brock Interview – Part 2: Music in Athlone and the late Frank Dolphin

As Paul recalls the Athlone he grew up in he tells me that his father, the late Arty Brock, could go through every house on every street on the Connaught side and tell you seed, breed and generation of everyone who lived there, where they came from, where they ended up and who they were related to. Athlone was smaller then and there was a great sense of community.

Quite apart from the music Paul recalls the huge influence that the River Shannon had in their lives. “We swam, we fished, we boated on it and we cycled out to Hodson Bay as young fellows. I remember going down to the Docks and we could identify the fish: pike, perch, rudd, bream and trout because of the clarity of the water. The Docks was a kind of central feature of my childhood scene – the continual movement of boats, the lock keeper Mr Hewitt, the vista of the river, the power of the river and the Castle, of course. And I remember a man named Sean Fitzpatrick who worked on the Docks. He was into Irish music and dancing and he proudly sported his fáinne”.

Where did the Music come from?

From a very early age Paul remembers being conscious of music, and having stuff in his head and wondering ‘Where did that come from?’ He was reared in a household where neither of his parents actually played music. But his father was a singer and his mother loved and appreciated music. At the core of the house there was always music as a central feature whether it was through hearing it on radio or listening to his father singing. And then there was the Egan connection, he was a regular visitor to the Egan household at 45 Connaught Street where two of his first cousins, Dessie and Tomás, were seriously interested in music even though they were not musicians themselves. Through them he started to get exposure into the wider musical scene. He remembers as a youngster hearing a recording of classical violinist David Oistrakh playing a Mendelssohn violin concerto which obviously made a big impression on him.

“My cousins were older than me but while I was visiting there I was always keeping my ear open for new musical experiences. They were building up their own music collections at that time and they were constantly listening to music and through them I learned so much. In the case of Tomás I would say he had a great ear for a good singer and I heard a lot of very good singers through him. In the case of Dessie he had wide-ranging tastes, and I would say excellent taste in music. Through him I got exposure to the classics and to jazz and in the mid to late 1950s I got hooked on the sounds of singers like: Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbinson and Carl Perkins; all these incredible names that remain with me to this day. I was hearing and being hugely influenced in a way, by them and I continue to love the music that came out of that musical era that was pre ‘The Beatles’. These are sounds that still resonate throughout my life”.

Why Traditional Irish Music?

When we come to the obvious question as to why he opted for traditional Irish music at a time when Pop, Classical and Jazz were vying for his attention he chuckles and his eyes light up “For some reason I was attracted to Irish music even though it was hugely unpopular at that time”. He recalls that there were people who laughed at his interest in Irish music. “I spoke to Matt Molloy from the Chieftains on this point” he continues “Matt and I grew up roughly around the same time, and Matt told me that he was often accused of playing bog music. But his father used to encourage him and say ‘that’s your heritage you are playing’ and Matt stuck with it.

In Paul’s case he can remember people saying to him ‘that music you are playing is very infra-dig’ and it took him a while to realise what they meant and that they believed that this was something he really shouldn’t be playing. He explains the public antipathy towards traditional music at that time on the basis that the 1950s was an economically depressed time in Ireland and people didn’t want to know about what had preceded it and they had no real interest or pride in their Celtic heritage in that period. But, having said that he reminds me that in the Midlands, and in Athlone in particular, there was a very strong Irish music movement. “I didn’t realise that at the time, but looking back I think the Midlands has never, to this day, got the recognition it deserves for the strength of its culture musically – we hear of Galway, Clare, Donegal and Sligo but nobody ever mentions the Midlands. If there was to be a proper assessment of what came out of the Midlands you would discover an extraordinary wealth of fantastic music and great musicians – going way back to the beginning of the recorded era and some people like William Mullally who came from near Mullingar, John Joe Gannon, Willie Reynolds the piper, Pat Kilduff the lilter, Ciaran Kelly of the Ceili Band fame and Charlie O’Brien the fiddler to name but a few were great ambassadors of Irish music”.

Frank Dolphin: an influential musician

Whatever triggered Paul Brock’s interest in and love of Irish music at an early age he was certainly ploughing a fairly lonely furrow. If he was seen with his accordion or received a favourable comment in the local press he would become the butt of jokes – Irish music was seriously ‘un-cool’ in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But Paul recalls that he was lucky that his father had a good friend at that time, Frank Dolphin, who was to prove a major influence. “Frank came from County Sligo and worked in General Textiles in Athlone. He was of the Sligo tradition and he played the fiddle, the piano and the piano-accordion and he died in 1962. He used to visit our house. He was a lovely man and a very generous man and he was immediately connected to what I was trying to do. He took me under his wing, I was very fortunate to meet someone like him when I was trying to grapple with, and access, and find my footing with this Irish music thing which was beginning to take me over”.

“I was very lucky that Frank Dolphin came into my life at the same time as I was trying to concentrate on traditional music. He used to bring 78s with him and lend them to me, recordings of such legendary figures as fiddle players Michael Coleman and James Morrison, and indeed I still have some records he gave me”. Frank Dolphin taught Paul his early repertoire and he recalls that “the very first Irish tune I learned was ‘Saddle the Pony’ and it was Frank taught me that”.

Through his friendship with Frank Dolphin he was not only learning tunes from a great musician but also learning about Irish music in the wider sense. He was hearing about Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann which had been founded in Mullingar in the early 1950s, further proof, if it were needed about the pivotal role of the Midlands in the world of traditional Irish music. According to Paul “There were strong musical families on the Mullingar side and they were communicating with people like Frank Dolphin, Joss Broderick and others in Athlone who were enthusiasts and who wanted to drive it on. In 1953 the Fleadh Cheoil took place in Athlone – the venue for it was St. Mary’s Hall – and there is a great photograph of two of the giants of accordion playing from that era: Paddy O’Brien and Joe Cooley, walking across the bridge of Athlone with their accordion cases in their hands on their way to St Mary’s Hall to compete against one another”.

Of course the list of Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann title holders includes several with Athlone connections, apart from Paul Brock these include such names as Larry Benson, Kieran Kelly, Tom McHale, Ellen Costello, Austin Berry, Niamh Brett and most recently Audrey Murphy who took the All Ireland title for Slow Airs on the Flute in 2008 and for Slow Airs on the Whistle in both 2009 and 2010.

Next Week: Paul Brock on the attraction of playing at the Fleadh Cheoil

The Paul Brock Interview – Part 1: The Early Influences

Athlone Miscellany

By Gearoid O’Brien

The Paul Brock Interview – Part 1: The Early Influences

As far back as 1960 it was been predicted that Paul Brock would have a great career ahead of him as a traditional musician but no-one could have predicted just how successful he would be. The music critic and commentator P.J. Curtis in his book ‘Notes from the Heart’ says: “throughout all his recorded and live work, Paul Brock’s total love for, commitment to and mastery of, the music he plays with generosity of spirit, soulful subtlety, grace and depth of feeling is abundantly evident at all times”.

Paul won his first All Ireland junior accordion title at the age of eleven and won multiple titles before taking the senior title by age fifteen. He was in constant demand for appearances at concerts and broadcasts and he celebrated his sixteenth birthday in the United States where he was on a three month tour; this was merely the prelude to a musical career which has spanned more than fifty years and which continues to go from strength to strength.

Let me turn back the clock by fifty years. About twelve months ago I started looking through the files of The Westmeath Independent for 1960 and one thing which struck me was the amount of times I came across good news stories about Paul Brock. I have only known Paul for about ten or twelve years, though I knew him by reputation long before that. I got to know him better when he was doing his research for a talk on John McCormack and I was very impressed by the way he immersed himself totally in his subject. Last year when I devised a Cultural Tour of the Connaught side of Athlone one of my surprise elements for a walking group was stopping in O’Connell Street and playing two reels, John Kimmel’s and The Flowing Bowl from Paul Brock’s 1992 solo album ‘Mo Chairdin’. The response to this musical interlude was amazing and no wonder because this was from an album which The Rough Guide to Irish Music described as ‘a modern masterpiece of accordion music’.

Growing Up in Athlone in the 40s and 50s.

Paul Brock was born in Athlone in 1944 and grew up in O’Connell Street in the post-war years in times which he describes as being “tough: tough times economically and hard times”. His parents worked hard to provide for the four children of whom Paul was the eldest. When Paul thinks back to his youth his memories centre on Connaught Street because he grew up nearby in O’Connell Street and Connaught Street was then a bustling business area with a lot of strong businesses. He recalls some of the attractions of the Connaught side of the town: the railway station, the army barracks, the post-office, the library and Lyster’s with their shop in Pearse Street and the saw-mill on the Docks. He remembers the fairs which were held on the streets – he remembers these particularly fondly because they used to get days off school when the fairs were on. He remembers coming and going from school in the Batteries and passing his uncle’s shop at 45 Connaught Street, and diverting down Pipe Lane to the forge where Willie John Byrne, the blacksmith, made railings and other items in metalwork as well, of course, as shoeing horses. Like all forges, Willie John Byrne’s, held a great fascination for young boys.

“We were regular visitors to my uncle Tom’s Egan’s house and Radio & Bicycle shop. I used to see musical instruments in the window, including accordions, and I asked him on one occasion “do you mind if I have a look at that?” Now a bit earlier I had been tricking around with a mouth-organ but I remember taking the accordion out from the window and starting to play “How much is that doggie in the window” a tune which was very popular at that time. Having tried it I was hooked so over a period of time I convinced my father and mother that I wanted an accordion. It would have been almost impossible to buy a new one at that time but I remember my father answering the door one Saturday evening, he called me out to show me what he had got, he had done a deal with some man and he had bought me a melodeon. It was wrapped in newspaper and he had paid £1 for it – needless to say I was on cloud nine”.

Paul Brock grew up in a pre-television age when people made their own entertainment, it was coming towards the end of the era of the wind-up gramophone but it was still the golden age of radio. Paul recalls “being acutely turned on by the power of the radio at a very early stage” when he was listening to all the music programmes and especially the Irish music programmes. By the time he was seven or eight he was very conscious of his attraction to traditional Irish music.

An Early Influence

Paul explains that when he was young people were generally more pro-active in entertaining themselves and this was as true for his house as anywhere else in town. His father was “a decent singer”, he had a good amateur voice and a huge interest in music and in particular the music of John McCormack. “We grew up with a John McCormack over-load in our house because my father never stopped singing and mostly it was the McCormack repertoire – he knew all the songs and he loved them”.

As John McCormack had only died in 1946 the whole shadow of McCormack was still very evident in Athlone at that time, especially in the Brock household. “In our household, I can tell you, McCormack’s photograph – his favourite portrait of himself – was in the middle of the mantelpiece and Pope Pius XII was to one side…and that says it all”. Paul still has both pictures in his home in Ennis because somehow they symbolise the years of his youth spent in Athlone.

“When I think back to my early years and to where my early musical influences came from the first, I’d have to say, the first major influence would have to be my father. It took me a long time to realise the importance of the McCormack influence, which remains with me and continues to be an important factor in my life. I would say that musically I’ve probably learned more from the art of McCormack than I have learned from any other musician. Would you believe that?”

Knowing Paul and his interest in McCormack I am not really surprised and yet it is difficult to reconcile the fact that a young accordion player in Athlone in the mid to late 1950s could cite a tenor as a major influence. When I press the issue further he tells me “……I’ve thought about that, Gearoid, isn’t it interesting but the whole approach of McCormack to the art of music and his approach to technique these are common to whether you are an instrumentalist or a vocalist. There are things that are common right across the board – his attention to his music, his approach to rehearsal and performance, his sheer professionalism in everything he did and the degree to which he prepared himself and the seriousness with which he took his art form. He is an amazing model for any musician. To me he is, certainly, but it took me a long time to realise that – it just seemed to seep in somehow”.

Interests Other Than Music

Before we move on to talk about the other important musical influences on the young Paul Brock we talk briefly about life other than music. Paul tells me that he loved soccer which is not surprising at all given the prominence of Athlone Town F.C. at the time. He remembers that for many years he attended home matches in St Mel’s Park where he recalls seeing the legendary Dinny Hannon, the Athlone solicitor and former footballer, who was a regular and esteemed attendee of matches. Apart from soccer Paul played tennis and was a member of the tennis club in Garden Vale – little did he realise then that the same Miss Kilkelly who objected strenuously to balls going in to her garden was a vital link with his hero John McCormack. Kitty Kilkelly was the daughter of Michael Kilkelly who was the choir-master in the old St Peter’s when John sang in the choir. Michael Kilkelly was a great champion of McCormack in the early days and his daughter, Kitty, was the prime-mover in having the McCormack bust by Seamus Murphy erected on the Promenade.

Apart from his involvement in sports Paul recalls that the River Shannon seemed to run through everything they did. “It was such a feature of the town and it was at the heart of everything we did, it divided the east from the west – it was responsible for so many divisions, the two opposing parishes and the two provinces. There was so much competition between the two sides on the west you had the Galway and Roscommon thing going on and on the east side you had Westmeath. There was always a great divide it was almost like two separate communities”.

Next Week: Paul Brock on Music in Athlone and Frank Dolphin.