My Greystones: Al O’Donnell

14DEC14

ere are GG HQ, we’ve been trying to find the time to reinstate the first 8 months of our My Greystones entries, all of them – and everything else on the site over that time – having been wiped out by a nasty little virus in December.

Among the handful of true Greystones legends that we managed to sit down with and have a chat is the great Al O’Donnell, one of those quiet giants of Irish folk who liked to keep their head down low – and just play the music.  

And to hear that this great man passed today, on Thursday Sept 4th 2015, is sad news indeed. I had always assumed we’d hear Al playing again, in Dann’s, in the Hot Spot, in some latenight living room, singing songs about Irish icons, gobdawns and chancers that have gone before. Well, now we’ve got another icon to sing about. Our love goes out to his wife June, and their children, Ruán, Conor and Melissa.

We’ll root out our original post – from December last year – on Al for a later date, and get it all back up here on the site. For now though, have a safe trip, Al.

May the road rise with you…

You can find out what Al’s son, Conor, is up to here, his daughter, Melissa, here, and his grandson, Eoin, right here.