John Sheahan
@johnsheahan
John Sheahan was the quiet one in The Dubliners or as he sometimes refers to himself during his 48 year tenure with the group, as âThe mortar between the Bricksâ. In that cast of beardy and hairy rogues and rascals, Sheahan stood out by not standing out. Brought in to stand shoulder to shoulder with founder members Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew, Barney McKenna and CiarĂĄn Bourke, Sheahanâs playing brought a touch of elegant class to that gallery. The Dubliners may have sung with gnarly gusto on those full-bodied ballads and rousing airs, but Sheahanâs fiddle added a veneer of the other to the proceedings. Sheahan stood out in other ways too. He was the straight in a usual suspectsâ line-up of capital city bohos. Heâd finished school, done his apprenticeship with the ESB and was on the way to a life with wife and kids in the suburbs. The music bug was supposed to be for evenings and weekends in the Fiddersâ Club. But fate intervened, Kelly split from The Dubliners for England and Sheahan was recruited. The rest is history. Sheahan is the one who has survived those wild days and âSeven Drunken Nightsâ, the one who is around to tell the tales and crack open his diaries to remember those times when the band would play the Royal Albert Hall in London the night after a gig in Templemore. Today while his hair and beard are undoubtedly whiter, the sound of his violin still catches the grace notes of the tunes in the same light now as then. These days, Sheahan writes poetry as well as music. These poems are old-fashioned and sepia-tinged, reminiscences of old pals and past days. Itâs clear when Sheahan talks about his old comrades that he still has considerable fondness for them. Some of the stories may have been told a thousand times already â as stories of this ilk often are â but that doesnât lessened their emotional impact. Most of all, though, Sheahan is about the music. From adventures and high jinks with The Dubliners in all their various iterations to trading ideas with the new school: From Declan OâRourke, Damien Dempsey, Glen Hansard to Imelda May. Sheahan always has a glint in his eye, always has clear sight of where the music is going and always has the soul of the tune in his mindâs eye. Jim Carroll