The Spectator
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
“Love of the Clancy Brothers Turns Into a Book for Student”
By George Austin
SOMERSET – Conor Murray could not have timed the release of his book any better. It was around St. Patrick’s Day. It was the 50th anniversary of the first album of the Clancy Brothers. Liam Clancy has been performing more in recent years and a television program was made about the Irish music legend recently. And so Murray’s book about the legendary group from Ireland called “The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem & Robbie O’Connell: The Men Behind the Sweaters,” came out at a time when a lot of people are thinking about the Irish.
“The Clancys are back in the spotlight over in Ireland,” Murray said. “They should be ripe for wanting to read about them, I hope.”
Murray will have a book signing at the Somerset Public Library tomorrow at 7 p.m.
“I’m going to talk about why I wrote the book and the Clancy Brothers for the first half hour,” Murray said. “For the second half hour, I’m going to sign books.”
This is the first book devoted to the Clancy Brothers that has been published. Liam Clancy, one of the members of the group, has published an autobiography of himself.
“This book chronicles about 80 years from when the first brother, *Liam Clancy*, was born in 1922 to 2005,” Murray said.
The book has over 300 photographs of the Clancy Brothers. Murray gathered the photographs from newspapers, fans and concert programs. Record companies allowed Murray to use photographs from album covers and promotional materials in the book.
“A lot of these photographs probably have not been seen in 40 years,” Murray said.
The first album that the Clancy Brothers recorded was called “The Rising of the Moon,” in March of 1956. Three members of the group, Paddy, Tom and Bobby Clancy, have passed away. But Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem are still alive and still performing solo concerts.
“Most of their fans would be in my grandparents’ generation,” Murray said. “Nowadays, their fan base is in the 60s, 70s and 80s. But they’re still pretty popular. Every time they come around, they’re still packing the theaters.”
Murray is kind of the exception to the rule. He is a senior at Bridgewater State College, but his parents’ love of the music of the Clancy Brothers transferred over to him when he was younger. Murray said he became a very big fan of the group when he was 14 years old and at that point he said instead of it just being his parents’ music, it was his music, too.
“I’ve been exposed to them all my life,” Murray said. “My first concert I went to I was three years old. That was at Durfee High School.”
While he was writing the book, Murray did contact Liam Clancy, who allowed him to use a few photographs, but Murray was not able to sit down with the musician to do an interview because he could not go to Ireland. Murray met Clancy at a concert at the Blackthorne Tavern in Easton in 2004 and showed him the progress he was making on the book.
Murray collected a lot of memorabilia from the Clancy Brothers and after noticing all that he had, his mother suggested that he write a book about the group in late June 2003. Murray liked the idea and the book was completed in about 2 ½ years.
The title of the boom comes from the trademark sweaters the Clancy Brothers used to wear. Their mother sent them some Aran fisherman sweaters to wear in 1960 when they were in New York City and it was cold. Murray sad Aran sweaters have become known as Clancy sweaters in some circles. Liam Clancy once said that sweater sales jumped 700 percent in Ireland once they started wearing them which helped the knitting industry in Ireland considerably.
“They had a profound effect, not just on the music over there, but also on the economy,” Murray said. “They helped it out a little bit.”
Murray formed his own publishing company, called Blackthorne Publishing, to put the book out. His father, Thomas Murray, who is an accountant, helped his son to form the publishing company. The book was printed by Mallard Printing of Fall River.
“I’m very happy with how the book came out,” Murray said. “I had a professional designer work on it. She really helped give the book a professional look.”
Murray’s book, which has a price of $29.95, is also available at Auclair’s Market on County Street in Somerset or at the Irish Specialty Shoppe at the bottom of President Avenue in Fall River. The book can also be purchased online at www.clancybrothersbook.com. The book came out on March 8 and Murray has sold a few dozen copies online.
Murray has sent a copy of the book to Robbie O’Connell.
“I’ll be sending one to Liam Clancy,” Murray said.
Murray talked about the book on an Irish radio show in Brockton this past weekend. He would like to start promoting the book in Ireland on radio and television in the fall.
Murray, a graduate of Somerset High School, will be graduating from Bridgewater State College, where he is a theater major and English minor, and will be trying to go to all the Irish festivals around the United States, the largest of which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to sell the book.
“I’ll be going on tour, promoting the book,” Murray said.
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