WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 Okay, so I want you to picture a scenario. It's 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:09.580 the late 1960s and you are a young musician in 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:13.080 Ireland. You've just released a single that is 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:16.280 Absolutely rocketing up the charts. Living the 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:18.359 dream. Exactly. It hits the top 10. You are, 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.679 by every conventional metric we have, making 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:23.539 it, you're famous, you're successful, and you're 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:27.300 right at the forefront of this massive cultural 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:29.760 revolution. And that's the moment every aspiring 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.340 artist is working toward. Yeah. The fame, the 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:35.159 momentum, the validation. Yeah. But then that 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:37.320 very same week, while your song is literally 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:38.759 playing on the radio and people are starting 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:41.340 to recognize you, you pack a bag. Wow. You walk 00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:43.060 away from the band, you walk away from the fame, 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:45.079 and you head straight for a war zone. It sounds 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:47.399 like a movie, like some sort of torture genius 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.479 spy thriller kind of thing. But we're actually 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:53.179 talking about a real life, arguably one of the 00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:56.020 most enigmatic figures in Irish music history. 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:58.740 We really are. Today, we are doing a deep dive 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:01.020 into the life of Joe Dolan. OK, so I have to 00:01:01.020 --> 00:01:03.960 jump in right here, immediately. Oh, right, the 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:07.019 disclaimer. Yeah, because before you, the listener. 00:01:07.290 --> 00:01:09.530 Start picturing a white suit and a hip shake 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:12.769 and a Las Vegas style show band. We need to make 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:15.739 a very important distinction. Because if you 00:01:15.739 --> 00:01:18.099 look up Joe Dolan right now, you see the Make 00:01:18.099 --> 00:01:20.920 Me An Island guy, the superstar from Mullingar, 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.980 the one everyone's grandmother in Ireland had 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.000 a crush on. Exactly. We are absolutely not talking 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.560 about that Joe. Joe Dolan, today we're diving 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:31.840 into Joseph Galway Joe Dolan. Galway Joe? Right, 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:35.340 a completely distinct artist, a painter, a songwriter, 00:01:35.659 --> 00:01:37.500 and a founding member of a band that honestly 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:39.900 changed the entire course of Irish folk music. 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:42.939 But unlike the other Joe, this man seemed to 00:01:42.939 --> 00:01:44.900 have an almost allergic reaction to the spotlight. 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:47.640 It's the ultimate case of mistaken identity. 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:50.340 But the man behind the name Galway Joe has a 00:01:50.340 --> 00:01:52.500 story that is wilder than fiction. I mean, we're 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:54.099 talking about a guy who went from the top of 00:01:54.099 --> 00:01:56.420 the Irish charts to the top of a mountain in 00:01:56.420 --> 00:01:58.879 the Negev desert. Armed with a walkie talkie 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.519 and an ancient weapon, it's wild. Yeah. And our 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:04.840 mission today is to track those lost miles. We're 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:07.920 going to unpack the life of a man who invigorated 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.080 the Irish folk scene and then just vanished into 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.020 his own adventure. And we have some really fascinating 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:15.139 source material for this deep dive. We've got 00:02:15.139 --> 00:02:17.219 biographical accounts. We have obituaries that 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:20.800 finally gave him his due. And crucially, liner 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:23.280 notes. Oh, the liner notes are key. Yeah, liner 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:25.340 notes from classic albums by Christie Moore, 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.300 where the truth was kind of just hidden in plain 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:30.560 sight. It's an incredible trajectory. You ready 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:33.479 to jump in? Let's do it. So to understand why 00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:36.479 walking away was such a massive deal, we have 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.639 to look at where he started. Who was Galway Joe? 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:42.439 before the legend. Well, if we go right back 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:44.379 to the beginning, he was an art student in Dublin. 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:47.120 Which makes sense. It does. It's a really crucial 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:50.139 detail to hold onto. He wasn't just a performer 00:02:50.139 --> 00:02:53.360 desperately seeking applause. He was a creative 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:57.520 soul, a visual artist from the get go. But his 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.139 entry into the professional music world wasn't 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:01.960 actually in the folk scene at all. That part 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:03.919 really surprised me in the research. He started 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:06.340 out in the show bands. He did. And we should 00:03:06.340 --> 00:03:08.219 probably clarify what that means for anyone who 00:03:08.219 --> 00:03:10.199 isn't familiar with Irish musical history in 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.539 the 60s. Show band might not mean much to you 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:14.580 if you weren't there. Right, it's a very specific 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:18.330 cultural phenomenon. It really is. In the 1960s, 00:03:18.469 --> 00:03:20.770 the show bands were the music industry in Ireland. 00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:24.069 We're talking large bands, seven or eight pieces, 00:03:24.289 --> 00:03:27.610 wearing matching suits. Very polished. Very polished. 00:03:27.990 --> 00:03:30.389 They played covers of American hits in dance 00:03:30.389 --> 00:03:33.349 halls. It was all about uniformity and just keeping 00:03:33.349 --> 00:03:35.650 the dance floor moving. It was a well -oiled 00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:38.099 machine. And Dolan was a cog in that machine. 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:40.780 He was. He played guitar with the Capitol Show 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:43.120 Band and the Swingtime Aces. And having those 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.740 names on your resume back then, that screams 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:48.180 professional entertainer. It meant you were working. 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:50.180 It meant you could play, you could tour, and 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:52.479 you showed up on time. So he had the safe gig. 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:55.340 The career path was completely laid out for him. 00:03:55.740 --> 00:03:58.500 Exactly. But Dolan was seeing something else 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:01.419 on the horizon. A shift was happening. The show 00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:03.960 bands were great, but they were also a bit manufactured. 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:06.819 And Dolan, along with a few others, started drifting 00:04:06.819 --> 00:04:09.060 towards something grittier. Something more real. 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:13.580 Which brings us to May 1966 in Galway. The birth 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:16.160 of Sweeney's Men. This is such a pivotal moment. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:18.860 We always talk about supergroups in rock history 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:21.660 cream or the traveling Wilburys. But in terms 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:24.759 of Irish folk, Sweeney's Men was the original 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:27.420 supergroup before that term even existed. Absolutely. 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:30.000 The lineup was insane. You had Galway, Gerard 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.300 Dolan, Andy Irvine and Johnny Moynihan. I mean... 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:36.500 For folk fans, those are absolute titans. Andy 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:39.620 Irvine alone is a legend. Precisely. But at the 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:41.399 time, they were just three guys trying to do 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:43.639 something different, breaking away from the brass 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:45.939 sections and the matching suits. They were looking 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:48.899 for an acoustic, traditional sound, but injected 00:04:48.899 --> 00:04:52.019 with a totally new energy. And the sources specifically 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.959 note that it was Dolan who chose the name. Sweeney's 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.040 Men. Yeah, which is interesting in itself because 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.439 it references an ancient Irish text about a king 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:02.920 cursed to wander the wilderness. The madness 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:05.939 of Sweeney. Right. It really foreshadows Dolan's 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:08.019 own life, doesn't it? The wanderer. That's a 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:09.819 great point. And the sources make a pretty big 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:12.759 claim here. They say this group invigorated the 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.300 Irish folk scene. Is that backed up by the history? 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.720 It is entirely backed up. Before Sweeney's Men, 00:05:19.019 --> 00:05:22.379 folk was often seen as very staid. or it was 00:05:22.379 --> 00:05:24.899 the Clancy Brothers in the white Aaron sweaters 00:05:24.899 --> 00:05:27.600 singing boisterous ballads. Right, the very traditional 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:31.060 pub sing -along vibe. Yeah. But Sweeney's men 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:34.680 brought in intricate instrumentation, bazookas, 00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:37.899 mandolins, and a different kind of lyrical sensitivity. 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:40.220 They paved the way for bands like Planksy that 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:42.560 would just explode later on. And the amazing 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:44.560 thing is that it worked commercially. They didn't 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:46.699 just stay in the back of pubs in Galway. They 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:50.410 had a genuine hit. They did. In 1967, they released 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:52.990 Old Maid and the Garret. Such a classic. It is. 00:05:53.009 --> 00:05:55.189 It's a catchy tune. Very traditional, but with 00:05:55.189 --> 00:05:57.430 that new energy. And it went straight into the 00:05:57.430 --> 00:05:59.750 Irish Top Ten. OK, so let's pause and look at 00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:02.009 the snapshot here. You are Joe Dolan. You've 00:06:02.009 --> 00:06:04.310 helped found a band with future legends. You 00:06:04.310 --> 00:06:06.610 name the band. You have a Top Ten hit on your 00:06:06.610 --> 00:06:09.170 hands. The world is your oyster. And this is 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:11.709 where the story takes a massive left turn. The 00:06:11.709 --> 00:06:14.069 departure. The very week that Old Maid and the 00:06:14.069 --> 00:06:16.759 Garret is sitting in the Top Ten. Joe Dolan leaves 00:06:16.759 --> 00:06:20.899 the band. He just quits. Just quits. No creative 00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:23.540 differences press release. No solo career pivot. 00:06:24.100 --> 00:06:26.279 He leaves with the specific intention of going 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:28.680 to Israel to take part in the Six Day War. I 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:30.360 just can't get over the timing of that. Most 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:32.100 people spend their entire lives trying to get 00:06:32.100 --> 00:06:34.079 a top 10 record so they can avoid going to a 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.939 war. Joe does the exact opposite. It speaks to 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:40.100 a deep restlessness, a desire for raw experience 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:44.360 over commerce. He valued the living of life more 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:46.439 than the performing of it. Now there is a bit 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:48.819 of legendary humor surrounding this trip, specifically 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.660 from their manager, Des Kelly. Des Kelly, yeah. 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:54.579 You can imagine his frustration. His star guitarist 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:56.920 is walking out on a hit record. So Kelly later 00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:59.339 joked that Joe arrived on the seventh day. Because 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:01.740 it was the Six Day War. Exactly. The joke was 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:04.660 that he missed the whole thing. Kelly also quipped 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:07.139 that it took him a year to get down there. It's 00:07:07.139 --> 00:07:11.199 just classic dry Irish wit turning this chaotic 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.420 professional disaster into a punchline. It's 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:15.970 a brilliant line. But was it true? Did he actually 00:07:15.970 --> 00:07:18.829 miss the war? The reality is a little more nuanced, 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:21.149 and honestly, way more interesting than just 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:23.470 a guy getting a fight. We have Joe's own words 00:07:23.470 --> 00:07:25.930 on this, thanks to the liner notes of a Christy 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:28.810 Moore album. Ah, the iron behind the velvet. 00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:31.149 Christy Moore really kept the flame alive for 00:07:31.149 --> 00:07:33.990 Joe, didn't he? He really did. And in those notes, 00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:36.769 Joe describes working on an archaeological expedition 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:40.230 to Masada in the Negev desert. Masada isn't just 00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:42.529 a hill, right? No, it's an ancient fortress on 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:44.870 a plateau. It's a place of immense historical 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:48.069 weight and just rugged beauty. So here is Joe 00:07:48.069 --> 00:07:50.709 Dolan, the guy who should be on television performing 00:07:50.709 --> 00:07:53.629 his hit song, and instead he's... He describes 00:07:53.629 --> 00:07:56.970 his situation like this, quote, I was on general 00:07:56.970 --> 00:07:58.949 duty on top of the mountain with a walkie talkie 00:07:58.949 --> 00:08:01.209 and a weapon, and the temperature was about 120 00:08:01.209 --> 00:08:03.610 degrees in the shade. 120 degrees in the shade. 00:08:03.670 --> 00:08:06.009 That is punishing. And he refers to these as 00:08:06.009 --> 00:08:09.069 his salad days. He dated it back to around 1965 00:08:09.069 --> 00:08:12.910 or 66 in his memory, though the war was 67. But 00:08:12.910 --> 00:08:15.370 the visual is just striking. Standing guard on 00:08:15.370 --> 00:08:18.189 an archaeological dig, sweltering heat, walkie 00:08:18.189 --> 00:08:20.449 talkie in hand, looking out over the desert. 00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:23.170 And he says something really profound about that 00:08:23.170 --> 00:08:25.509 specific moment, doesn't he? He says, I was thinking 00:08:25.509 --> 00:08:28.689 of how I'd got there. I love that. That moment 00:08:28.689 --> 00:08:31.949 of introspection, standing on top of a biblical 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:34.429 mountain thousands of miles from the rainy streets 00:08:34.429 --> 00:08:37.870 of Galway, wondering, how did my life lead to 00:08:37.870 --> 00:08:40.970 this? I think that moment is the key to understanding 00:08:40.970 --> 00:08:43.570 him. Most people in the music industry are constantly 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:45.389 asking, how do I get to the next level? How do 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:47.769 I get a bigger hit? Right. But Joe was asking, 00:08:47.870 --> 00:08:50.429 how did I get here? Right. Physically and spiritually. 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:53.289 And that introspection didn't go to waste. Because 00:08:53.289 --> 00:08:55.570 this is where the story shifts from his biography 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:58.309 to his legacy. He didn't just live through that 00:08:58.309 --> 00:09:01.029 experience on the mountain. He turned it into 00:09:01.029 --> 00:09:05.070 art. Yes. That specific experience became the 00:09:05.070 --> 00:09:07.549 song, The Trip to Jerusalem. And this is where 00:09:07.549 --> 00:09:09.889 we really get into his legacy as a songwriter. 00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:12.309 Even though he wasn't performing these songs 00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:15.169 to stadium crowds himself, the songs found their 00:09:15.169 --> 00:09:17.289 way to the people who were. It's almost like 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:19.490 he went out into the world to gather ingredients. 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:21.950 He found the stories and brought them back for 00:09:21.950 --> 00:09:23.950 others to cook with. That's a perfect way to 00:09:23.950 --> 00:09:26.710 put it. So if we look at the Christy Moore album, 00:09:26.870 --> 00:09:29.909 The Iron Behind the Velvet, released in 1978, 00:09:30.289 --> 00:09:33.690 which is over a decade after Joe left Sweeney's 00:09:33.690 --> 00:09:36.970 Menmore Records, The Trip to Jerusalem. And he 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:40.230 credits Joe. He puts Joe's explanation right 00:09:40.230 --> 00:09:42.529 there in the liner notes, immortalizing that 00:09:42.529 --> 00:09:44.870 moment on Masada. And that wasn't the only song 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:48.179 either. No. On that same album, Moore recorded 00:09:48.179 --> 00:09:51.080 another Dolan track called The Foxy Devil. So 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:54.299 Joe Dolan basically became a musician's musician. 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:56.159 That's the exact term for it. He was the source 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:58.620 material, the guy who lived the life that gave 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:01.139 the singers the material. Even the Dubliners 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:03.000 who are legends in their own right, they covered 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.779 his song Nelson's Farewell. And that was a hit 00:10:05.779 --> 00:10:08.460 in Ireland, too. It was. Think about that. You 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:10.320 have his former band having hits. You have a 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.460 doubler's having hits with his writing. He was 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:14.559 omnipresent in the scene, even though he was 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:17.120 physically absent from the spotlight. The invisible 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.759 hand of Irish folk. The sources also mentioned 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:22.799 a track called Mayfly Days. Yes. The trio Art 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.100 Varna released a version of that, and the sources 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:28.259 describe it simply as beautiful. Mayfly Days. 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:31.960 That title alone suggests a lyrical sensitivity 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:35.220 that goes way beyond a rousing pub ballad. It 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:37.320 suggests an awareness of how fleeting things 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:39.639 are. Which fits his character perfectly. He catches 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:42.519 the moment and then he moves on. So after the 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:44.740 desert, after all these adventures and hits by 00:10:44.740 --> 00:10:47.500 other artists, did he ever come back to the music 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:49.779 industry properly? Did he try to capitalize on 00:10:49.779 --> 00:10:52.220 all those covers? No. And that's what makes him 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:54.559 so consistent. He didn't come back and demand 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:57.080 a record deal. He subsequently dropped professional 00:10:57.080 --> 00:10:59.639 music almost entirely. So what did he do? He 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:01.840 went back to his roots. He focused on painting. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:04.039 Traded the guitar for the paintbrush? Well, not 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:06.799 entirely. He stopped the business of music. Yeah. 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:09.279 But the sources say he continued to compose. 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:11.840 He would make tapes of his songs and just pass 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.679 them on to anyone who was interested. That is 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.720 so rare to create art just for the pure sake 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.720 of sharing it with whoever happens to be around. 00:11:19.019 --> 00:11:22.559 It's the definition of a pure artist. He played 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.340 in local sessions, keeping his hand in, but on 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:28.889 his own terms. He wasn't chasing charts. He decided 00:11:28.889 --> 00:11:31.309 he preferred the quiet satisfaction of a local 00:11:31.309 --> 00:11:33.830 session in Galway over the pressure of the industry. 00:11:34.070 --> 00:11:36.309 It's so countercultural. We assume that if someone 00:11:36.309 --> 00:11:38.549 has talent, they have an obligation to be famous. 00:11:38.710 --> 00:11:40.649 Right. But Joe decided the talent was for him 00:11:40.649 --> 00:11:44.490 and for his friends. Fame was just an accidental 00:11:44.490 --> 00:11:46.990 byproduct that he was happy to discard. We should 00:11:46.990 --> 00:11:48.629 probably mention a little about his personal 00:11:48.629 --> 00:11:50.669 life as well, just to ground this. He wasn't 00:11:50.669 --> 00:11:53.309 some isolated hermit. Not at all. He was born 00:11:53.309 --> 00:11:57.320 May 25th, 1942 in Galway. He passed away on January 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:01.120 7th, 2008, from cancer. And he was survived by 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.799 his son Andy, his sister Chris, his brother -in 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.259 -law Wim, and his nieces Eileen and Jessica. 00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:08.500 It sounds like he had a very solid family unit 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:11.080 around him in those later years. He did. It paints 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:13.139 a picture of a man who found real contentment 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:15.519 away from the fame machine. He wasn't a tragic 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:17.759 figure who failed. He was a guy who just chose 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.220 a different path. But, and here's where it gets 00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:23.629 really compelling to me. The final hook. in this 00:12:23.629 --> 00:12:25.769 whole deep dive, there is one piece of the puzzle 00:12:25.769 --> 00:12:28.070 we don't quite have yet. The manuscript. The 00:12:28.070 --> 00:12:31.289 manuscript. Yeah. It turns out Joe Dolan wrote 00:12:31.289 --> 00:12:34.750 an autobiography titled Lost Miles and Broken 00:12:34.750 --> 00:12:37.210 Strings. I mean, we have to pause on that title 00:12:37.210 --> 00:12:39.450 alone. Lost Miles and Broken Strings. It sounds 00:12:39.450 --> 00:12:43.049 like a lost folk ballad. It's incredibly evocative. 00:12:43.289 --> 00:12:46.649 Lost Miles suggests the detours, the time spent 00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:49.169 wandering, the parts of life not on a resume 00:12:49.169 --> 00:12:52.830 and Broken Strings. implies the wear and tear 00:12:52.830 --> 00:12:55.639 of a musician's life. The cost of making the 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:57.980 art. And the kicker here, according to the sources, 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:00.320 is that it has not yet been published. It hasn't. 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.399 And that is so tantalizing. It kills me. I really 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:04.899 want to read that book. And we know about the 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:06.860 show bands. We know about Sweeney's Men. We know 00:13:06.860 --> 00:13:08.980 about the walkie -talkie on Masada. But what 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:11.220 about the years in between? The broken strings. 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:13.340 Exactly. You really have to wonder what stories 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:16.519 are in there. The gap between 1967 and 2008 is 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:18.960 a long time. There must be dozens of adventures, 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:21.019 dozens of songs that never even made it onto 00:13:21.019 --> 00:13:23.730 a tape passed around a pub. It feels like there's 00:13:23.730 --> 00:13:26.049 a whole other deep dive waiting to happen if 00:13:26.049 --> 00:13:28.309 that book ever sees the light of day. Absolutely. 00:13:28.649 --> 00:13:30.929 It implies a journey that wasn't always smooth, 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:34.169 but it also implies a life that was fully examined. 00:13:34.990 --> 00:13:36.909 You don't write an autobiography called Lost 00:13:36.909 --> 00:13:39.549 Miles unless you've done some serious thinking 00:13:39.549 --> 00:13:42.309 about where you've been. So when we step back 00:13:42.309 --> 00:13:44.730 and look at the life of Galway Joe Dolan, what 00:13:44.730 --> 00:13:47.350 are we actually looking at? Because on paper, 00:13:47.789 --> 00:13:50.330 a music executive would say, he blew it. He walked 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:52.990 away right when he was winning. If you look at 00:13:52.990 --> 00:13:55.049 it strictly through the lens of commercial success, 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:57.590 sure, he left money on the table. But if you 00:13:57.590 --> 00:13:59.409 look at it through the lens of a life well lived, 00:14:00.129 --> 00:14:02.620 I think he won. How so? Think about the richness 00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:05.879 of it. He experienced the thrill of the early 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:08.860 show band era. He founded a seminal group that 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:11.500 literally changed Irish music history. He had 00:14:11.500 --> 00:14:14.000 a hit record. Then instead of getting stuck on 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.700 the hamster wheel, he had a massive adventure 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:18.960 in the Middle East. And inspired giants like 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.080 Christie Moore along the way. Exactly. He created 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:25.580 art that outlasted his own career. And he spent 00:14:25.580 --> 00:14:27.940 his later years painting and playing music for 00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:31.190 the sheer love of it, surrounded by family. That's 00:14:31.190 --> 00:14:33.809 not a failed career. That is a highly successful 00:14:33.809 --> 00:14:37.309 life. It challenges our whole definition of success. 00:14:37.509 --> 00:14:39.789 We are so conditioned to think success means 00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:41.789 staying in the spotlight and making the numbers 00:14:41.789 --> 00:14:44.889 go up. Joe seemed to treat success as just fuel 00:14:44.889 --> 00:14:47.490 for the next experience. He gathered experiences 00:14:47.490 --> 00:14:50.129 the way he gathered folk songs. And the fact 00:14:50.129 --> 00:14:52.190 that his songs are still sung, that the trip 00:14:52.190 --> 00:14:54.990 to Jerusalem is in the canon, proves his choices 00:14:54.990 --> 00:14:57.350 led to enduring art. He didn't need to be the 00:14:57.350 --> 00:14:59.610 one on stage singing them. It's funny, we started 00:14:59.610 --> 00:15:01.929 this deep dive by clarifying that he wasn't the 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:04.909 famous Joe Dolan. But in a way, his influence 00:15:04.909 --> 00:15:07.830 is woven so deeply into the fabric of Irish music 00:15:07.830 --> 00:15:09.950 that he's everywhere. He's the hidden thread. 00:15:10.110 --> 00:15:12.230 You might not see him on the album cover. But 00:15:12.230 --> 00:15:14.210 without him, the entire tapestry would look very 00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.649 different. The folk revival needed people like 00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:19.269 him. People willing to break the mold and take 00:15:19.269 --> 00:15:21.409 risks. I keep going back to that image of him 00:15:21.409 --> 00:15:22.990 on the mountain. I was thinking of how I'd got 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:25.110 there. I feel like we all have those moments 00:15:25.110 --> 00:15:26.610 in life where you look around and think, wait, 00:15:26.610 --> 00:15:29.830 how did this happen? And for Joe, the answer 00:15:29.830 --> 00:15:32.490 to how he got there was by following his own 00:15:32.490 --> 00:15:35.669 compass, not the industry's compass. He followed 00:15:35.669 --> 00:15:38.970 the music, the adventure, and his own curiosity. 00:15:39.590 --> 00:15:41.570 That's a brave way to live. And he left us some 00:15:41.570 --> 00:15:44.049 incredible songs along the way. And hopefully 00:15:44.049 --> 00:15:47.769 someday a book. Yes. That is the call to action 00:15:47.769 --> 00:15:50.149 for this deep dive. If anyone out there has a 00:15:50.149 --> 00:15:53.370 lead on Lost Miles and Broken Strings, or if 00:15:53.370 --> 00:15:55.370 the family ever decides to publish it, please 00:15:55.370 --> 00:15:58.100 let the world see it. It feels like the final 00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:00.700 chapter is still waiting to be told. The man 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:03.460 who vanished has one last story to tell. He really 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:05.460 does. Well, that brings us to the end of our 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:07.679 journey with Galway Joe. From the glitter of 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.059 the show bands to the acoustic revolution of 00:16:10.059 --> 00:16:12.779 Sweeney's Men to the heat of the Negev and back 00:16:12.779 --> 00:16:15.500 to the easel in Galway. It's been a fascinating 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:17.840 ride. A reminder that the road less traveled 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.620 often makes for the better song. It really does. 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:23.879 And to you listening, thank you for joining us 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:25.740 on this deep dive. We hope it gave you something 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:27.639 to think about regarding the paths we choose 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:30.299 and the legacy we leave behind. Sometimes walking 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:32.379 away is the most powerful move you can make. 00:16:32.539 --> 00:16:34.419 And here is a final thought to chew on as you 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:37.299 go about your day. We know about the miles between 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:39.940 Galway and Jerusalem. We know about the songs 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:42.259 that came out of them. But in an unpublished 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:45.879 memoir titled Lost Miles, you have to wonder 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.519 what are the stories he didn't turn into songs? 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:51.220 What are the adventures that were just for him? 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:53.620 The best stories are often the ones we keep for 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:55.860 ourselves. Something to think about. Catch you 00:16:55.860 --> 00:16:57.659 on the next deep dive. Goodbye, everyone.