Biography
For nearly twenty-five years, Tom Sweeney has travelled the highways and byways of Ireland, Europe and North America with his seemingly endless rattle bag of songs, stories, poetry and tunes.
His one man show is replete with the very essence of Irish culture which comes as no surprise when you consider that he has been immersed in the great tradition of ballad singing since he could speak. Tom’s maternal grandmother, Sarah Makem, is generally considered to be one of the greatest sources of songs in the entire history of Irish music and as a boy he learned many of them around his granny’s kitchen in County Armagh.
Tom at the White House
Having played every state in the USA and every province and territory in Canada for many years, Tom was honoured in 1998 to receive a personal invitation from President Clinton and the First Lady to perform his classic peace song “Anthem for the Children” at the White house on St Patrick’s Night. This was a short time before the signing of the Good Friday agreement in Ireland, and all those engaged in the talks were at the performance.
Listen to Anthem for the Children
Milwaukee Irish Fest
Tom was delighted to have written the theme song for the 25th anniversary of the world famous Milwaukee Irish Fest. Considered to be the biggest Irish music festival in the world, the 2005 festival saw upwards of 135,000 people over the third weekend of August. The president of Ireland, Mary Mc Aleese opened the event this year and Tom was honoured to perform the song, called “Milwaukee 25″ at both the opening and the closing of the Irish musical extravaganza. At the closing, which is known as the ‘Scattering’, Tom sang the song onstage with a veritable who’s who of the Irish folk music world to an audience of 10,000! They all left with the chorus of “Milwaukee, the word makes you smile, You’d think you were in Erin’s Isle…” on their lips and hearts! The song is also included in the Milwaukee Irish Fest’s 25th anniversary CD, “Silver”, a compilation of the many performers who have graced the stages of Irish Fest for a quarter of a century.
“It was a class feeling to hear thousands of people singing the chorus, not to mention all the musical friends onstage!” says Tom, “It was magical!”
The Wanderer
When not on the road or in his home studio, Tom can be found wandering around the remoter parts of Ireland discovering something new about the country every day. Here is a man whose very soul is at one with traditional culture and who sees it as a living, vibrant and ever changing thing with its roots deeply implanted in his inherited knowledge.
An evening with Tom is simply superb so give yourself a treat and experience what many people across miles and miles of music have known for a long time - that Tom Sweeney is the real thing and it doesn’t get any better than this!