April 2007

Fil joins the team at Newry's new radio station FIVE FM.
Listen online or live at 8.30pm every Thursday night to "The Lough To The Glen", Five FM's weekly arts programme with Fil and guests.

20th November 2006

SONGBIRDS IS THE WINNER!!!!!!!!

The Songbirds DVD won this year's video category in the 2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards ceremony which took place in California on Saturday 4th November.

Songbirds was selected as winner from over 1000 entrants in the full length video category.

The JP Folks site has more information and is well worth a visit for any music fans. JP Folks is a community of more than 40,000 singers, songwriters and music industry people and the competition this year had entrants from over 70 coutnries.

Click here from more info.

12th September 2006
Fil's Songbirds series gets nominated for "2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards"

Press Release: For Immediate Release September 11th, 2006

29th August 2006
Songbirds first programme features Ruby Murray.... SAturday 2nd September at 10am - RTE 1.

In the first programme in the series Fil looks at the life of Belfast's Ruby Murray who had 5 songs in the Hit parade in the same week in 1955 and went on to have an international career that spanned 30 years.

In this programme Fil is joined by singer Sean Keane to sing a duet of "Love's Old Sweet Song" which Ruby recorded early in her career.

The programme features archive footage of Ruby, along with contributions from Phil Coulter, Daniel O'Donnell, Eddie McIlwaine (Editor Belfast Telegraph) and Ruby's son Tim Murray who is also a performer. Fil also sings "Teddy O'Neill" and "Softly Softly" from the Ruby Murray songbook.

28th August 2006
Band line up for Fil's tour will be Brendan Emmett from Ballyfarnon in Co. Leitrim on guitar, mandolin and vocals; Tom McFarland from Belfast on percussion, bodhran and vocals; Peter Benson from Rostrevor on keyboards and vocals.

22nd August 2006
RTE announce plans to repeat the Songbirds series. See Songbirds page for full dates. THe programmes will run right through Fil's tour.

7th July 2006
Fil to host the Women's Concert at this year's Fiddlers Greeen Festival in Rostrevor - on Saturday 26th August in St. Bronagh's Hall. Earlier in the week catch Fil in a round robin lunch time session, with Scottish traditional singer Doris Rougvie and American singer Laurie Ornstein.

3rd July 2006
Summersong 2006 opens its doors - Summersong is a weeklong course for singers wishing to find out more about the business. Under the direction of Fil and Tom, the course covers recording, performance, songwriting, confidence building and career development. This year's group range in age from 15 - 50 and cover all styles of music from traditional folk to opera. Further details at 222.summersong.co.uk

June 2006

Fil announces details of an Irish theatre concert tour bringing the Songbirds songs to the stage. Click here for details of venues and box office numbers.

29th November 2005

Marie McStay interviews Fil about Songbirds this Saturday 3rd December (7.30 – 9am) on Your Place and Mine on BBC Radio Ulster. The show will remain online for 2 months afterwards.

(Marie’s slot is usually after the news at 8)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/radioulster/

13th November 2005

Dates for Songbirds TV shows - first programme features Ruby Murray

Songbirds begins on RTE1 Television on Sunday 20th November at 7.30pm. IN the first programme Fil looks at the life of Belfast's Ruby Murray who had 5 songs in the Hit parade in the same week in 1955 and went on to have an international career that spanned 30 years.

In this programme Fil is joined by singer Sean Keane to sing a duet of "Love's Old Sweet Song" which Ruby recorded early in her career. The programme features archive footage of Ruby, along with contributions from Phil Coulter, Daniel O'Donnell, Eddie McIlwaine (Editor Belfast Telegraph) and Ruby's son Tim Murray who is also a performer. Fil also sings "Teddy O'Neill" and "Softly Softly" from the Ruby Murray songbook.

Programme 2 features Maggie Barry showing 27th November

Programme 3 features Mary O'Hara showing 4th December

Programme 4 features Bridie Gallagher showing 11th December

Programme 5 features Delia Murphy showing 18th December

Programme 6 links the singers through the common songs they sang and other common themes.

October 2005

Fil's new project is Songbirds - the First Ladies of Irish Song - a 6 part documentary about the lives and music of Delia Murphy, Maggie Barry, Bridie Gallagher, Mary O'Hara and Ruby Murray.

It airs on Sunday nights on RTE1 @ 7.30pm starting in November.

As well as presenting the show, Fil has recorded new versions of some of each of the women's songs with guest musicians Tommy Sands, Finbar Furey, Sean Keane, Steve Cooney, John Sheahan and Laoise Kelly. A CD of this music is available in all good record shops in Ireland and through this website from October 28th.

A DVD of the Sonbgirds, including extra footage, will also be available from the end of November.

Bookmark this site and call back for further information about an Irish tour early in 2006 and news about international broadcasts and tours.