Reunion in Dunmore, 03/01/14

Ringo arrived back from Australia for a visit and Louis came over from France for Christmas so a reunion was planned for Friday 3rd January 2014. Present were Ringo O’Regan, Louis O’Dwyer, Simon O’Dwyer and various friends/musicians Tony McLaughlin, Conor O’Neill, Gerry Madden and Joefy Murphy. A good session was had by all. The event was recorded on video by Maria O’Dwyer. Check out the link for the videos.

Welcome...

The Good Old Boys, from Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, Ireland

The Good Old Boys developed into a band over time. There was no overnight plan to start a band. The initial group consisted of Louis O'Dwyer lead guitar and vocals, Ringo Regan rhythm guitar and vocals, Sean Murphy on bass, Simon O'Dwyer guitar and vocals, and Tom Costigan from Piltown near Carrick-on-Suir on drums. All the band members but for Tom Costigan had played together in bar sessions for a number of years. Sometime during 1983 Louis, Ringo and Sean were involved in a one night stand at a charity concert in the Fisherman's Hall Dunmore East and that more or less was the beginning of the Good Old Boys...   The name The Good Old Boys was a tongue-in-cheek title taken from a popular movie of the day called The Blues Brothers. In one of the more memorable and funny scenes from the movie, the Blues Brothers are chased down a highway by a country and western band called The Good Ol Boys on account of a double booking where the Blues Brothers ended up taking over The Good Ol Boys spot in a country bar.   The chase is still one of the funnier scenes in the movie and one of the clips shows the Blues Brothers speeding around a highway bend at night in their converted Police Car, being pursued by The Good OL Boys in their camper van.   But getting back to the Dunmore Good Old Boys, in early 1984 the boys persuaded a very sceptical Mary and Peter Power of Powers Bar to allow them use amplification and begin a series of Saturday night residencies at Powers Pub.   The Dunmore Good Old Boys began playing in Powers Bar in early 1984 and were one of the first groups anywhere in Ireland to cover songs by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Rodney Crowell, Emmy Lou Harris, and so forth. In later years Willie and Waylon would go on to international success but when The Good Old Boys began playing songs like Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, On The Road Again, Good Hearted Woman, etc few people knew the music. Most of the songs were taken from an album entitled Wanted, by the Outlaws which was not available on the Irish market at that time. The Good Old Boys split up in the 1980’s and went their separate ways, with two remaining in Ireland, one in France and one in Australia. There was a reunion in Dunmore East on 03/09/2005 with Ringo, Louis, Sean and Simon and more recently on 03/01/2014 with Ringo, Louis, Simon and friends/musicians Tony McLaughlin, Conor O’Neill, Gerry Madden and Joefy Murphy.  Videos of that last reunion can be seen on this website.