One of Maureen O'Hara's favorite Irish bands are continuing to tour the US with a run of sold-out shows 50 years on from their inception.
The Dublin City Ramblers started their singing life as The Jolly Tinkers in 1963 before changing to The Quare Fellas, a name associated with one of Dublin's greatest writers , Brendan Behan.
The band have enjoyed enormous success over the years , receiving many prestigious awards in Ireland and being gifted the keys to three cities in the States - Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Morehead, Kentucky.
The group are known for their "no airs or graces" approach to life and music, and have been described as a "raw, down to earth bunch of lads" who have earned much respect in the industry. One of their most memorable moments, though, was being lauded by iconic Irish actress Maureen O'Hara , who was also a self-confessed fan.
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Ahead of the Ramblers' gigs in Woodstock, New York and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania this weekend, Sean McGuinness, band member, told IrishStar.com : "We had a mutual friend with Maureen O'Hara.
"It was around the time The Quiet Man had been released , and she was driving around Ireland with him listening to our music. She was due to be honored at a ceremony in New York for her contribution to acting and said to her friend, 'I want that band. I don't care who they are. Fly them over and have them play at my award ceremony'."
Before they knew it, the Ramblers had landed in the Big Apple where they were set up at the plush Marriott Hotel in Queens . The star-studded event included guests like Robert Redford and other Hollywood royalty .
During the ceremony, although she was told by organizers not to, O'Hara, who was born in Dublin but died in Idaho in 2015, came down from the podium and chatted to the Ramblers for 15 minutes before being called away.
"We gifted her an engraved Tipperary Crystal ball to mark the occasion," Sean revealed. "We met her again in Dublin a few years later . She was so ordinary and a total mother figure.
"After she died, our friend told us that he'd driven to Maureen's house not long after she passed and the first thing he saw on her dressing table was the Tipperary Crystal. We were thrilled with that. It's going into her exhibition at Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum in Co Limerick which is dedicated to her husband, Captain FitzSimons."
The Ramblers' most favored hits are covers of The Town I Loved So Well and Dublin in the Rare Old Times , made famous by The Dubliners. Sean wants to "keep the ballad and folk scene going" in Ireland - a scene he knows well.
Born on James' Street in the heart of Dublin , Sean spent some of his childhood in The Liberties where he was classmates with Pogues star Terry Woods and Celtic Rock pioneer from Horslips, Jim Lockhart.
They band first recorded Rare Old Times in 1977 and re-released it in February with the Sea of Change Choir, a group of cancer survivors and supporters who were semi-finalists in Ireland's Got Talent. Together they raised €50,000.
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"Music is the best passport you can have," Sean added. The Dublin City Ramblers will perform at Colony, Woodstock on August 10 and the Irish Center, Philadelphia on August 11. For tickets and more information, please click here .
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