“If music be the food of love, play on.” This most famous of lines from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night sprung to mind early in my encounter with West Limerick musician, songwriter, physiotherapist, promoter, pizza maker, family man, and all-round nice guy, Emmet Scanlan, writes Limerick Post reporter Alan Jacques.
I have always had a soft spot for Newcastle West. It’s a bustling, friendly market town with a lot going for it. The people are warm, the streets are vibrant, and it’s rich in history, and no slouch either when it comes to culture and the arts.
Home to the internationally renowned Éigse Michael Hartnett Festival, Newcastle West is also a place rich in traditional music – which it celebrates with gusto – as well as being the domicile of many super-talented and well-respected artists and craftspeople.
Whether it’s been to cover Council meetings, conduct an interview, or just to head out for a stroll around the Castle Demense, I’ve always been more than happy for an excuse to visit County Limerick’s largest town.
So I knew my day was off to a good start when I drove out to Newcastle West to meet local musician and man about town, Emmet Scanlan. The accomplished tunesmith has been making infectious music for almost 20 years, peddling his wares in Ireland, the UK, and the US, under the banner of Emmet Scanlan & What The Good Thought.
Of course, the music business is a fickle mistress and man does not live by bread alone. Bills still have to paid, and Emmet, like so many other talented musicians, had to look at marrying his passion with work, family, and – quite literally – making a crust.
He is married to Rebecca (Rocca), his teenage sweetheart, whom he met on the very first day at secondary school many moons ago.
Together, the pair returned home from London, where they lived for nine years, to run her family’s pizzeria, Mamma Mia, on Bridge Street in Newcastle West.
The ambitions of music stardom were put on hold, but Scanlan, a qualified physiotherapist who practices locally, still makes time for songwriting and music in his everyday life to keep the dream alive.
Gratitude and grunge
In 2024, he and the band released their Every Given Day EP, a collection of gorgeous songs of gratitude for life’s gifts and challenges. The lead track, he tells me, is a poignant homage to his little girl, Annabelle (7), and the positive effect that children have on their parents, particularly dads.
The young angst-ridden teen, who grew up listening to Metallica and Nirvana, has matured with age, and uses the life skills he picked up from the knocks and disappointments of the cutthroat music industry to his advantage.
A totally calm and positive individual, the 43-year-old comes off like a man living his best life, and making music on his own terms.
“Life has beefed up since we came home, all in a positive way, in the point of view of the music and everything else. Chiselling away at the music is a labour of love, and now there’s family and kids to boot” Emmet admits.
“Looking back, I did one big album and it nearly killed me in the sense that it was so much money – we did music videos at five grand a go. But from my early 20s working in a bar in Galway to fund the music, it was always the goal. We went on tours in America and all that jazz, but when the album didn’t skyrocket like you expected, I realised I needed to step back.”
Since doing just this, a whole wealth of musical possibilities and adventures have opened up to Scanlan, and the townsfolk of Newcastle West to boot.
Window Sessions
He still makes sure to put a couple of hours aside each day to work on his own music, but it was during the dark days of the Covid era where an idea was born that has well and truly put the town, with a population of little over 7,000, on Ireland’s touring circuit as a must play.
“There used to be a thing called the Goat Street Blues Festival which Seamus (Cleary) used to run down in Cleary’s Bar, because their address is Goat Street. I remember I was living in London at the time and he emailed me and said, ‘you’re not going to believe this, but we’re after turning the pub back to front’,” Emmet tells me.
“The stage was always at the back. I thought this was going to be horrendous but it turned out really well and now the gigs are in the window, so it’s really quirky. Therein was born the Window Sessions. We plugged away for a number of years with rising local and national undiscovered talent. Coming out of Covid, we applied for funding to boost the nighttime economy and put on four gigs with big names.”
Giving Other Voices a run for its money
Tickets flew out the door for the sell-out first run with Liam Ó Maonlaí, Paddy Casey, John Spillane, and Brendan Markham. The ‘Window Sessions’ had well and truly arrived and word spread like wildfire in music circles about this most intimate and special of venues in Newcastle West.
“We thought, well, there’s an audience here, and the acts all thought it was really cool. From there we said let’s do six gigs in the autumn and six gigs in the spring. We try to have a couple of rising acts as well and it’s all ticketed. People kind of trust us that the lads are bringing in good music,” he explains.
The spring Window Sessions kicked off this past Wednesday night with a sell-out show from Irish music legend Mary Coughlan, who has made Cleary’s window a regular stop-off on her touring roster.
Next up is Ann Phelan on March 27, Susan O’Neill on April 10, Jerry Fish on April 26, and West Limerick music legends The Driven on May 29 and 30.
To further plans to give Dingle’s Other Voices a run for its money, the now annual music trail, which takes place this year on April 26, promises an eclectic day out around Newcastle West.
“It’s a real mixture of something for everyone. Last year we started in Scanlan’s Menswear. After 30 minutes, we then moved to the next venue, and we’re led by a musician as we go from one performance to another. Literally we walk from A to B, the performances are all 30 minutes, and it really works. It’s been so popular that people are asking me in January when the tickets are going to be out,” Emmet says.
“This year, there’s many surprise venues, such as the courthouse and a pharmacy, no less. There will be renowned singer-songwriter, national talent, funk brass bands, local piano child virtuosos, salsa dancers, you name it,” he hinted.
For tickets and details on the Window Sessions or the Newcastle West Music Trail Festival, visit Cleary’s Window Sessions on Facebook.
For tickets and details on the Window Sessions visit Cleary’s Window Sessions on Facebook, the Newcastle West
Music Trail Festival on Instagram, or emmetscanlan.com.
