Northern Ireland based singer-songwriter Anthony Toner celebrates his sixtieth birthday this year and to mark the occasion he's taking part in two very special concerts hosted by The Cathedral quarter Arts Festival.
FT: So, The Anthony Toner Songbook –A look back at your storied career, over 14/15 Albums, your solo career, Work with The Ronnie Greer Band, New adventures with The Boondocks, so many collaborations with other wonderful artists. That‘s a lot of ground to cover. Will they be overnight gigs?
AT: It depends on how big a reaction we get! I think the Church authorities may have something to say about that though!
FT: Looking at the guest list – Matt McGinn, Eilidh Patterson, Ciaran Lavery, Ronnie Greer, Brigid O’Neill, Ken Haddock, Ciara O’Neill, and Clive Culbertson. It’s a veritable Who’s Who of local talent. Throw in Barbara Dickson and Nick Holland, as the icing on the cake, and it’s a thing of beauty before a note is played!
AT: Well, it’s lovely. When we sat down to plan it, we thought, well, who could we involve? Matt (McGinn) had already thought about the band, so we have John McCullough, Nicky Scott, Matty Weir, and Collie McClean on guitar. So we have an amazing band to start with. I then started thinking about people whom I have worked with, people whom I have written songs with, People who I have toured with, and people who have been part of my journey, and the names just suggested themselves. I mean, Eilidh Patterson and I go back to the first times I played in front of anybody. Clive has produced all of my albums. Some of the people are more recent than that, but most of them go back a long way. My involvement with Ronnie Greer goes back 14 or 15 years, Barbara Dickson goes back 10 years. The thing that surprised me the most was that everybody who was asked said yes, and everybody said yes, really quickly, which is really lovely!
FT: I think you are being very modest there, Anthony. Being able to attract such a wealth of talent is a reflection of the high esteem people hold you.
AT: Well, thank you, and it would be nice to think that. I think my relationships with all those people have always been good. I’ve always said, as much as any talent, luck, or work that you put in, in this particular business of making music, recording and playing live, we are kind of in the relationship business, as much as anything else. These people have been part of my journey during this time, and I hope that they will be a part of the rest of the journey. The thought of falling out with any of them is worse than any kind of musical calamity you might have. If any of those people had the same type of celebration of their career, I‘d be there in a shot! There is something about this particular group of people. They all had long careers with ups and downs in one sense or another. And those people have always been attractive to me, they all have a story to tell, and they have an empathy and compassion in what they do.
FT: Again, I think you’re being quite self-effacing. I had the good fortune to interview Barbara Dickson recently, and this is what she said of you, and I quote – ‘I could not believe how wonderful he is. ‘The road to Fivemiletown’ is one of my favourite songs, ever! He’s a real man of words. It’s not rocket science, but it just comes from his great love of words, and his tunes are great, and he’s a wonderful player, but like Paul Simon, he can do the words as well. So we are very, very lucky to have him; he should be a national treasure here!
AT: I couldn’t believe it when I saw it actually. Barbara has been incredibly generous and opened a lot of doors for me. And she’s good fun! Touring with Barbara is great fun. On her tours, there is a little group of about 5 of us in a van, off we go, we do the gigs, everybody gets on, no weird egos, no nonsense, and we just enjoy each other’s company. And she’s the real thing!
FT: With such a diversity of talents, can we expect a bit of everything? Folk, Blues, Pop?
AT: I think so. The plan is that people like Eilidh, Brigid, Ciaran, ken, they will all be singing my songs, their interpretations of my songs and I will either be there to play guitar, or sing harmony, and in between, there are maybe 6 or 7 songs that I’ll do, with the full band or with guests. So it’s a rich mixture of approaches. That’s the plan as of now, but I haven’t had a rehearsal, so I’m not sure what sort of approach the folks will take! (Laughs) So that should be fun! It’s going to move around quite a bit, stylistically, which is great, I love those kinds of shows. The biggest live music experience that I had, before actually seeing a live gig, was ‘The Last Waltz’. When you see all the different styles of music that are on that stage, I always think that if you are to arrange a big concert with different artists, the closer you can get to ‘The Last Waltz’, the better. If only I could be as good-looking as Robbie Robertson back in those days, but you can’t have everything!
FT: It’s very much a snapshot retrospective of your career, the artist at 60, so to speak?
AT: It is. Matt McGinn said something interesting. He said there is a tendency that we celebrate people when they die, but I’ve always thought you celebrate people when they are alive!
FT: Matt is very wise, and I would always take on board what Matt says.
AT: I remember the first time I saw Matt in the Black box with Andrea (Montgomery, Anthony’s wife), funnily enough, playing at a ‘Last Waltz’ tribute concert, and he played ‘The shape I’m in’, and we went ‘Who’s that guy? He’s amazing! We were introduced later that night, and he has been a friend ever since. He’s a major talent, at everything, as a Songwriter, guitar player, harmony singer, producer, arranger, fixer; he’s great.
FT: When the gigs are done, when can we expect new material, and what are your plans for the rest of the year?
AT: I think I have about 15, 16 songs, mostly finished. I’ve started recording them at home, which is what I do. My plan is to put an album out in September, and have a string of solo acoustic tour dates, October, November, December, and maybe into ‘26’ as well. That’s the plan. I’ll get these songs finished, mixed and mastered, get the album made and ready to launch it. It feels great to have new material.
FT: Do you have a working title for the album?
AT: I’m working with the title ‘The Big Seas Of their Dreams’. Which is a line from Dylan Thomas, ‘Under Milkwood’. There is a scene where he says, ‘Only you can see the sleeping town, you’re hovering above, if only you can see the rises and falls of the big seas of their dreams’. I always loved that. There are many meanings in it. And there are a lot of little story songs and dream-like images in the album, so it’s a nice fit at the moment.
FT: I’m so looking forward to these gigs, like so many others. And the best of luck with the album!
AT – Thank you, always great to talk to Folk and Tumble!
The Anthony Toner Songbook takes place on the 9th and 10th of May 2025 during the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. Tickets for both are available at cqaf.com