 from her new album which is called leaving it all behind and her first album in some 30 years and wait to hear this for a quote it was my pleasure to sing with my favorite female artist sandy kelly in america she has been ireland's greatest ambassador she won the hearts of everyone who saw her and i am seeing her right now she's sitting right in front of me that's the lovely sandy kelly good afternoon sandy hi david always lovely to see you and always lovely to see you too and looking so well as always oh well you know i'm i'm happy i suppose that helps you know i'm tired though but good tired yeah it's because it's been a busy time for you and this is your first time in a long time to do a concert tour as sandy kelly of course we know you've had the patsy client story for years but now you're out there on a nationwide concert tour as sandy kelly again yeah which is which is very daunting in the beginning because it had been so long i was either guest spotting you know doing guest spots with other people like michael englis or louise morrissey or doing patsy client um but as you say this is my first solo tour but i do have some great guests as you know ashley cambell lent cambell's daughter um her partner um tor jensen yes who's a phenomenal guitar player and singer and from clear island i don't think you've met him yet nil mccabe david he is absolutely fantastic i've seen some videos and looks fantastic and you know he's a great sense of humor we do have great crack on stage they don't between himself and ashley they don't let me away with much on the stage you know we do have good banter you know but isn't that what it's all about especially whenever you're in a tour like that that's pretty long and extensive yeah you need to be in an environment where you're enjoying what you're doing and surrounded by people who are just good fun yeah and i like yeah and no divas and nobody precious about anything everybody on the tour like my son willy who was with rackhouse pilfer he's and drums hugie mcmullin who's phenomenal he's on piano and mike ellie on bass smikes first tour back since he went through cancer but it's great and we all get on well we have nula milkeen traveling with us john crossby whom you know yeah and uh robert topless so this in all there's 10 of us so it's a pretty big big production seven of us on stage yeah 10 of us but a lot of laughs and not just between ourselves but the thing about this show is it's very informal yes so i mean even in cork the other night we were in the everyman and people were shouting things up asking things in the middle of the show yeah so it's kind of a bit of banter like that with the audience as well so it's it's great fun i mean i'll miss it now i'm sure you will but there's a great one coming up this thursday night and the ingrain in theater here in letter kenny is such a beautiful theater and there's some tickets available for that and i would encourage you if you are a fan of music go and see this because there's so many different elements to the show you have sandi and sandi your life story uh is is quite a remarkable one and i'm sure you tell it throughout the show yeah i do we talked about that remember the last day when i was in the roadcaster yeah i i don't you know talk too much because that's not what people want but i do i bring up little elements of funny stories through my life you know as a child and um you know meeting johnny cash and you know all through the whole lot like there's a lot of uh humor in us yeah um and the audience like that i think very much like my grandfather used to say to me people pay their harder earned money to be entertained yes and not listen to my complaints you know but you have some amazing stories as well thank you down through the years i know we've covered them all between you and i have become great friends yeah and we've had we were going in the car to kalarney and it's maybe four hours from i picked you up until we got there it's just you telling all these stories about you're probably ready to jump out of the car will you i wouldn't give you a left home is that what you didn't bring me back but you have some amazing stories and it's lovely to be able to incorporate those into a show so that's one element of the show another element is all the wonderful songs you've had down through the years then you've got glenn cambell's daughter on stage with you who i might add is a remarkable artist in her own right to sell an incredible musician and you know and she's so grounded and so humble she's such a you'll meet her she's coming in to see you tomorrow she is and she's a great musician but that she that's what she is she's in her head she's a musician she's not a diva i mean she could very well be demanding her she's none of that she she mucks in she carries in her own gear yeah plugs it all in the end of the show she's down talking to people then she's dismantling her equipment packing it in the car and that endears me to her and now mccabe is the same he's from clear island he's exactly the same do you know what david the mother when i work with you and i have worked with you you know quite a bit it endears me when i when young people like you come along who are so talented and so nice and so hard working i mean we were chatting off air about you know your tours at the minute are going fantastic and it doesn't seem that long ago since we met first i know and you were starting out do you remember yeah you know and that was in i think in a castle in wills somewhere i think it was it was uh yeah but well in castle yeah and you and i got to know each other very well and we remain friends which is great and for me i suppose i'm 17 now since last month that's the joy i know and thank you i'm saving up for the operation so that's the joy for me is doing something different like this show yeah and coming back to letter kenny which i haven't been in a long long time and it's very much sticking to your roots in the in the sense that i suppose it is a variety show on the surface yeah which is back to your roots that's a very good comment and observation because that's exactly what it is it's a variety show um with all different elements i think the audiences we've had a stand in ovations every night i think the audiences are surprised because it's not what they're expecting and they love it yeah so it's great and sadly you have fans all across the country and this tour has seen you go to some huge venues like the national concert hall yeah i was a bit scared of that one out i mean years gone by when i used to be famous i did the national concert hall and it is a daunting venue to do but i couldn't have been more wrong it was just a beautiful night everybody came out same people that came for years you know to see me and as you said in the in when you were chatting to me there i started the beginning with my very first record on this concert tour right through to the big tom records and duets and the music you know goes right through yeah to the when you just played just now so it's you know it's a kind of a journey with music as well and it shows the progression of your career from but people like to hear the old songs too don't they of course they do you know especially as i mentioned from from your humble beginnings back with your grandfather's road show right up to the big stardom recording with willie nelson and johnny cash it's all in there i wasn't i lucky and i recorded with ashley's dad so you did yeah so it's it's uh that's why you know how it comes full circle it's so nice yeah and i suppose in writing the book which we talked about before david um i was reminded by how lucky it was and how blessed i was to have met some of these wonderful artists but it also wasn't just by chance that willie nelson and johnny cash and glenn cambell decided they wanted to record with you it was obviously a testament to your talent but also your personality because as we know been in this business talent is only one part of it and personality is probably even a bigger part of it you know talent personality somebody i did a book um meet and greet down in don garvin on sunday yeah sorry on saturday and where people were invited to come and sit down and um i was interviewed and i sang a few songs just me sitting in an armchair and that was one of the things i was asked for advice and as you say talent alone is not enough you have to have a personality good attitude appreciate the people that come to see you and persistence yeah and those are all the things you told me that day i think i did we were chatting about lunch and uh we were chatting over lunch and i was starting out and i asked you about it and those are pretty exactly you know david i must have liked you a lot because i don't generally give advice because people generally don't thank you for it you know yeah a lot of people as you know don't want advice they don't they think they already are there whereas now even at age 70 when i go to a show yeah um i always learn something yeah even at 70 yeah so you know we're learning all the time always learning and the last time you were in the highland radio chip van we were in the street serving chips and batters awesome yeah uh in letterkinny main street but we were talking about this album which i think was just getting ready to come out at the time they're leaving it all behind album but now it's out and being received really well really well both here and in england and we picked songs that um meself and william and john carter cash picked songs that would reflect my journey as a woman who's now 70 and all the highs and lows and i think what i'm finding every night um when i do the some of the songs from the album the new album people connect with them in their own way yeah you know there's old love with my camera hand which is out at the minute which is about enduring love and being married which is a lovely song too as well it's a lovely song yeah um then how long will i love you which reminds me of my grandson frank so grandparents can connect to that woodcarver a new version of woodcarver so we tried to put something on there that people could relate to and you know each song each of your big songs throughout the show um the ones that you're really known for might evoke a certain memory our listeners just sent me i think it must be a video from the days of the black thorn and bridge end back in the day i can't look at the video yet but it says that you're on the stage we had i'd love her to send that video to me yeah i said do you know what david we had the best nights in the black thorn and bridge end yeah myself and my latest to barbra and the band and we we were there it seemed like we were there every week yeah and you go up the stairs and we used to do christmas we did new year's eve a few times and i loved it yeah i absolutely loved it and loved the people trying to think of the people who owned it and who ran it they were lovely and also do you know nealy keeney don't you i do know nealy is a big friend of mine he's coming on thursday night which is the show with the sister morrin um and paula his other sister so i have a lot of friends up here yeah but you know what i'm saying about those songs they might evoke certain memories of i remember dancing to this song in the black thorn i remember dancing to this song you know what was a huge song and i do it in the show for me at the time was reasons oh yeah great that was at that time in johnny gall that was huge and that that of course is in the in this new show as well okay sandi kelly performs live in the ingrain on theater in litterkenny this thursday night uh with her special guests who are ashley cambell thore jensen and nyle mccabe from kate yeah check out nyle mccabe a great great show lined up tickets are available from the box office or online at ingrainon.com sandi it's always great to have you in the show thank you david thank you so much it's always great to talk to you and uh hopefully we'll meet again soon the wonderful sandi kelly and it is my privilege and honor to be performing this song with you tonight i can't wait here is wood carver