Welcome to Thom Moore’s page here at podcasts.ie. We have included some unique audio recordings of Thom’s work for you to listen to.
Thom Moore was born in California, though he spent his formative years (1950-1961) in Ethiopia and Lebanon. He moved to Ireland in 1971, settling in County Sligo. He formed the band Pumpkinhead in 1973, performing original material and Irish traditional music. Their only recording was released in 1975, the very first release (LUN-001) of the Bothy-Band house label Mulligan, but the band itself was dissolved a year later. He then founded a new group, Midnight Well, which also recorded in Ireland with Mulligan Records (LUN-011) in 1977. In 1979 he returned to California, where he found himself an instructor of English grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary at a school in Van Nuys, a position he held until July 1987. Whilst in California he was still writing songs and performing weekly with an Irish traditional band, Train to Sligo. One of his songs from this period, Carolina Rua, was made popular by the Irish singer Mary Black in the summer of 1989, and he decided to return to Ireland and resume his musical career in the fall of that year, although work took him to Russia for yet another six years. Variously employed there as an interpreter and then an English teacher, he kept his links with Ireland and divided his time between both countries, until returning to Ireland with his new family for good in November, 1995.
Thom is probably best known as a songwriter, with hit songs for Mary Black such as Carolina Rua and Prayer for Love, and for Maura O’Connell songs like The Scholar and Saw You Running, as well as such generally-recorded classics as Cavan Girl. His albums include Gorgeous & Bright, which was released by Starc Records in 1994, and Dreamer in Russia, with Sound Records in 1990.
His creative work, which he considers more literary than musical, shows the distinctive influence of the various countries and cultures of his experience, but most of all the influences of Ireland and of Robert Graves. Here on podcasts.ie we have an interview with Thom recorded last March at his home in Dublin and there is a podcast of Thom performing his songs “Bright Spots with Lashing Rain” and “Caroliona Rua” now so much associated with Mary Black.
If you would like to find out more about Thom and his work you can visit his website by clicking here.
Latest news from Fund It: There is a great Opportunity to help fund Thom’s new album for as little as € 15 by pre ordering a copy; for details visit http://www.fundit.ie/project/thom-moore-album–dvd
#1 by éanna patrick o'sullivan on February 7, 2011 - 9:23 pm
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Thank you for posting this – very entertaining and nice to see Sting get a bit of a bashing
Troisdorf
Germany
#2 by Batso O'Mawg on February 10, 2011 - 3:19 am
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Please ask Thom to elaborate on how he learned his craft so well. What artists were the most influential?
#3 by Walter Gene on February 10, 2011 - 3:02 pm
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Please ask Thom to elaborate on how he learned his craft so well – as heard in Still Believing where the drumline does not seem to fit, yet it’s perfect. What artists were the most influential?
Keep up the good work
Walter
Los Angeles
You can visit my You Tube Channel which also features songs by Thom Moore including “Still Believing” at
http://www.youtube.com/user/Batso17x?feature=mhsn
#4 by Modern Greetings on May 15, 2011 - 5:08 pm
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Thanks for sharing this inspiring musician. Thanks for this post.
#5 by Andy Dunne on May 20, 2011 - 11:43 am
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Great site. Found it via Mick Hanly’s facebook page.
This is a badly needed source and insite.
Regards, Keep er lit!
Andy.
#6 by Sh.c on July 15, 2011 - 1:25 pm
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I’m a fan of Thom’s from Cavan. I have a question…where does the song ‘Cavan Girl’ come from as you are not a cavan man???! It’s a great tune and i have often wondered.