Better late than never...

Niall Toner writes: 'I'm not sure if the enclosed is of relevance, but it is another little piece of good news; and in the world of 'glitzy' commercial country music, it's striking a small blow for the more acoustic traditional side of the music.' The BIB is in no doubt of its relevance, so here's Niall's news:

I am delighted to say that one of my songs, 'Lonely souls and broken hearts', is included in the next episode of Nashville 105 on the ABC TV series on 7 November at 10.00-11.00 p.m. ET in the USA. I wrote the song at an IMRO songwriting event held in Clifden in the west of Ireland in 2000, and recorded it on my Mood swing album with the Niall Toner Band on Avalon Records.

Those songwriter events that were sponsored and run by IMRO provided wonderful opportunities for writers to get to know each other, and to write songs in cooperation that might never have been written otherwise. On this particular occasion, there were an uneven number of writers in the house, and my name was the last out of the hat, and so I was left with no writing partner for that day. However, that's exactly the feeling - of being left out - that led to my writing this little country song, and look at where it has led to, albeit after twelve years! So, never say 'never'...

This is a good example of how a composition that's been around for this long can find its way on to a major TV show, and it should act as an example and an encouragement to other writers who may be suffering from that 'Is anything ever going to happen with my songs?' feeling. Mind you, it has always been a favorite at our live gigs.

Update 5 Nov.: To keep the record straight - since the above message was sent, Niall has checked old diaries which reveal that 'Lonely souls and broken hearts' was in fact composed on 6 Nov. 1997 at the Abbey Glen Hotel in Clifden, Co. Galway, and not in 2000. 'Twelve years' above should therefore read 'fifteen years'.

The tone of the song owes something to the luck of the draw that lost Niall the opportunity to write with some of his heroes who were present, including Vince Gill, Kieran Kane, and Lamont Dozier. He did, however, write the following day with Jill Colluchi.