Music
Press
Tommy Sands is one of the most powerful songwriters in Ireland if not the rest of the world.
SING OUT! Magazine (USA)
Richly talented singer and songwriter. Boston Globe
Stirring, spellbinding performance. Earle Hitchener (Irish Echo and Wall Street Journal)
Sands writes his own script, of course, and delivers it with the split second timing of a master storyteller. Dirty Linen Magazine
Sands sang two ballads... everyone in the room was mesmerized. Hairs stood at attention on peoples
arms....eyes moistened... Wayne Melton (Reno Gazette-Journal)
The gentle songs of a gentle man, ringing out above the tumult and the shouting. Through people like
Tommy Sands there will be an answer. Belfast Telegraph
Every word is wrought with love and care, the musicianship and arrangements are superb, and every
note is a celebration of man’s power of creation. Hot Press
Most gifted songwriter...with an ability to write on serious subjects which come across as songs rather
than sermons...also well able to be extremely funny in the way he puts words together. Irish Times
"There were Roses" is certainly one of the best songs ever written about the "Irish Problem". To Beat The Drum (Scotland)
Timeless Sands, still with irresistible lure. Irish News
Sands is a true weaver of dreams and spells. Hot Press
In two minutes the entire audience were singing with him "Armenia, Armenia", a very moving performer. Pravda
One moment my tears were of sorrow, the next moment they were tears of joy, his songs are unforgettable stories. Radio Leipzig
Tommy Sands has achieved that difficult but wonderful balance between knowing and loving the
traditions of his home and being concerned with the future of the whole world. Pete Seeger
Tommy Sands is the only man, without a private army, who can intimidate me. Loyalist Politician
David Ervine (After coaxed on stage to sing with Sands at "Re-Imagining Ireland," in 2003)
I love the version of 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone' by Tommy Sands. That is the best version that has ever been recorded. It is just chilling, isn't it? John Stewart (Kingston Trio) - Various
Discography
Let the Circle Be Wide
Appleseed Recordings, 2008
The Songman (book)
Lilliput Press, 2005
To Shorten the Winter
An Irish Christmas with Tommy Sands
Green Linnet, 2002
Vedran Smailovic and Tommy Sands
Sarajevo to Belfast: Smailovic & Sands
Appleseed Recordings, 1999
The Hearts a Wonder
Green Linnet Records, 1995
Beyond the Shadows
Spring Records, 1992
Hedges of County Down
And other traditional songs
Spring Records, 1989
Down by Bendy's Lane
Irish Songs and Stories for Children
Green Linnet, 1987
Singing of the Times
Green Linnet, 1985
Photos
Bio
Tommy Sands, County Down's singer, songwriter and social activist has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime. From the pioneering days with the highly influential Sands Family, sharing Irish Music from New York's Carnegie Hall to Moscow's Olympic Stadium, he has developed into one of the most powerful songwriters and enchanting solo performers in Ireland today. He enjoys celebrity status in his homeland and elsewhere, tempered by artistic integrity and the sorrow of personal tragedy in his war torn homeland.
Walking the road between Protestant and Catholic, he dreams of improving that reality. As part of the acclaimed Sands family, one of the most important traditional groups in the early years of Irelands folk revival, Tommy has worked to add beauty to the world and to point out where it still needs improvement.
His songwriting, which draws the admiration of Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney and father of folk music Pete Seeger, prompts Sing Out! Magazine to regard him as "the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world". His songs, like There Were Roses, and Daughters and Sons, have been recorded by Joan Baez, Kathy Matthea, Dolores Keane, The Dubliners and many others. Tommys songs have been translated into other languages and are currently included in the English language syllabus in German secondary schools.
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