How were you selected to participate in the masterclass with Rory? 

I was attending a course called ‘Rock School’ at Ballyfermot Senior College and was selected by one of the tutors Keith Donald who was a friend of Rory, to come along and play with him. (Along with other students).

How and when did you get introduced to Rory’s music? What do you love most about Rory’s music? 

My father is a blues musician John Quearney and we would have listened to all blues music. We had a VHS of Rory’s live gig ‘Live at the Cork Opera House’ and we watched it religiously. 

How has Rory’s music influenced your guitar playing and songwriting?

I have my own blues band called Square Pegs (check them out on Spotify). I also love Rory voice, he really projects and goes for it when he sings. I love how his lyrics as a whole present him as fictional character like a cowboy or superhero. You can tell he read a lot of comic books and detective stories, there is a real sense of having fun playing a heroic character with his lyrics, singing, guitar playing and general performances. 

What is your lasting impression of Rory? What was he like as a person?

He was just like I’ve heard anyone describe him, really friendly, polite. At the masterclass he came off as being a student of blues music, very passionate and knowledgeable of the blues artists, the history, the aesthetic, but also of any folk music and rock n roll. It really struck me how much his fans loved him. Standing there on stage with him and seeing the audience project there love for him was incredible. It almost felt like being lifted up in the air. 

In addition, Colm wrote about his masterclass experience in a short memoir, which he kindly shared with us: 

I once got a chance to play with Rory Gallagher. He was shy. I thought I was nervous meeting him, but when we met he seemed to be more so. I helped the conversation along. I was 19. 

I was dizzy walking to the stage. I had never played in front of a crowd like that before, they were so enthusiastic, I was getting to step in and share Rory’s light. I could see his fans truly loved him. What a vantage point. I knew I was privileged and lucky.

Going into it I knew I had an advantage. I had learned a lot of his songs and guitar licks from watching a VHS that my Dad had recorded from TV ‘Rory Gallagher live from the Cork Opera House’. 

He introduced me and we got straight into playing. “Blues in A?” he said. I sneaked an eye open once or twice to see what he was doing, [and] he was just smiling his way through the song/jam and that made me think it must be going okay.

He was encouraging. After the first jam we played and the applause calmed down Rory said to the crowd, “Colm’s playing speaks for itself really, he has a similar sound to Buddy Guy.” That really gave me a confidence that I still carry with me today. 

We played three songs together without vocals. Rory said, “how about a blues in A?’” “Sounds good to me,” says I. It went down great. There was 60 people invited from the press and radio. Then we played “Hoochie Coochie Man”. We done one more for good luck, this one a shuffle in the key of E7. 

At end of the masterclass we spoke for a while and then he signed my cassette tape and then it was over [and] I was walking home back down James Street. Why was it me that got to play with him? It gave me inspiration to keep going. And I’m still playing the blues 30 years later. Actually I’m playing tonight with my band Square Pegs at the Howth Blues festival. I might even play ‘Messin’ with the Kid’.

Note – Also there on the day to play a song that they’d just recently recorded was Ronnie Drew, another big influence on me. The song was called “Barley & Rye Rag”. They were really comfortable in each others company.

Check out Colm’s website or Spotify if you are interested in knowing more about him and his music.