As Ballyshannon prepares to rock out at the Rory Gallagher Festival this weekend, Bank Holiday Monday will see a national TV celebration of the Irish guitar legend.
Rory Gallagher: Calling Card on RTE One this Monday will feature rare never before seen archive and interviews with Rory’s closest friends and family alongside musical legends including Johnny Marr, Brian May and Bob Geldof.
A portrait of one of the greatest musicians ever to emerge from Ireland, the programme will follow his brother Dónal on a musical journey through the life and career of this shy guitar hero to better understand what made him so great.
Donal Gallagher
Born in Ballyshannon in 1948, Rory Gallagher’s artistry with a battered ’61 Stratocaster became the stuff of legend.
Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters admired him, the Rolling Stones tried to hire him – and his fans worshipped him. Clad in faded denim and a checked shirt, he sold 30 million records and became a charismatic icon of Irish music, inspiring musicians such as Brian May, The Edge, Slash and Johnny Marr.
Rory Gallagher: Calling Card. Image: RTE
But away from the stage, Rory was an intensely private man. His closest confidante was his brother Dónal who accompanied Rory on his rise from their childhood Everly Brothers stage performances and the Showband scene across the North and South of the Irish border through to the deafening heart of the ‘70s rock scene in London – and far beyond.
From playing bomb-shattered Belfast at the height of the Troubles to touring across America with everyone from Blind Faith to KISS, Dónal was at Rory’s side to witness his greatest triumphs and, after all too brief a span of years, his decline into illness and a tragically early death.
Watch Rory Gallagher: Calling Card on RTE One, Monday 3rd June, 6.30pm.
