The Time Out Podcast

Shunie Crampsey from Culdaff Co. Donegal is one of the finest singer songwriters in Irish Country Music. A man who has numerous albums released himself while also having many of the top Irish Country Music artists cover what he's penned down through the years. It's an extensive list which includes the likes of the late Big Tom, Daniel O'Donnell and his sister Margo, Mick Flavin and lots more. I talk to Shunie about his music career to date. Amongst that in the early 80's he joined the well known band, Brian Coll And The Buckaroos. The late Brian Coll was also great friends with Shunie and during our interview Shunie recalls fond memories of Brian. Elsewhere we look back at the stories behind some of Shunie's biggest songs and he speaks to me about his love of farming. 

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Stephen Bennett Jnr from Ardara Co. Donegal is fastly making a name for himself in Irish Country Music as a young talented singer songwriter. Travelling to perform at gigs in his own county and is also taking to the stage across many venues throughout the country. The now 24 year old entered a Donegal's Got Talent competition in 2017, and came 2nd place with former X Factor judge Louis Walsh involved in assessing the talent. Stephen's singing career its fair to say took off from there and since then he has built up a fine repertoire of songs, the vast majority of them self penned.  He has a debut album coming out in the opening quarter of next year. I travelled to his home to chat to him about this new album plus much more including who he likes to listen to in music himself. 

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John Joe McGinley first appeared on my podcast back in 2021, EP 43. This time around via a car journey,  we talk about similar topics as our previous interview but in a much updated way. Last time John Joe was a guest he had not long released his first book 'Irish Wise Guys', fast forward to today John Joe has 3 books available for purchase, and we talk about his new releases in depth along with his future plans for more book releases. On top of this I talk to John Joe about the great work he does campaigning for autism awareness, a great example of this is the website he and his wife contribute to autismdad.ie, where they try to help others from the knowledge gained from their own experiences. John Joe is also a huge Celtic FC fan. Last time out I asked him to name his all time Celtic XI, this time around he names his 5 biggest Celtic heros. 

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PJ Murrihy from Co Clare is a singer songwriter well renound throughout Ireland and beyond for his talents in music. Along with being a performer himself, he has written so many songs down through the years which have been recorded by the biggest names in Irish Country Music, including Big Tom, Larry Cunningham, Daniel O'Donnell, Margo, Foster and Allen, Jimmy Buckley, Patrick Feeney and many more. I talk to PJ about the story behind how some of these songs came about plus finding out some of PJ's other passions in life. 

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Michael Bonner hails from Glenties Co. Donegal. A singer songwriter with a number of songs released with more to come. Michael's attitude is one to be admired; in his early 20's he took to performing in bars and although it didn't turn out how he'd have liked, the experiences back then are now inspiring him to give it another go in his 40's. During my interview with him, he tells me of his plans in music, his inspirations and how his opening songs came about. I hope you enjoy the interview!

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Peter Cambpell has worked with the Donegal Democrat since 1977. Starting out in their printing office, he took up a journalism role with them in 1990. He was sports editor between 2004-2021 and in recent years , has retired and but continues to work part time. A respected voice who has seen so much down through the years, and I reflect with him on some of the finest moments he has covered including Donegal's Sam Maguire wins in 1992 and 2012. Elsewhere I chat to Peter about other aspects of life, including his own time playing underage and senior gaelic football with St Nauls and his love of golf which sees him being a member of the Bundoran GC. There's also a full preview of the upcoming club championship matches this weekend Sept 14th/15th in Donegal..

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Mark Forker from Burtonport currently works as journalist; he is the editor of CNME magazine based in Dubai. A lot of his background is linked to soccer, he played over 100 matches for Ballybofey based club Finn Harps from 2008 to 2014, and to this day still helps out at the club as a coach of their underage teams. Before his move to Finn Park, Mark got a professional contract as a teenager himself with Hearts in Scotland, we talk about a lot of his soccer experiences which include Mark just finishing off the season having lined out for his local team Keadue Rovers in the Donegal Premier Division. So much else is covered in the interview, including Finn Harps current day, and we talk about how the season ended cross channel as well in Scotland and England. Hope you enjoy the interview!

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Down through the years Stephen McCahill has gotten involved in many different aspects of both community and business life in Donegal and beyond. From Glenties originally he also has strong connections to Ardara where he currently helps out with the running of The Corner House Bar. In 2016 Stephen was named 'Donegal Person Of The Year'.  Among his experiences in life so far he has volunteered quite a lot towards various causes. I speak to him about this during the interview plus about the different jobs he has had including running his own business. I interviewed Stephen on the weekend 'The Cup Of Tae Festival' was going on in Ardara. A festival celebrating  trad music which was set up in the early noughties to honour the renowned local fiddle player John The Tae Gallagher and his impressive musical achievements. Elsewhere Stephen tells me about taking in a Jim McGuniness training session with Donegal while he holidayed in Tenerife plus much more.  I hope you enjoy the interview.

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Fergal O'Brien recently retired from being a professional snooker player, having enjoyed a 33 year career as a pro. His finest moment came in 1999 when he won the British Open, beating Anthony Hamilton 9-7 in the final. He competed in the Masters final in 2001 v Paul Hunter and just lost out 10-9 having held a 7-3 advantage at one point. He now joins Eurosport to commentate on the 2024 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible. I chat to Fergal about his career and we preview some of the eye catching 1st round fixtures at Snooker's biggest tournament, the world championship in Sheffield! Hope you enjoy the interview!

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As individual solo acts both Mickey Duffy and Jordan Mogey have gained a large amount of admirers in music, through the combination of the singing voices they possess and for their song-writing talent. The latter being how this great friendship began; a mutual love and appreciation of song-writing. Mickey originally from Paisley in Scotland but now living in Stranorlar has 2 albums behind him. Jordan from Ballymoney Co Antrim has 3 albums under his belt. Currently Mickey and Jordan are working together on finishing off an album they're set to release later this year. A compilation of duets featuring songs all written and sung by these two talented guys. I headed off to Stranorlar last Tuesday evening and caught up with Mickey and Jordan for an in depth chat about the project they're working on plus much more including talking about their influences and some of the songs they've recorded so far. Hope you enjoy the interview! 

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