In today’s changing music market, artists, songwriters and producers are all looking for new revenue streams as established ones diminish or dry up. One venue that may not pop up for most bluegrass musicians is the thriving video game market, but that is just where popular Irish grasser Niall Toner finds one of his tunes featured.

His tune, Nuns Island Reel, is included in the audio track for the new edition of the Grand Theft Auto franchise (Grand Theft Auto IV), which has been setting sales records since its release in April.

Niall gives us the run down on how this came to be…

“I composed the tune in the normal course of my song-writing and tune-composing, and it was recorded in a demo session at Paul Ashe-Browne’s studio in Dublin’s Canal Street in the mid 90s. On that day we recorded four tunes, The Belles Of Aer Rianta, Dodder Valley Waltz, Elancyl’s Hornpipe and Nuns Island Reel. [So-called because my Dad was born and raised on Nuns Island in Galway City]

These tunes are all part of my Publishing deal with Bardis Music in Dublin, and my Publisher, Peter Bardon, would have been ‘pitching’ this material, and my other country and bluegrass songs, to producers, artists and other publishing houses around the world. Several of my songs have been recorded in the past 15 years or so, most notably, from a bluegrass perspective, There’s A Better Way by the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and Josie’s Reel by Special Consensus - plus Mood Swing by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, and Working On Love by Albert Lee.

In early 2000, Peter did a sub-publishing deal for about 40 of my compositions with Crucial Music in Los Angeles, a Company run by Tanvi Patel. Tanvi works with Movie makers and a whole variety of music-using Industries in Silicon Valley. In 2005, Tanvi made a pitch to Rockstar, who were beginning to work on GTA4, and they choose Nuns Island Reel for a scene in an Irish Pub in the game. My piece was re-named A Real Real, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Niall tells us that he has not yet played the game, though he has seen a brief extract of the scene that features his tune.

A Real Real will be included as a bonus track on NTB3, the third all-original CD release from The Niall Toner Band. It is a live version recorded on Niall’s My Roots Freeway Radio show.

The new CD is due for a May 25 release, and will be available on that date in iTunes.

One of Ireland’s most prominent bluegrass artists is Niall Toner, and he is set to release his third CD of original music later this month. Niall tells us that the new project features ten songs and two instrumentals, and will be on the Avalon Records label.

He also invites everyone to visit the Niall Toner Band MySpace page, where you can view a documentary film about the band.

The documentary was filmed at the 2007 Athy Bluegrass Festival by a local young lady called Kate Bradbury. She is a specialist in Marine Biology, and this was her first venture with a band. I had sent her a couple of our CDs, and she loved the music, and offered to come to the festival and do some shooting. The Carlton Hotel in Athy, where all the gigs for the Festival were staged, were also very accommodating, and they allowed us to use their Library room. Kate also filmed a short part of our live set in the Hotel Bar. Kate did the editing herself, and we were so pleased with the results, we decided to put the two pieces up on our MySpace page.

We received a note from our friend Richard Hawkins who runs the Bluegrass Ireland Blog, and posts at the European Bluegrass Blog, about a bluegrass connection to last weekend’s Academy Awards presentation in Los Angeles. Richard pointed out that one of the writers of the award for Music (Song), Glen Hansard, is a former member of Ireland’s Niall Toner Band.

Toner is a longtime singer and songwriter in Ireland who Hawkins describes as the godfather of Irish bluegrass.

Hansard and fellow songwriter and Marketa Irglova won for the song Falling Slowly from the movie, Once. You can see a live performance video of the song on the Fox Searchlight web site.

Niall Toner will be on Ireland’s RTÉ Radio 1 this week with the first two installments of his Nashville Sessions series, recorded while he was in attendance at the IBMA World Of Bluegrass convention earlier this fall.

These shows will air at 1:00 p.m. (EST - 6:00 p.m. local UK time) on December 27 and 28 and feature interviews with several performers, songwriters and instrument builders Niall caught up with in Nashville. Guests include Greg Cahill, Pete Wernick, Barry and Holly Tashian, Steve Huber, Goldheart, Broken Wire, Steve Kaufmann, Keith Sewell and a number of others.

Additional shows to be broadcast in 2008 will be announced shortly after the new year.

RTÉ Radio 1 broadcasts over the air at 88-89 FM, and listeners worldwide can tune in online via live audio streaming.

Niall is also hard at work finishing up his latest CD, We Believe In Clean Endings. He says it will feature 13 of his new songs, and a release date for next year should be announced by February.

This post is a contribution from Niall Toner, a popular bluegrass singer, songwriter and radio personality in Ireland. His reports from IBMA ‘07 will air on Ireland’s RTE Radio One on 12/26-27 at 1:00 p.m. (EST).

Season’s Greetings, and good wishes from Ireland.

A Christmas memory for the blog: Odd as it might seem, three or four of the most influential recordings in our house when we were youngsters, arrived around Christmas time on different years. Stranger still is the fact that after a half-Century, every Christmas day, these are the same records we still listen to!

They include LPs [you remember them!/vinyl] from the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Bill Monroe!

Even today, when young enthusiasts ask me for advice on getting to know the music, I can still recommend these four …….

Irish bluegrass affeniato Niall Toner, mandolin and guitar player with the Niall Toner Band, interviewed Bela Fleck during a recent trip the banjo player took to Ireland. The interview is set to be broadcast on RTE Radio 1, on which Niall regularly hosts a show.

The show containing this interview will be broadcast on May 3rd at 9 PM. I’m assuming that is local time in Ireland which is five hours ahead of EST in the US so that would place the show time at 4PM EST. I’m told the show will be available for online listening.

What did Niall and Bela talk about in the interview?

all aspects of the 5-string banjo, including his ventures into jazz, blues, and classical music, as well as his ongoing contribution to bluegrass.

This particular program is not part of Naill’s normal weekly show, but instead is a special. The first of many he hopes to broadcast.

Hat Tip: The Bluegrass Ireland Blog

We received a note recently from Niall Toner, who hosts Roots Freeway on RTE Radio One in Dublin, Ireland. His show runs on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. (GMT/WET) and features a mix of bluegrass, old time, traditional country and blues. It is also available online via live streaming from the Radio One web site.

Niall wanted to let any artists or independent labels know that he is eager to receive promo copies of your new releases for airplay on Radio One. They can be sent to the station address:

Niall also performs with his own group, the Niall Toner Band. They have two CDs of original music, with songs having been cut by Nashville Bluegrass Band, Special Consensus and Albert Lee.

UPDATE 2/19/07: The Bluegrass Ireland Blog is reporting that Niall is at work on his third CD with The Niall Toner Band, again featuring all original material. It is expected to be released in the summer of ‘07.