If Niall Toner is well-known for anything, it’s probably his life-long passion for Bluegrass, ever since being introduced to the music of Bill Monroe by a pal when he was in his early teens. According to Monroe, the Blues played a huge part in the formation of what became his Bluegrass Music, and ever since seeing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee live in Dublin in the early 60s, and the amazing Rory Gallagher in many venues, Niall has also been a huge fan of the Blues. No wonder, then, that he should try his hand at writing songs in that genre, and so, when he sat down with Quinn Loggins in Dublin, they wrote ‘Man with the Blues’.
