At 84, Philomena Begley has certainly earned the right to put her feet up. The trouble is, she has not had much choice lately.
The Irish country music legend is currently sporting a cast stretching from her thigh to her ankle after fracturing her kneecap in a fall in Spain on her birthday.
And, as if that were not bad enough, there was not even a birthday drink to console the singer, affectionately known as the Queen of Country.
“I never even got a birthday drink,” she laughs.
Irish country singer Philomena Begley
Philomena had been out with her son, singer Aidan Quinn, getting something to eat at four in the afternoon when she tripped on an uneven footpath.
“I tripped and went down and hit my head and my knee. My kneecap is fractured.”
Anyone else might have headed straight for the nearest hospital, but Philomena is not one to let a little thing like a fractured bone interfere with her plans.
Instead, in true show-must-go-on style, she carried on performing, completing four shows in Torremolinos at Jimmy Buckley’s Craic on the Costa and Patrick Feeny’s Fun in the Sun, before returning home.
A young Philomena Begley ready to swing in the 60s
“I didn’t go to the doctor until I came home,” she says. “I was staying at two different hotels and I probably did more damage (to her knee), tramping up stairs and down stairs and travelling through airports.”
Now, she is waiting for a further hospital appointment to see how the injury is progressing and whether she might be able to exchange her cumbersome cast for something smaller.
“It is not pleasant, especially when you go to bed. And especially when you have to go to the loo, it is even worse.”
Philomena Begley with the Old Cross Ceili Band
Still, ‘Philly from Pomeroy’, as she likes to be known, is trying to keep things in perspective.
“It’s not the end of the world.”
I am no use at praising myself or anything like that. I just do what I do, and I love what I do
— Philomena Begley
And there is plenty to lift her spirits. On November 11, Philomena will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s NI Music Prize in Belfast’s Ulster Hall, recognising a career that has spanned an astonishing 64 years.
“I am so chuffed about this award,” she says. “I know I’ve got awards over the years, but this is lovely.”
“I am over the moon about it. It is a great honour for me.”
Philomena Begley with boxer Joe Frasier
Philomena has been singing since 1962. Yet there is little grandstanding from the woman whose voice has soundtracked generations of Irish country music fans and who has performed and recorded with a stellar line-up of US country artists including Porter Wagoner, Bille Jo Spears, Don Williams, Hank Locklin, Charlie Pride and Tammy Wynette.
“I am no use at praising myself or anything like that. I just do what I do, and I love what I do.”
That modesty is part of her charm. So, too, is her ability to find something to laugh about, even when she is sitting at home with a broken knee.
Sadly, there was one famous country star she never managed to meet: the late Dolly Parton.
However, she did perform at shows in London with Dolly’s sister, Stella, who once came to her rescue when there was a shortage of hotel rooms.
“She gave me her room because we were staying over and there was no room, so she gave me hers because she was going to another concert.
“That’s my claim to fame with Dolly,” she laughs.
In her official autobiography, country singer Philomena Begley reveals the highs and lows of her journey from the ceili halls of Tyrone to the bright lights of Nashville and beyond
And she is certainly not short of stories. One of the most recent involves an impromptu performance at 30,000 ft, when her flight to Spain turned into a singalong with Philomena providing the entertainment.
She and Aidan were sitting at the front of the plane when a group of passengers, including GAA supporters from Donegal, began singing The Blanket on the Ground.
Before long, the cabin crew had been enlisted and arrangements were made for Philomena to take the aeroplane’s tannoy.
Philomena Begley with her family
“One of the young stewards held it for me and the whole crowd then began singing,” she recalls.
The video subsequently did the rounds on social media.
“It must have gone viral. I think it was on TikTok or something.”
Philomena Begley singing with her son, Aidan Quinn
Philomena, the daughter of bread man, was working at Fisher’s hat factory in Co Tyrone when she was asked to fill in for the lead singer of what was then known as the Old Cross Ceili Band at a dance hall in Ardboe in 1962. A gig at the Forkhill Carnival followed and Philomena officially became the band’s frontwoman.
The singer committed to touring with the band full-time and ditched her factory job; as the appetite for country music songs reached this side of the Atlantic they soon changed their name to The Country Flavour, incorporating ballads crafted and much loved in the burgeoning genre.
Philomena’s vocals soon made her the star attraction and her band – which included her husband Tom – reformed as Philomena Begley and her Ramblin’ Men as they toured their way through the 70s and 80s.
Philomena Begley and Daniel O’Donnell
By 1978 Philomena was off to the seat of country music in Nashville with Omagh-born singer Brian Coll where she would receive a standing ovation at the iconic Grand Ole Opry singing her best known hit Blanket on the Ground. She recorded three albums with Porter Wagoner ( who was known as Mr Grand Ole Opry and for whom Dolly Parton wrote the song I Will Always Love You) at Fireside studios.
Singing her debut hit at the Opry made Philomena the first female Irish star to grace that much vaunted stage.
Her willingness to entertain has never deserted her, although she admits that even after all these years, she still gets nervous before going on stage.
Philomena Begley and her Ramblin’ Men
“I’ll be honest with you, whenever I’m standing waiting to go on the stage, I would be shaking and a bit nervous.
“Then somebody would take me on and I would stand and hold onto the microphone stand for a wee bit of security. But I go on and then if I have any problems, I’ll tell the whole audience everything,” she laughs.
One thing that is a constant is the power of Philly’s voice that has served her so well over the decades and remains remarkably strong.
“I can’t get over it myself,” she says. “You never know when your voice might change or your register might change, but I haven’t really had to change keys or anything.”
She hopes that good fortune continues for as long as she is able to sing. And her audiences certainly have no intention of letting her off the hook when it comes to her best-known songs.
The Blanket on the Ground, recorded in 1975, remains a firm favourite, and its popularity among younger fans has delighted her.
“Everybody is singing it. The young ones are all singing it. Footballers, football clubs and hockey clubs are singing it and playing it when they win, lose or draw.”
Does she ever tire of singing it?
“Well, no matter how fed up you are, you sing it anyway,” she says with a laugh.
It is usually preceded by The Queen of the Silver Dollar, her opening number, which gets the audience in the mood for the evening ahead.
These days, Philomena is concentrating on concerts rather than the relentless schedule of dances that once kept her on the road night after night.
Philomena has always been a practical, self-sufficient woman. She does her own hair and make-up, a fact that might surprise anyone who imagines a performer of her stature arriving at every engagement with a team of stylists in tow.
“I do everything myself. I do my own make-up, I do my own hair. But I do visit the hairdresser occasionally,” she laughs.
It is another glimpse of the down-to-earth woman behind the glitz and stage lights.
Asked what she hopes her legacy will be, she returns to what has always mattered most: the music, the audience and the craic.
“I have enjoyed everything that I’ve done,” she says.
“I get a kick out of it now because I tell the audience every night that I can do whatever I like now. I’m allowed to do things that I shouldn’t be doing. Being on stage is like a drug.”
For now, though, the immediate priority is getting that fractured knee on the mend, but Philomena is taking it all in her stride — as much as a woman with a cast from thigh to ankle can.
“Sure, as the song says, whatever will be will be.”
Philomena Begley will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony in Belfast’s Ulster Hall on Wednesday, November 11 at the 15th anniversary NI Music Prize.