Country singer Robert Mizzell spoke to David Hennessy ahead of the London Irish Vintage Day that he is set to headline.
Robert Mizzell came to Ireland in 1990.
Fresh out of the US army, he made his living doing various jobs in the beginning but when he saw the effect Garth Brooks and his concerts had in Ireland, he decided he would get a country music act of his own together.
He is celebrating 25 years on the road this year, but says himself it is likely to be more.
His hits include Kick Ass Country and Say You Love Me.
He is also known for Gone, Gone, Gone, She’s My Baby, Mama Courtney and Two Rooms and a Kitchen.
Mama Courtney and Murder on Music Row, a duet with American country singer Colin Raye, reached number one in the European Country Music Chart and remained in the chart for 20 weeks.
In September he comes to Greenford to perform for this year’s London Irish Vintage Day when Hungry Grass and David James will also be on the bill.
Robert Mizzell told The Irish World: “I’m looking forward to coming over to the UK shortly.
“I haven’t been over in a while now.
“I do know that there’s a lot of people over there that would follow our music and follow the country music scene here in Ireland.
“I’m hoping we get a good day’s weather.”
How long is it you have been living in Ireland now? Is it more than 30 years?
“It is. I moved to Ireland back in 1990 so you can do the math there.
“It’s over 30 years so I’m as much Irish as I am American, I suppose.
“I still hang on to my American roots but I’m happy to be Irish too.”
And it wasn’t the case that you came to Ireland intent on being a country singer…
“No, a lot of people think that.
“There was a time when I was a lot younger, I didn’t know where Ireland was.
“It only happened that way.
“But since I’ve been here, I’ve created a great career.
“I’m 25 years on the road, probably a little bit over but I’m celebrating 25 years on the road this year with my band.
“Ireland has been a great country to me because the people have welcomed me and also they’ve welcomed my music which is a great bonus.
“I’ve been very fortunate, I have to say.
“I’ve always said that in Ireland there’s a country music circuit here that doesn’t exist anywhere else.
“I know there’s big clubs and there’s big places in America.
“There’s big concerts but Ireland is very unique in the way it’s set up and the way the dance thing and the country music industry works here.
“I’ve been delighted to be a part of it all these years.”
Is it mad to even say that, 25 years? “Absolutely, it’s like everything in life.
“Time flies by so quick anyway.
“But when I first started I said, ‘Well, if I give it a go and see how I like it and see how people take to me…’
“Because the fact of the matter is it wouldn’t have mattered whether I wanted to be in the music business or not. It’s up to the people to decide because they’re the ones who come and see you and they’re the ones who gave me the option to stay in it and they’re the reason I’m still in it because if they stop coming to see me and didn’t want to buy my music, I would have to look for other things to do.
“So I put it all down to the fans.
“They’re the ones who supported me down through all these years so without them, there’d be nothing.”
Before you started singing you worked various odd jobs, didn’t you?
“Well, I left the military in America and I was studying to become a police officer.
“Then when I moved over here, I sort of shelved that idea and I suppose the first couple of years here, I worked on building sites and was sort of trying to find my way.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do before I started the music business.
“I sold microwave ovens at one stage.
“I sold life insurance. I sold pensions and I sold buckets.
“So I’ve always been sort of a salesman.
“The only difference is now I’m selling myself which has thankfully been a bit more profitable than selling the buckets.
“I’m happy that I’m still doing it.
“I would like to think that I’d be able to see my retirement out of it, still doing well enough.
“That’s all I could hope for.”
It was Garth Brooks that inspired you to go for it in the first instance, wasn’t it?
“Yeah, he was over here and I had really seen the crowds he pulled and the way that the Irish people loved country music.
“But the odd thing about it is I went out shortly after that with a Garth Brooks tribute band in pubs and stuff and it wasn’t popular at all.
“The whole Garth Brooks thing was sort of a phenomenon but people on the ground didn’t go to see the Garth Brooks tribute bands or nothing like that, they wanted to see him. “They wanted to see him in the stadium.
“It was the big, big event, and that was what attracted them to it.
“But then I discovered the country dancing.
“I’ve always been a fan of country music all my life anyway but I discovered that there was a circuit around Ireland that people would be going to dance halls three or four nights a week.
“I got a band together and started working that way and I saw there was a future in it but it took time, it didn’t happen overnight.
“It took us several years to build it up and to get my name out there and get people to like and appreciate my music.”
COVID must have been a shock to the system to go from so many gigs to nothing..
“Yeah, absolutely.
“I mean, the whole industry just shut down overnight and a lot of people didn’t recover from it.
“There’s some bands who didn’t even come back.
“People are more selective now in what they do, people are more selective with their money.
“Times can be tight, I’m lucky that I’ve had a loyal following and even through the pandemic, I started making garden furniture and I sold a lot of furniture to people all around Ireland.
“I’d say majority of the people were fans of mine that sort of spread the word that I was doing this.
“I shipped stuff all over.
“I actually shipped stuff to the UK as well, just to find something to do and not let your mind and your body sort of get too comfortable and relaxed.
“So when things did open back up, I was ready to get back at it.
“I’m back at it now pretty much in full force.
“We’ve been busy and we have lots of stuff coming up.
“We have lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to.
“But as I said, things are different but you have to change with them as opposed to fighting against them.”
Didn’t you even go back doing some days on the building sites during the pandemic?
“I did. I had a friend of mine who’s a builder.
“I’d be handy with a hammer.
“I grew up building and sort of doing stuff like that.
“I have a friend who’s a builder so he asked me to give him a hand for a while.
“So I did just to get out of the house.
“For a few months, I went back to the carpentry work and I enjoyed it, I have to say.
“Just to be able to be out on the roof for a day in the sunshine and building something, there’s a lot to be said about that too.
“I tried to take the advantages of it when I could.
“I won’t lie, it was difficult at times being home the time that I couldn’t work and knowing that I should be out singing and performing. I missed it.
“But I think it made us not take it for granted as much as we might have before the pandemic.
“As much as we were missing the music scene, it was a time to sort of reflect and just to get back to normality and sort of take a step back.
“I think that the pandemic would have given some benefits just from that point of view, of having the time to mentally to just switch off because things were so hectic before the pandemic hit.
“I was working 6, 7 nights a week and was never home.
“I have small kids at home so I was able to catch up with them and understand that there’s another life out there besides this rat race that people are living sometimes that you’re working every hour that God gives to make money, to pay somebody else, to buy something else that you don’t bloody need.
“It was sort of a wake up call for me personally and I think for a lot of people that we don’t need all the things that we have.
“We can do with less and we can be happy with less.
“I think that’s the way I’m sort of moving forward with my life at the minute.
“Because, as I said, you know, the music business is tough at times.
“There’s traveling and it can be stressful, and dealing with the public is great in some ways, but it’s difficult in others.”
It was in Ireland that you became a country singer but you came from a very musical family and grew up with it around you, didn’t you?
“Oh, I did. My mother and father both were singers, not professionally but I grew up singing in Gospel churches when I was a kid.
“My dad had gospel bands. My mother sang with them,
“My dad sadly passed away three years ago but my mother is still alive.
“Yeah, The music was always there.
“It was always something that I was interested in.
“I had no idea at the time I was going to be a singer until I got to Ireland.
“It’s something that has always been with me.”
Condolences on your father’s passing but you did honour him with that song Like Father, Like Son that you recorded together..
“Absolutely, there’s not too many of us in the world who can say that they have recorded with their father. It’s not something everybody does and that’s not something that everybody can do.
“I was delighted to have those moments and those memories.
“I do a show called the Nashville Songbook which is basically a walk through country music history.
“In that show we feature my father.
“We recorded that video before he passed and I took my vocal off and I sing it live, and he’s singing it with me on the video screen.
“It’s a good moment and it keeps his memory alive.
“It’s good to have those memories.”
In 2011 Robert was inducted into Shrevport’s Walk of Stars in his native Louisiana.
You have achieve a lot but is that a particular highlight?
“That would be one of the more special moments because we’re out there every night singing to people and a round of applause or standing ovation is great to get, but when they recognised me in my own home state for my contribution to country music.
“To have that honour, it’s a special moment.
“It’s probably one of the nicer moments I’ve had.
“Forever more if people ever go to Louisiana and head to Shreveport, there’s a walk of stars.
“They can see my name there alongside guys like Elvis and Hank Williams and a lot of sports figures and politicians.
“It is an honour. Yeah, absolutely.”
I wanted to ask about your time in the US army, do you think that stood to you? What do you think you gained from your four years of service?
“Well, if I was leading the country, if I was the Prime Minister of the UK or the Taoiseach of Ireland, I would make sure that every young man and every young woman spent a year in the service.
“Because the army, for me, it wasn’t about weapons or shooting.
“We did all of that. I learned how to fire M16 machine guns and M60s and trained with all different types of weapons and tactics and all that sort of stuff.
“But the main thing was there’s young men and women in this world who come up in different ways.
“Some people have lovely, united families.
“Some people aren’t fortunate to have that and the army gives you a structure, it gives you a team to work with, it gives you discipline, it gives you self worth and it gives you a self confidence that some young people just don’t have right now.
“And I can’t understand why we wouldn’t start all of our children off on a good level.
“Not everybody would like it, not everybody would enjoy it as much as I did but I think if everybody did it, they could take something from it.
“It would give them a platform to work on and it would bring everybody back into the same category.
“We’re talking about equality today and we all want everyone to be equal, but if you don’t want to be equal, let’s all do the same thing for a while and learn that we’re all human, that we’re all the same.
“I just think it would be a great thing, but I don’t think they’re ever going to ask me to be the Prime Minister of the UK or the Taoiseach of Ireland.
“I doubt that it’s going to happen.”
Did they send you anywhere overseas with the army?
“No, I was scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia when the war broke out with Saddam Hussein, but my unit was called back at the last minute so I didn’t get over there.
“But I’ve often sat and thought about it. I would have loved to have gone.
“People think I’m crazy but I would have loved to have gone to actually stand on foreign soil and serve my country but it didn’t happen.
“Maybe that’s the reason I’m here today, I don’t know, but there’s a reason for everything.
“Going into the service at that young age sort of knocked the bumps off me.
“It’s just something that’s carried with me through all of my life so I’m gonna stick with it.
“If my son decided to go into the army, I would welcome it.
“Obviously, I don’t want him to go to war but the benefits of joining the service can, most of the time, outweigh any potential danger you might come to deal with.
“There’s so many great young people out there but their potential hasn’t been seen.
“There’s certain ways of drawing potential out of people.
“I think the military is one of those aspects of it.”
London Irish Vintage Day takes place at Tir Chonaill Gaels GAA Grounds on Sunday 8 September.
For more information about Robert Mizzell, click here.
