The King is dead - Big Tom McBride

It would be a stretch to say that Tom McBride — Big Tom to his legion of fans — who died aged 81 yesterday morning was uniquely Irish but it is hard to imagine another culture that would have so warmly embraced and cherished him.

In a country music career — three chords and the truth — that spanned more than five decades he celebrated home and family in a way that resonated in rural Ireland. In the early decades of his career, his music acted as an umbilical cord for pre-Ryanair emigrants whose Cricklewood or Dagenham lives kept them away from the wellspring that many clung to no matter how long they lived abroad.