Tommy Sands, Co Down's singer, songwriter and social activist has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime.
From the Sands Family
to the world.
A musical home in County Down.
A lifetime of songs that travel.
From the pioneering days with the highly influential Sands Family, bringing Irish Music from New York's Carnegie Hall to Moscow's Olympic Stadium, he has developed into one of the most powerful songwriters and enchanting solo performers in Ireland today.
Songs that travel
His songwriting, which draws the admiration of Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney and father of folk music Pete Seeger, prompts respected US magazine "Sing Out" to regard him as "the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world".
His songs, like There were Roses, and Daughters and Sons, which have been recorded by Joan Baez, Kathy Mattea, Dolores Keane, Sean Keane, Frank Patterson, Dick Gaughan, The Dubliners and many others have been translated into many languages and have been included in the English language syllabus in German secondary schools.
Music brings
people together.
In classrooms, communities and conversations for peace.
Although constantly performing on stages around the world, Tommy has also taken music into community settings. His earlier work included songwriting with young people in detention in Reno, Nevada, and a recording written with Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren about their own towns and villages in Northern Ireland. During the Good Friday Agreement Talks, his impromptu performance with a group of children and Lambeg drummers was described by Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon as "a defining moment in the Peace Process".
Mary McAleese, who was cast in a romantic role with Tommy in a local play just before she became President of the Irish Republic subsequently maintained a friendship with him, drawing on his advice for cultural events.
Sands, "It would take a mean bastard to dislike him", according to Eamon McCann in Hot Press, has a way with words to charm and disarm and coax a chorus out of the tightest jawed audience.
Recognition and shared moments
In May 2002 Tommy Sands received an honorary doctorate of Letters from The University of Nevada for his outstanding work as musician and ambassador for peace and understanding and, May 18th was pronounced "Tommy Sands Day in Reno".
In December 2002 although the Northern Ireland Assembly had been stood down, Sands managed to persuade the Members to return for a special Christmas musical party together. As one political after another joined him on stage for a song, Loyalist leader David Ervine was heard to remark, "Tommy Sands is the only man, without a private army, who can intimidate me."
The concert which was recorded for the Sands weekly radio programme, later received a special award at the "World Festival of TV and Radio" in New York.
Finding
common ground.
Through music.
Through conversation.
Through listening.
Tommy’s work continues through Artsawonder and its Artsahealing programme, bringing musicians, community voices and researchers into conversation about music, connection and reconciliation. He contributed to the programme’s music and healing seminars at the Fiddlers Green International Festival in 2022 and 2023, alongside artists and specialists from different disciplines.
In May 2026, a collaboration with Harvard brought this work to new audiences. At Harvard Kennedy School, Tommy shared music and stories from Ballad of a Songman and joined a discussion with Hugh O’Doherty about conflict resolution and the part music can play in building peace.
New collaborations, enduring traditions
In 2025, Music Mends Minds named Tommy among the mentors for its collaboration with UCLA’s Schools of Music and Neuroscience, exploring musical exchange and expression as tools for conflict resolution. His connection with music education also appears in the Swannanoa Gathering’s 2024 programme, which lists him on the advisory board of Warren Wilson College’s celebration of folk traditions in North Carolina.
Songs that speak.
Stories that stay.
A family’s music.
A shared voice.
Recent appearances have continued to bring music into gatherings concerned with peace and civil rights. Tommy contributed music to Afri’s thirtieth Féile Bríde in 2023, and joined Bernadette Devlin McAliskey for an evening at Wexford’s Frederick Douglass Civil Rights Festival in 2025.
In February 2026, he performed The Ballad of John Hume at a tribute to John and Pat Hume in Belfast’s Clonard Monastery. The evening included Mary McAleese in conversation about faith, conflict and nonviolence — another setting in which his songs accompanied a wider discussion about building peace.
A family story on screen
The RTÉ documentary Tommy Sands – Clann an Cheoil, broadcast in December 2025, explores the Sands family’s journey from their County Down musical home to international stages. Performances, archive material and interviews connect the family’s music with the civil rights movement, activism and the peace process.
Still on
the road.
Old friends. New stories.
The songs keep travelling.
Tommy continues to combine songs, humour and conversation in his performances. His Every County on the Island Tour returns to communities across Ireland, while his appearances also include festivals, interviews and discussions. In 2026, Celtic Connections announced him among the artists for its Dick Gaughan tribute in Glasgow; TradFest’s 2027 programme includes a performance at the Millbank Theatre on 24 January.