Award is music to our ears

Sheena Crowley’s successful campaign to keep world acclaimed blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Rory Gallagher’s guitar in the country has been honoured.

Sheena, who runs Crowley's Music Centre’s current iteration on Friar Street, was instrumental in raising public awareness of Rory’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster going on sale and the potential for it to be sold to an overseas investor and moved abroad.

Through her relentless campaigning, appearances in the media, and organising of a tribute concert in the City Hall, she ensured that keeping the Strat in Ireland remained top of mind for Cork’s music community along with politicians, businesses and members of the public.

For this she is the January winner of the Cork Person of the Month award. Sheena’s work proved successful, with the significant publicity she garnered resulting in discussions between the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and the Media and Live Nation Gaiety Ltd, who ultimately purchased the guitar and are set to donate it to the National Museum of Ireland. When the donation goes through, the iconic Strat will be owned by the state and made available for public viewing, including in Cork.

Sheena separately raised over €75,000 on fundraising platform GoFundMe, which was used to purchase various other instruments and memorabilia owned by Rory during the auction. These items are set to be put on display in a museum in Cork city.

Her grandfather, Tadhg O Crualaoi, founded the original Crowleys Music Centre on Merchant’s Quay in 1926 and was famous for his pipe-making and composing skills. It was in this shop where an unassuming 15 year old boy named Rory Gallagher bought the famous Strat in question for £100 on credit from Sheena’s father, Michael, who by then was running the business.

Michael moved the store to MacCurtain Street in the 1980s where he worked alongside Sheena until his death in 2010. This shop closed in 2013, but Sheena revived the business in 2023 on Friar Street. Today, Crowleys Music Centre is a multi-use facility. Whilst it continues to sell and repair instruments, it also offers podcasting and teaching spaces along with regularly hosting events and workshops. This continues a long family tradition of nurturing Cork’s musical and cultural talent.

Sheena said: “Everyone in Cork loves Rory, but he has held a particularly special place in my family’s heart since he bought the Strat from my father in 1963.

It would have been an awful waste for Rory’s guitar, that brought joy to so many, to be sold overseas and potentially just held in storage for years.

“It took a lot of work but I’m delighted that the campaign to keep the guitar in Irish hands ultimately proved successful and I’m thrilled that it will be put on display for the public to enjoy. Rory is a cultural icon in Cork, Ireland and across the world’s rock and blues community, and I’m sure that he will continue to be celebrated for decades to come”, she said.

Sheena’s name will now go forward alongside the other monthly winners for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year.