RORY GALLAGHER - the finest blues guitarist to come out of Ireland - died in 1995 and left anyone who knew him or his music worse off, writes Dick Hogan.
It wasn't just Cork or Ireland, Gallagher bestrode the world stage wherever blues music was to be heard.
There were many nights when an old fashioned, after hours session was as important to Gallagher as what he had been doing in front of up to 2,000 people on stage not many hours before. In that setting, however, Gallagher never played the star.
It is fitting that a local festival in the city where he blossomed should remember him. The Bowling Green Carlsberg Blues Festival will take place in the White Street/Douglas Street area of Cork during the June bank holiday weekend.
As well as first class blues acts, it will bring together hundreds of people who admired Rory Gallagher for what he was a blues man to his talented fingertips.
Whenever he came home to Cork after one of his tours, Gallagher liked nothing better than to sip a pint while reading the local paper.
Although reticent by nature - that is, until he got on stage - he was accessible to the people of his city and never failed to offer help and advice to the hopefuls coming up behind him.
In pubs like Mick Donovan's, the angel and the Torch, his music will live again.