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Tony McAnaney


Tony McAnaney was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England
in the early 1960s. He had an interest in playing guitar in his teens 
along with one of his friends, Dave Taggart. As a teenager, Tony and
Dave found themselves on the edge of the declining hippy community
in Sunderland who were turning their attention musically to the folk 
roots in parallel to the scene on the West Coast in the States.

Together with another friend Gordon, the began gigging at local folk 
clubs in and around the Sunderland area before gaining a residency
at a small shipyard pub called the Saltgrass after whom they named
themselves. The music they played was acoustic soft rock - mainly
covers of the Eagles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, America, and Manassas
as well as the more harmonic English material.


This went on for a couple of years and the band were well known in the
area for their fine harmonies and Tony's increasing guitar style. 
Saltgrass expanded to a quartet with the addition of new member Terry,
an older, more traditional folk troubador. However, this led to personal
rivalries within the band with Tony eventually leaving to play lead guitar
in a white soul group who won a national UK award.

Saltgrass collapsed amidst personal acrimony and the three remaining
members going their own separate ways. Gordon, eventually become a
sculptor in Hexham, Northumberland where he still lives today.

Tony and Dave kept their residences in Sunderland and kept in touch.
Eventually they formed  The Executives who were moderately successful
and who eventually became Dance Class. This band toured abroad about
the same time as that other famous Sunderland export (not Dave Stewart),
the Toy Dolls.  Dance Class made one album for DJM (or Elton John's Rocket,
I cannot quite remember) which is no longer available. The lack of 
commercial success and the touring brought the ending of Dance Class
and with that Tony and Dave began to do session work, mainly in the
North East of England, while Tony himself took up guitar construction.

It was the appearance of Spender which gave Tony his acting debut and the
tantalising about his guitar playing which you never actually got to hear.
Significantly this series has more to do with Jimmy Nail's determination to
promote his home town area than the nature of the tale. Since his starring
role in Auf Wiedesen Pet, the almost unintelligible show about Geordie
(natives of the Newcastle upon Tyne are), Nail has promoted the North East
in a big way. As this coincided with a move by the BBC to more
regionalisation of dramas, Spender was the result. For those of us who were
brought up in the 60s and 70s in the area, Spender has many references and
in jokes. Also there are many pokes at authority and fashion.

Anyway, getting back to the Tony McAnaney story, Tony also did the music
for the show as well as acting in it. He has formed a partnership with Jimmy
Nail and written, played and co-produced on Nail's recent CDs and in live
performance. Dave Taggart too, resumed his playing partnersip too with Tony
as he sings backing vocals on the latest Nail TV show and CD, Crocodile
Shoes set again in Newcastle with the premise of a Geordie country and
western singer. This is not as laughable as it may seem as country and
western is one of the fastest growing genres in the UK.
[This information courtesy of: jingles@buttercup.cybernex.net]
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